2013
4
April
Winnipeg to Iceland | How To Get The Best Flight Deals
4
April
Guides
The Ydeals Noise-Free Guide To Getting The Best Deal On Flights To Iceland From Winnipeg
 | There are thousands of travel sites out there, all wanting you to believe they have unique or special prices on airfares to Iceland. They don't. They use marketing noise to hide the fact that there is really only one source of unique prices on flights to Iceland. This guide will remove the noise and show you what that source is, so you can stop wasting so much time when searching for the best deal. |
What are the unique sources of prices on flights to Iceland from Winnipeg ?
Unique Source #1 - The Major Airlines
There are 3 major airlines that fly to Iceland from Winnipeg, and they are: Delta, KLM, and Lufthansa.
You can also find flights using a combination of Air Canada and Icelandair - they can be found through Icelandair's website.
Where should I look to get the best flight deal to Iceland?
All you need to do is search the major airlines, preferably all at once. My current favorite way to do this would be using Google Flights Explorer because you can just enter 'Iceland' into the 'To' box, and see current airfares from all the major airlines, at one time. Not to mention how easy it is to browse through different date combinations.
Even if you're planning to go for a longer date range than this tool supports (currently up to 2 weeks), it will give you an excellent idea of what the typical bottom price is right now to Iceland, and which airline(s) it can be found on.
You can use Google Flights Explorer as a starting point, and then use a tool with more precise search options, such as...
My second favorite way would be to search using Kayak. It has all the sort and filter options I need, and searches all major airlines. Click on 'Make my dates flexible' and set it to '+/- 3 days'. You may be surprised how often being a little flexible with your dates can result in a better price.
In the 'To' box, enter one of the places listed in the next paragraph as your destination.
I have found however, that Kayak doesn't appear to list the Air Canada + Icelandair combination flights. Google Flights Explorer does however, or you can search them directly on Icelandair's own website.
Which airport in Iceland should I fly into?
When it comes to Iceland, you really only have one choice, and that's to fly in and out of Reykjavik (KEF).
What about the thousands of other travel sites that have airfares to Iceland?
This is the noise. There is no shortage of travel sites or brands trying to convince you that they have the cheapest flights to Iceland from Winnipeg. The truth is though, there's only one unique source of prices that they're gathering their airfare prices from, and that's the major airlines themselves. They can't offer a lower price on airfares to Iceland than the airlines themselves, as there's virtually no markup.
There's a few reasons why I think Manitoba travellers waste an enormous amount of time checking multiple websites, hoping for a better deal than the one they already found (studies show it to be an average of 22 different sites over 10 periods of research!). The first reason is just human nature. We all want to compare prices and make sure we're getting the best deal.
But I think the biggest reason is simply the noise of travel marketing. With so many travel sites and brands competing for your attention, all hoping you'll book through them, combined with the fact that not one of them will *ever* admit to you that their source of prices is the same as everyone else, it's little wonder travelers waste so much time searching.
What about searching the airline's website directly?
There's nothing wrong with doing that. It's usually just a lot easier to search all of the airlines at once, with a better interface using a good search tool. It's amazing how poor many of the airline's search interfaces are. The fares found on any half-decent search engine will be the same as the fares found on the airline's own website.
One thing you can do is just use a flight search tool to scan all the airlines at once, and then go to the airline's own site to book it once you've figured out exactly which flight you want, and what the price is.
Another thing to be aware of is that the more sophisticated travel search engines can combine flights from multiple airlines to find cheaper options, especially on international flights, that you may not find on the airline's website.
What about my local Winnipeg travel agency or independent travel agent in Manitoba?
They're seeing the same prices you are. Depending on the agency or agent, they may or may not charge you a 'booking fee' on top of the airfare price, for their time. As there's virtually no markup on the cost of flights, they can't offer you a price to Iceland that's any cheaper than from the airline, or from a search tool that properly searches the latest airfares.
When should I book a flight to Iceland to get the best price?
This is never an easy question to answer, as airfares are not 100% predictable. Airlines start by setting their price at a level they think will fill the maximum number of seats, based on the demand they expect to see.
If they experience less demand than they expected, they may decide to lower them. If they experience more demand than they expected, they may raise them. Unfortunately, a lot of factors that influence demand can be unpredictable.
