Flying Icelandair with a Baby or Toddler: Our Experience

Last Updated on Sep 8, 2024

Icelandair is frequently one of the most budget options for flying between the US and Europe. Is Icelandair a good airline to fly with a baby or toddler? 

We’ve flown Icelandair with baby and toddler, and then again when both kids were preschoolers. I will say that Icelandair has advantages over other airlines in some aspects, but disadvantages in others – which I explain here.

In the end, if the price is significantly better, then it could be a decent option for families with little kids as long as you’re aware of their unique policies.

Icelandair Flying with Infant

The best feature when flying Icelandair with an infant is that you can fly for 10% of the regular price as a lap baby (just like on any other airline), however, there’s a bonus if you want to purchase a seat for your infant.

Icelandair gives you a 20% discount if you decide to purchase a separate seat for your baby. Naturally, if an infant has its seat you can bring a car seat. Icelandair accepts car seats that are approved by either US, European, German or Canadian standards to use in-flight.

Officially, you cannot bring a car seat to the gate to see if there’s a free seat for an infant. You can only bring a car seat to the gate if you pre-book a seat for a baby under 2. If not, you need to check the car seat a the counter and can only bring a stroller to the gate.

Icelandair stroller policy

The airline has a generous luggage policy, but they openly state that if you pack any extra items in your stroller or car seat bag (which people frequently do) you will be charged for excess luggage.

Last time we traveled with kids snowboards for our ski trip in Austria we put it all in one bag and managed to check it as a regular bag without paying extra, which was awesome. Many other airlines charge extra for such items.

Keflavik Airport (Icelandic airport in Reykjavik), has free airport strollers to use for transit, departure, and on arrival. Even during a busy time we still saw some available.

Icelandair advises that if you gate check your stroller, in many instances depending on the airport you’re flying into, the stroller won’t be returned at the gate due to security reasons. This goes for any layover in Iceland as well. In those situations, you can use an airport stroller, but as they’re not suitable for infants under 6 months I highly recommend a stroller that fits in the overhead bin.

The airport in Keflavik is relatively small, so unsurprisingly the airline states that ever a 45-minute layover is fine. You don’t need to walk for miles, so if you’re worried about having to carry your child for ages don’t – you will be fine.

Plus, if you’re flying Icelandair with baby or toddler, you could opt for a free stopover in Iceland. Iceland is an easy place to navigate with a baby so I highly recommend even 2 extra days in the country.

Icelandair infant baggage allowance

An infant under 2 is entitled to a one checked bag unless the parents are traveling in Economy Light class. However, officially an infant isn’t entitled to a carry-on bag on Icelandair which rules out a diaper bag.

Unofficially, everyone understands that an infant needs a small bag with bottles, diapers and other necessities so as long as it’s not obnoxiously huge you will be waived through.

Does Icelandair have bassinets?

Nope, Icelandair doesn’t offer bassinets for infants.

Child Meals on Icelandair

Icelandair does not serve food or drinks even on long-haul flights, unlike any other airline. There’s a menu that you can purchase from, but it’s not a full meal, more like a cup of instant noodles or a sandwich.

Kids however do get a meal and a stuffie with an activity booklet (just like on Emirates)! My kids got trays full of food and weren’t even able to finish everything.

You don’t need to pre-book a meal if your child is over 2, but for infants under 2 years you need to preorder the puree. Obviously, just like on any other airline, technically a toddler between 1 and 2 will be entitled to a baby meal, which is a fruit puree even though they would rather eat normal food.

Other Things to Note about Flying Icelandair with Kids

The seats on Icelandair flights are decent and generously padded (which I can’t say for Lufthansa or American) so honestly it was an easy flight.

One thing I will say is that while the experience is usually good, one big con of flying Icelandair is the layover in Iceland itself. Normally, we pick night flights across the ocean, so the kids get on the plane, eat dinner, and then fall asleep for a good few hours (usually at least 5 hours). They wake up for in-flight breakfast and are ready to arrive and explore in the morning. It’s our perfect way to fight the jetlag as well.

As Iceland is about halfway through the night is cut short. By the time the kids fell asleep after eating they could barely get 2.5 hours of rest before having to wake up and deal with the immigration and Iceland before hopping on the next plane.

Another issue we encountered on our last trip was that Icelandair customer service was next to non-existent. I previously heard of people’s seats getting swapped, but we essentially got kicked out of the flight back 12 hours before the departure over email. The reason was supposedly a storm over Iceland, which never happened and the tour flight actually flew as scheduled… but we weren’t allowed on it as we got rebooked on Lufthansa hours later and with an additional layover. We got no explanation as to why and had to go through AirHelp to get our compensation for arriving hours later.