PLAY Airlines is carving out its niche in the competitive transatlantic flight market. The airline has flights between North American and Europe with stopovers in Iceland.
PLAY appeals to budget conscious travelers looking for low cost flights to Europe. They also appeal to travelers who want to tour Iceland before heading over to Europe.
In this article, we’ll explore PLAY Airlines’ U.S flight operations. We’ll dive into their route pairs. and explain what passengers can expect flying with PLAY.
Who is PLAY Airlines?
PLAY airlines is an Icelandic airline with service between North America and Europe. PLAY is a low cost airline.
The airline had its inaugural flight in 2021. The first flight was from Keflavik International Airport to London Stansted Airport. The airline shortly after applied to begin offering flights to the United States. It was eventually approved to begin service during the summer of 2022.
Despite its short service history, the airline has already begun winning awards. In 2023, World Airlines Awards labeled PLAY as the top low cost carrier in Northern Europe. The airline also landed in tenth place as the best low cost carrier throughout Europe.
PLAY lists its core values as on-time performance, simplicity, happiness, low prices, and safety. They operate a fleet of brand new Airbus planes helping operational reliability.
Where in the U.S does PLAY Airlines Offers Flights to Iceland from?
PLAY airlines U.S service shares a similar model as Icelandair.
For the most part, any airline that offers international flights to Europe can fly across the Atlantic nonstop. PLAY and Icelandair both have flights that stop in Iceland, before connecting to either Europe or North America.
There is a benefit to this type of approach. Both PLAY and Icelandair can charge lower prices than most air carriers flying nonstop across the pond.
Also, the stopover in Iceland can give passengers another place to visit on their way to a vacation in Europe.
Finally, PLAY and Icelandair can connect passengers to destinations beyond the major cities in Europe. For example, PLAY has popular nonstop flights from Iceland to cities in Southern Europe, like Bologna in Italy.
The only advantage PLAY has over Icelandair is that it can offer even lower prices since it’s a low cost airline.
As of February 2025, PLAY offers 3 nonstop flights to Reykjavik from the United States. They offer flights from Baltimore, Boston, and New York via Stewart International Airport in Newburgh.
See below for Play’s U.S departure cities.
Baltimore
PLAY currently flies from Baltimore via Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Flights are offered to Reykjavik/Keflavik daily, 5 to 7 times per week depending on the time of year.
PLAY uses their A320 NEO on this route. The flight takes about 5 hours to complete. The Airbus A320 family are narrowbody aircraft. Five hours is likely the longest you’ll want to be on these types of planes.
Baltimore is the furthest southern destination in the United States that has flights to Iceland with PLAY.
Interestingly enough, Icelandair does have a presence in Baltimore. They fly the same route to Reykjavik as PLAY.
PLAY dedicates over 3600 seats per month on this route from Baltimore. Icelandair flies once a day flights following almost the same flight schedule as PLAY using their Boeing 737 MAX. Both airlines are going “mano y mano” when it comes to seat availability for this route.
Boston
For most Europe bound international airlines, Boston functions as a traditional East Coast departure city. PLAY Airlines makes no exception to this case.
From Boston – Logan International Airport, PLAY flies 5 to 7 times per week, once daily to Iceland depending on the time of year.
PLAY also flies their Airbus A320 on this route. However, they also added their Airbus A321 on some routes from Boston. This is likely because the Airbus A321 seats more passengers. It can accommodate more demand from such a large travel city like Boston.
PLAY sees competition from Icelandair from Boston as well. Icelandair offers slightly more service from Boston. They fly daily, seven days per week. But, on some days they do have twice daily flights.
With that said, with PLAY factoring in their Airbus A321s on some flights, it can offset the extra Icelandair flights, so both these airlines pretty much offer the same amount of seats per month between Boston and Reykjavik.
New York – Newburgh
The most unique departure city for PLAY is definitely Newburgh, New York. Newburgh is in New York’s Hudson Valley. It’s about an hour north of New York City. With New York City and its metropolitan airports so close, why would PLAY decide to fly from Stewart International Airport?
The reason is cost. As a low cost airline, Stewart International Airport is much cheaper to fly into rather than the other New York Metropolitan Area Airports.
PLAY offers a flight to Iceland seven days per week from Newburgh. They use their Airbus A321s on the route.
Besides PLAY, no other airline flies to Iceland, let alone flies internationally from Stewart International Airport.
