Europe has a brand new low-cost airline.

Rising from the ashes of the failed WOW Air experiment, Play has commenced operations between Iceland’s main Keflavik Airport( KEF) and Europe, with plans to eventually connect North America and Europe via Iceland just as WOW Air attempted to do before the pandemic.

I recently flew Play on its very first route from London’s Stansted Airport( STN) to Iceland and was very pleasantly surprised by the experience — for a low-cost carrier, it was excellent.

Related: 7 reasonableness flying Iceland’s newest airline was a great experience

For my return flight home from Iceland, I decided to choose flag carrier Icelandair, founded 84 years ago, to see how Iceland’s newest and oldest airlines compared between the two cities.

In This Post

Fares

Here’s how the two airlines organized their economy prices for my one-way flights between London and Iceland 😛 TAGEND

Play Standard price Icelandair Economy Light fare

Fare including taxes PS62 ($ 86) PS112 ($ 155)

Carry-on baggage PS20 added ($ 28) Included Checked baggage PS25 added ($ 35) PS29 added ($ 40)

Seat selection PS3- PS19 extra ($ 4-26) PS6.80- PS21. 40 extra ($ 9-30)

The beauty of the low-cost model is that you merely pay for what you actually use. As I was not checking in a pocket I saved fund on both airlines this way.

Play charges different extents for different fannies depending on where you wish to sit — even in the same row of the aircraft. If you crave a window seat, you’ll need to pay slightly more than a middle seat.

As you’ll see below, Icelandair sits somewhere between a low-cost and full-service airline. It blames extra for lots of things while some things are provided complimentary.

Play only consents pay by Visa or Mastercard to pay for prices and onboard purchases, while Icelandair admits all major credit cards including American Express.

Related: 9 rationalizations you are able to inspect Iceland the summer months

Airport experience

Both airlines use the same terminal at Keflavik Airport in Iceland( KEF ). They fly to different London airports: Play controls to the low-cost Stansted Airport( STN ), and Icelandair flies to the more premium Heathrow( LHR) and Gatwick( LGW) airports.

Landing at Heathrow on Icelandair certainly felt more premium than departing from Stansted Airport.

While I was able to check-in online for both flights, I was required to undergo manual record checks at either check-in or the boarding gates for COVID-1 9-related health declarations and vaccination credentials/ assessment results on both airlines.

Being an outstation on a reasonably quiet flight, there were hardly any queues at check-in for my Play flight at Stansted.

Play Iceland( Photo by Ben Smithson/ The Points Guy)

I was greeted with an enormous line for Icelandair at its Keflavik hub, though these fares were checking-in for a bank of flights all departing for the United Government, and I was directed to a separate European flights queue and cured immediately.

Icelandair.( Photo by Ben Smithson/ The Points Guy) aircraft

Both airlines operate several different aircraft natures and I lucked out on both.

I flew Play’s Airbus A3 21 neo, which as I shall be examined by being its best aircraft as you’ll are presented in the seat description below.

Play Iceland( Photo by Ben Smithson/ The Points Guy)

This aircraft has a beings single compartment of 192 economy fannies, with 34 rows of economy fannies laid down by in a 3-3 configuration.

Play Iceland( Photo by Ben Smithson/ The Points Guy)

On my Icelandair flight, I flew one of its newest aircraft — a Boeing 737 MAX 8.

Related: The Boeing 737 MAX returns to commercial-grade assistance today

Icelandair( Photo by Ben Smithson/ The Points Guy)

This bird is fitted in a two-class configuration, with 16 business class seats in a 2-2 configuration and 144 economy seats in a 3-3 configuration.

Icelandair( Photo by Ben Smithson/ The Points Guy) Seat

This was one of the biggest surprises between the two airlines. While both economy class posteriors are laid down by in a 3-3 configuration, signifying they are a similar thicknes, the Play A3 21 neo seats have a floundering 34 inches of legroom for all standard seats.

Play Iceland( Photo by Ben Smithson/ The Points Guy)

I would be very pleased with this sort of legroom in economy on the likes of payment airlines such as Qatar Airways or Singapore Airline, but recollect I was flying a low-cost carrier on a short-haul flight.

Icelandair’s 737 MAX 8 seat had a much tighter — and more industry-standard — 31 inches of lurch, as you would expect to find on other full-service European airlines.

Icelandair( Photo by Ben Smithson/ The Points Guy)

If legroom is important to you, the Play A3 21 neo aircraft has possibly the most generous legroom of any European low-cost carrier.

Play’s posteriors were fairly cozy for a relatively short flight.

Play Iceland( Photo by Ben Smithson/ The Points Guy)

What Icelandair’s accommodates absence in legroom they made up for in padding — they were noticeably cushier and plusher than Play’s.

Icelandair( Photo by Ben Smithson/ The Points Guy)

Both posteriors reclined and had similar movable headrests, tray tables and seatback pockets.

I was pleased to see individual air nozzles on both airlines.

Wifi and IFE

Play did not offer Wi-Fi on my flight , nor did it have any inflight entertainment whatsoever.

Play Iceland( Photo by Ben Smithson/ The Points Guy)

It was a very different experience flying on Icelandair. The new aircraft had large crisp seatback screens with abundance of recreation options at every seat.

Wi-Fi was also offered free of charge to all passengers on Icelandair and I registered a reputable 13.16 Mbps download during an onboard rate test.

Related: Why does inflight Wi-Fi cut out or slow down ?

Food and Beverage

As expected, Play’s low-cost model meant all meat and beverages needed to be paid for, including spray. I was actually quite impressed with a better quality of the menu on offer and adoration the Icelandic touches.

Over on Icelandair, tea, coffee, water and soft drinks were complimentary, but unfortunately, all other menu and guzzles must be purchased.

The quality of the food I obtained was perceptibly lower on Icelandair than Play. The doughy, carb-filled pizza filled me up but that was about it.

Prices for onboard nutrient and guzzle on both airlines were similar.

Service

Both airlines had friendly and professional crew on the foot and in the air. As you might expect from a brand-new low-cost airline, the Play staff were garmented more casually, were all quite young and less formal.

Play Iceland.( Photo courtesy of the airline)

Icelandair staff are dressed in more corporate-like attire and supply the sort of service you would find on an older, knowledge airline.

Both flights varied and arrived on time.

Extent and Miles

You cannot give any points and miles flying Play, while Icelandair has its own loyalty program called Saga Club. You can alternatively choose to credit the flights to its partner airlines Alaska Airlines or JetBlue.

Related: Iceland trip-planning from A to Z: Glaciers, geothermal spas and lava caves

Bottom line

I experienced my two flights on two very varied airlines between London and Iceland.

If you can score Play’s Airbus A3 21 neo, the legroom is outstanding, and I would choose this plane over anything Icelandair operates for an economy flight. You is liable to ever identify legroom like this at every seat in a standard economy cabin on any airline, much less a low-cost carrier.

Icelandair’s plus sets on its brand-new 737 MAX were comfortable in terms of padding but legroom was a tight fit and reminded me this was very much economy. It was nice to have a seatback screen and Wi-Fi, though this isn’t solely enough to sway me to choose an airline with so many portable personal entertainment options I can take on board with me.

It is disappointing to see Icelandair charge for all nutrient and countless liquors, specially when the quality was fairly poor. I purposed up approximately twice as much for my Icelandair flight as the Play flight and did not feel it was twice as good — they were fairly even overall.

I was botched flying the best aircraft from both airlines, and I’d be happy to fly either once again to or from the breathtaking end of Iceland.

Featured image by Ben Smithson/ The Points Guy

Read more: thepointsguy.com