Business Class Flights to Reykjavik

An honest word about the seat first. Icelandair, which flies Keflavik year-round from New York, Newark, Boston, Washington, Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Denver, Seattle, Orlando, Raleigh, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and others, sells its front cabin as Saga Premium: a wide leather recliner with a footrest, priority check-in and lounge access, a proper meal and more than 40 inches of legroom — but not a lie-flat bed. On a five-hour daytime or early-evening flight, most clients find it more than enough. For a genuine flat bed, Delta flies New York, Boston and Minneapolis to Keflavik in summer and United flies Newark, both with lie-flat cabins, roughly May through September. We tell you which product a fare includes before you book. No flight to Iceland carries a First Class cabin.

Keflavik's location — almost exactly halfway between the East Coast and mainland Europe — is why Icelandair's stopover program works so well: fly Icelandair to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Berlin, Zurich or Dublin and stop in Iceland for up to seven nights at no extra fare. The airport is 45 minutes from the city and 20 minutes from the Blue Lagoon, which is why the classic move is to land in the morning, soak, and check into a Reykjavik hotel by mid-afternoon.

Iceland has two seasons worth flying for. Summer (June–August) brings 20-plus hours of daylight, the Ring Road, whale watching and the highest fares. Winter (late September–March) brings the northern lights, ice caves and the lowest prices; February and March give you both aurora and a reasonable amount of daylight. Fares are lowest in October–November and January–March, when a premium seat from New York sits at our $1,800 starting price — the cheapest way to see Europe from the front of the plane.