Can you really fly to Iceland from Toronto for $99?

By: David Bateman Staff Reporter, Published on Fri Oct 02 2015

An Iceland-based airline has announced that it will begin offering flights from Toronto to Reykjavik next spring for prices starting as low as $99 one way – including taxes.

WOW Air said the year-round service beginning May 2016 will operate Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

Skúli Mogensen, founder and CEO of WOW Air, has announced that the airline will begin service to Iceland from Toronto in May 2016.

“WOW air prides itself on offering the lowest fares possible as well as the biggest smile and the friendliest service,” chief executive officer Skúli Mogensen said in a news release.

WOW has been operating since 2011, and launched transatlantic services from Boston and Washington D.C. in early 2015. A statement from the company said that both those services were regularly at 90 per cent capacity.

Tickets went on sale Thursday, creating a buzz as travellers snapped up cut-price flights.

However, there are conditions.

Most notably, those $99 prices are for one-way flights. While Iceland is a beautiful country, it’s safe to assume most travellers will be interested in a return flight.

The cheapest seats are also limited in number. By Friday, many WOW flights appeared to be sold out of the least expensive fares. On the other hand, those that remained are still relatively inexpensive, with return fares of about $475 for a week’s visit to Reykjavik.

But that’s before you start counting the cost of WOW’s add-on prices. Carry-on luggage is restricted to five kilograms, in contrast with the 10 kilos allowed by both Air Canada and Air Transat. Buying an additional seven kilos will cost you at least $24 for a flight under four hours, and $47 minimum for a journey over four hours, according to the airline’s website.

Checked luggage costs more, too. When you choose its least expensive fares, Air Canada charges $28 for a checked bag of up to 23 kilos on international flights. At WOW, it’s at least $59 for a 20 kg bag.

Overweight baggage is priced around $85 for Air Canada and $100 for Air Transat. Flying with WOW, you pay $24 per kilo over that limit, up to a maximum of 32 kilos; hit that limit, and you’ll add $288 to the cost of your flight.

When WOW flights are cheaper, it might still be cost effective to fly with them, provided you can live within their guidelines. But often, costs are similar across the board. As of Friday afternoon, posted prices of WOW flights to London in May 2016 varied between $535 and $750. The minimum for Air Transat sat at around $700. For Air Canada, the cost was in the range of $715 to $800.