Vacation ideas when you hate what most people like

Quote: Aussie

Wow is all economy from what I can see so IMO the points around comfort are still valid, the main one being the lack of room to move around when there is only one aisle. Also 3 toilets surprises me given other airlines fly these with several more and still manage to get in approx 300 seats in a 2 or 3 class configuration.

I am shocked by that as well. Wow! flies the same model with 9 lavatories with a different configuration with only 4 less seats.

Wow! Airbus A330-300 (333) V1
3 lavatories
XL Seats 23 standard seats
Economy 319 standard seats(31")

Wow! Airbus A330-300 (333) V2
9 lavatories
BigSeat 14 recliner seats
XXL 16 standard seats
Economy 308 standard seats (29" to 31" in select seats)

The tradeoff is 2" more seat pitch in most of the economy seats for 6 lavatories.

Quote: Fleastiff

You might want to crank up any contemplated trips to Iceland. I've just learned that two tectonic plates are literally pulling the country apart. Who knows when the big break will come?

I imagine you will have to pay Rack Rate for the room if you go when it happens!

FWIW I still have not gone anywhere. I was thinking of seeing the "Greenhouse in the Snow" in Nebraska. Maybe if I can get the OK to use the convertible for it I would do that. See things like nearby Carhenge and Largest Ball of Twine.

Quote: Fleastiff

You might want to crank up any contemplated trips to Iceland. I've just learned that two tectonic plates are literally pulling the country apart. Who knows when the big break will come?

Does that shorter distance translate into a cheaper ticket enough to alter passenger preferences for destinations? Or passenger aversions to overly lengthy flights?

Quote: Fleastiff

Does that shorter distance translate into a cheaper ticket enough to alter passenger preferences for destinations? Or passenger aversions to overly lengthy flights?

Iceland soared to one of the highest GDP/capita of any place in Europe in the early 2000's, but their fall in 2008 was harder than most. Their currency lost half it's value against the Euro. Wow Air began flying in 2012.

In general short distances don't always mean cheaper flights. However, Iceland is pushing low cost air fare as they are basing their post recession recovery on tourism. Many people use Wow as an inexpensive way to get to mainland Europe or Britain or Ireland, but they frequently stay one or two nights in Iceland.

Like many low cost carriers, Wow has an all economy seating, but they have three widebody planes (unusual for a LCC) in order to fly to California , Florida, and Texas.




Data July 2017
Miles Narrowbody Wow destinations (220 seats)
2413 BOS
2601 EWR
2762 BWI
2794 PIT
2944 ORD

Miles Widebody Wow destinations (350 seats)
3664 MIA
4204 SFO
4314 LAX

Wow Air has added new destinations since July, but the FAA database is 6 months behind.

Quote: Pacomartin

but the FAA database is 6 months behind.

Comforting.

As long as the fleet mix is not a burden to the carrier (training scheduling maintenance etc) I don't think passengers really care all that much about the plane although they probably do care about the seating and leg room issues.

Quote: Fleastiff

Comforting.

As long as the fleet mix is not a burden to the carrier (training scheduling maintenance etc) I don't think passengers really care all that much about the plane although they probably do care about the seating and leg room issues.

Well they are somewhat related. Wow uses an all economy A321 with 220 seats an all economy A330 with 350 seats for the longer ranges (SFO,LAX, MIA)




Icelandair uses older Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft. Icelandair still has the old style business class with the larger reclining chairs with extra pitch and width Some fly people still want to fly business class to Europe, but they don't want to pay the money for the lie flat seats most airlines are selling today. So business class flyers who do not wish to spend a lot of money prefer Icelandair which provides them with a stop to stretch their legs.

I flew Icelandair Paris-Orlando with a 4 hr layover in Reykjavik in 2013. I took business class. Paid about $450 where Delta wanted 1k. They were terrific. Can't recommend them highly enough. Good food , relaxed crew. They even gave me a zippered travel kit that had a sleep mask, footies, earplugs, and a couple of small snacks. If they're at all convenient for US-Europe for anybody, they'd be my first choice again.

Quote: beachbumbabs

I flew Icelandair Paris-Orlando with a 4 hr layover in Reykjavik in 2013. I took business class.

Now Norwegian Air Shuttle flies nonstop to Paris–Charles de Gaulle but only seasonally

Florida-Orlando - Paris-Charles De Gaulle Saturday 5. May 2018 20:30 Flight DY7060 - LowFare 1 Adult $229.90 Duration: 8h 40m
Paris-Charles De Gaulle - Florida-Orlando Saturday 12. May 2018 14:40 Flight DY7059 - LowFare 1 Adult $259.90 Duration: 9h 50m
Total price incl. all taxes and surcharges $489.80 Taxes account for $127.10

When I lived in Baltimore Iceland Air was the cheapest way to get to Europe. The most expensive ticket was actually to Reykjavik, although every other destination in Europe made a connection there. They pretty much had a monopoly on Iceland, so why not?

Anyway, when I went to Germany in the early 90's I paid a little extra for a two-day stopover in Reykjavik. I rented a car one of the days and tried to find some geyser but never managed to. Every road name is a long alphabet soup that all look the same to me. Although there isn't that much to do in Reykjavik, I enjoyed my short stay there. Definitely do the Blue Lagoon. Lots of airports shuttles do a stop-over there for a few hours before taking you the rest of the way to the airport. Strange thing about the Reykjavik airport, for such a sparsely populated country, they put the airport really far from the city.