How long a person can wait it out in hopes of a better price is a personal decision. Personally though, I am usually not afraid to watch prices on the major airlines up to about 8 weeks before departure in hopes of a better price without fear of the price rising. But everyone has a different tolerance for risk.
What about last minute flight deals to Iceland?
Last minute airfare deals to Iceland on the major airlines don't exist. Typical of most airfares on the major airlines, as you get fairly close to the departure date, if the airline has done their job correctly, and filled most of the seats on the plane, they feel the last remaining seats become more valuable, and often decide to raise the price.
What's a decent airfare price to Iceland?
From Winnipeg, flights to Reykjavik tend to bottom out at around $1100-$1200 roundtrip after taxes. This is just a general guideline though, based on average demand periods of the year.
Airfare prices are highly affected by demand. So anytime you can think of a reason that there might be higher demand than usual for travel to Iceland (such as dates when many people in Winnipeg have vacation time) you can expect prices to react accordingly.
What about one way flights to Iceland?
One-way flights to overseas international destinations on the major airlines can often be expensive. Sometimes they are even more than roundtrip flights, which may seem strange!
However, you should be able to find a one way flight to Iceland from Winnipeg for around 60-70% of the roundtrip price. Usually this will involve a flight from Winnipeg on Air Canada to a Canadian city served by Icelandair.
What about direct flights to Iceland from Winnipeg?
There aren't any airlines currently offering direct flights to Iceland from Winnipeg. The fastest flights are in and out of Reykjavik, with 1 stop each way, each lasting about 3 hours. An example of this would be using a combination of Air Canada and Icelandair, with 1 stop in Toronto each way.
The total flight time to Iceland from Winnipeg, including layover time, with 1 stop flights such as those listed above, is around 10.5 to 11.5 hours each way.
The distance from Winnipeg to Iceland is approximately 4,480 km (2,800 miles).
The time difference between Winnipeg and Iceland is 5 hours. Reykjavik is 5 hours ahead of Winnipeg.
What about low-cost flights to Iceland from U.S. airports within driving distance of Winnipeg?
If you've ever read my guide about flying out of U.S. airports within driving distance of Winnipeg, you may know that I feel it could be worth the drive, when you see a flight from a U.S. airport to Iceland that's at least a certain number of dollars less per person than from Winnipeg.
How much cheaper it needs to be depends on which American airport you're flying from. Below, I'll list how much cheaper I feel it should be from each airport, to be worth the drive.
From Grand Forks, North Dakota (GFK)
I feel it could be worth the drive, when you see a flight from Grand Forks to Iceland that's at least $275 less per person than a flight from Winnipeg.
Typically though, flights from Grand Forks to Iceland are usually only around $100 cheaper than from Winnipeg, as it is a smaller airport, and it's strengths are serving U.S. destinations.
From Fargo, North Dakota (FAR)
I feel it could be worth the drive, when you see a flight from Fargo to Iceland that's at least $375 less per person than a flight from Winnipeg.
It could happen, as Fargo occasionally has flights to Reykjavik in the range of $700 to $800 roundtrip after taxes.
I think I've found a great deal on a flight to Iceland!
Excellent! Please share it with your fellow Winnipeg travel lovers, they will appreciate it and thank you for it! You can post it in the YWG Deals Facebook group (click 'Join Group', at the top-right, when you arrive), where thousands of travelers from Winnipeg are crowd-sourcing the best deals, and sharing great travel advice.
Or if you prefer, you can always give me a shout through the YWG Deals contact form or on Twitter @YWGdeals or through Google Plus. Great deal finds are always appreciated.
Why should I trust this Winnipeg flight guide to Iceland?
 | The info in this guide is based on my observations of the travel industry over the years, including all the thousands of websites out there, and where all the different players get their prices from and how they interact with each other. The goal is to remove the noise of travel marketing, so vacationers can stop wasting so much valuable time searching the same prices over and over. |
But, as social proof of it's accuracy, feel free to join the YWG Deals Facebook Group (click 'Join Group', at the top-right, when you arrive) and publicly disagree with any of it, or make a comment below. Critiques are always welcome!
I think I have some info that could help improve the Winnipeg - Iceland flight deal guide!
Great! Please post your info in the Facebook group above, make a comment below, or contact me directly. Suggestions for improvement are always appreciated. Let me know if you see something that seems inaccurate or outdated.
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