One For Chris Buenchico

[KARL]

Hello Chris. Some months back you mentioned on a thread that you enjoy looking up fares options and I leapt in to book your efforts in advance - can I now ask you for your time ?

The seats/fares on various airlines for next winter will likely be released before long and there is a group of people (fewer than 7) I know who will want to travel FAO-KEF-FAO sometime between mid January and mid February for a total of two weeks including travel time. There are no direct flights available so it will have to be two or more interconnecting flights each way. The choice will be based on cost and convenience.

It is very possible that the cheapest option(s) will be via the UK but these will only be considered if it is possible to complete the journey entirely without entering the UK (i.e. strictly airside, which would also mean hand baggage only in the case of a single low cost airline or even also more than one airline of any type). Therefore, it is likely we will be looking at choosing between non-UK routes.

If you are still willing, may I suggest you open a new thread (separate post) once you have something to report ? Thanks in advance.

[Buenchico]

You'll have to leave this one with me for a while. With the demise of WOW there are no budget airlines serving KEF other than Wizz. If you'd been travelling in the summer you could have used Wizz for both sectors (connecting in either Budapest or Katowice) but they only operate the Faro sector seasonally.

So I'm thinking of taking a look at using Vienna for the connection, with Eurowings for the first part of the outbound journey and then Wizz for the second but I need to spend some time looking at fares and connections.

So I'll try to return to this question within a day or two.

[KARL]

Thank you Chris. easyjet fly to KEF and Transavia will be at least this coming summer (winter as yet unknown). Vueling are also an option, if I am not mistaken.

[Buenchico]

I'd ignored easyJet because they only serve KEF from the UK. Vueling fly to KEF from Barcelona but only seasonally. They're also the only airline to fly between Faro and Barcelona but, again, they only do so seasonally.

[KARL]

easyjet fly to KEF from non-UK airports Geneva and Basel so linking through there might be an option - two different airlines would not be a problem so long as it does not involve entering the UK (i.e. immigration - the CIA passenger data submission requirement annoys some in the party but they might be persuaded to put up with that).

[Buenchico]

Ah, I missed those because easyJet Switzerland operates independently of easyJet itself. (It's actually a separate airline which pays a franchise fee to use easyJet branding and to be included in their booking system). Those flights are again 'seasonal' but if that means that they only operate in the skiing season it would be OK.

So it's looking as if easyJet Switzerland might be your best option but only if the connections work out. (Cheap flights aren't much use if you have to pay for an expensive hotel while awaiting a connection).

Until easyJet publish their timetables for the relevant periods it's hard to proceed further. Last year they started accepting bookings for January of this year on 12 April but travellers had to wait until 26 April last year before they could book flights for travel after 3 February of this year. If they do the same thing this year you'll have to wait until the second batch of tickets is released before being able to see whether using easyJet makes sense.

[KARL]

Standing by ;)

[237SJ]

What do you mean by CIA passenger data?

[KARL]

237SJ, if you travel to/from a UK airport the airline is required to gather and submit passport data etc. or else the passenger cannot check in (or board the aircraft) - that is not the case elsewhere in Europe (i.e. within Schengen), the data is analogous to the USA requirements and, given that the UK is so far up......the data no doubt is merged with other CIA passenger data.

[KARL]

Chris, an update/addition: The group have advised me that they have agreed that LIS-KEF-LIS would do if it gives more choice that also compares well.

[237SJ]

The API won't be shared with the US. Anyway, the biggest problem will be ridiculously long transfer times. Tell them to look at Lufthansa through Frankfurt.

[KARL]

Chris, if you are still looking in here, should you not have seen this here it is:
https://www.isavia.is/en/keflavik-airport/flight-schedule/airlines

[Buenchico]

I learned a long time ago, Karl, not to rely upon airport websites for lists of destinations served. US airports are the worst of all, either not having a list of destinations or including destinations which aren't served directly, but most other airport websites fail to mention routes which haven't yet come into operation (or show routes which are due to end in the near future with no indication that they are). Wikipedia tends to be far more reliable; if an airline announces that they'll commence a new route in 6 months time the relevant Wikipedia pages are usually updated within an hour or two, whereas the airport web pages might not get updated until the new route actually comes into operation. (I don't solely rely on Wikipedia though; I cross-check my information with the airlines' own websites).

237SJ's suggestion of using Lufthansa sounds expensive to me (but it might be worth checking out anyway).

Adding in Lisbon as an alternative starting point makes things a lot easier. Wizz can get you to KEF via Budapest, Katowice, Vienna or Warsaw Chopin. (Ryanair also operate between Lisbon and Budapest so, if the Wizz flights don't connect well, that could be another option for that sector. Similarly Ryanair-owned Lauda fly between Lisbon and Vienna).