While competition lacks at this departure airport for PLAY, many airlines have begun and suspended service from Stewart as of late.
With the value proposition of an alternative airport like Stewart versus the other NYC airports being cheaper prices, the cheap price tag comes with the risk of actually getting people to come to Newburgh to fly.
Alternatives to PLAY Airlines
Icelandair
As already outlined, Icelandair is PLAY’s primary competitor. They operate in the same geographic region. Offer a very similar product. And for the most part, fly from the same cities. However, PLAY isn’t on the same level as Icelandair.
Icelandair being the national flag carrier and already an established airline, can offer more flights to more destinations at least here in the U.S.
PLAY is putting more effort on the European leisure market, as that is where it feels much of its success is currently.
But, PLAY can charge cheaper flights than Icelandair hoping to land budget conscious people looking to avoid having to pay higher prices. That comes at a risk, as frills and creature comforts get eliminated on PLAY airlines. To keep the expenses down.
Delta Air Lines
Although Delta is not a direct competitor of PLAY, they are worth mentioning because they do have seasonal service to Iceland from New York-JFK Airport. This is extremely notable because PLAY serves the New York market from Newburgh, which is about an hour away.
A Delta flight to Iceland will be more expensive, but the inflight experience will likely supersede what PLAY Airlines offers.
United Airlines
United Airlines, like Delta, is also an indirect competitor on the Iceland travel market in the New York City area. United offers their flights seasonally out of Newark International Airport. The same arguments for deciding to fly with Delta or PLAY can be made for United or PLAY.
What to Expect Flying on PLAY Airlines?
Cheaper Ticket Prices
The first thing to expect with PLAY Airlines is much cheaper flights than the competition.
For example, we did a one way, economy flight search using Google Flights for a flight between New York and Keflavik in March.
We found that an Icelandair flight from JFK Airport was going for over $400 dollars. When we searched for the same flight, but switched the departure airport to Newburgh, PLAY Airlines offered their nonstop flight for only $160 dollars.
This makes sense. PLAY is a low cost airline. Icelandair is not. But, like what we always say. You get what you pay for. There are many frills and benefits that PLAY excludes from their service that you may find on Icelandair or any other alternative airline.
Flight Bundles
While PLAY’s website doesn’t provide much information about their price structure, the airline provides flight bundles for their passengers, just like many low cost airlines. They have three bundles to choose from: PLAY basic, PLAY Value, and PLAY Flex.
PLAY Basic
PLAY Basic is the airline’s standard bundle product. It’s for passengers that want to pay the base fare, add their seat charge, and pay for a bag if they decide to fly with one.
PLAY Value
PLAY Value is for passengers that need to pack more. You will be able to bring one checked bag, a carry one bag and a personal item. While this bundle costs a bit more than Basic, the added benefits include priority boarding, seat selection, and a 30% discount if you need to change the day you fly.
PLAY Flex
PLAY Flex is the most expensive bundle you can buy. It includes many of the same benefits you can receive for PLAY Value. Yet with Flex, you can bring a heavier checked bag, and seat selection is open for every seat on the plane. Including any XL seats. You can also change the name of the person who will be flying and encounter no fees when changing the flight dates if needed.
Limited Inflight Amenities
Details about the inflight experience are non-existent on PLAY’s website. Yet, we did our research looking at passenger reviews all over the internet.
There is no inflight entertainment on PLAY. Food and drinks are available for sale. Seating arrangements are cramped. All these same characteristics are very typical to an ultra low cost airline.
But, there were several passengers who had positive reviews of the airline’s experience. Typically, these passengers understood that PLAY was getting them from A to B as safely and cheaply as possible. They didn’t bring excess baggage. They brought and preloaded entertainment content on their personal devices.
Our Final Thoughts on PLAY Airlines U.S Operations
PLAY Airlines brings a rather unique approach to transatlantic travel that may be interesting for Americans.
By using Iceland as a jumping off point, people from the United States now have the opportunity to not only visit Iceland but to connect to destinations beyond the most popular cities throughout Europe. The best part is that this is all at a considerable low cost.
While the business model makes sense on paper, the results haven’t been impressive. PLAY has been flying between the U.S and Iceland since 2022. In these three years, PLAY has only been to expand their U.S network to only three cities. This is after eliminating some departure cities like Washington D.C.
With Icelandair owning much of the U.S demand for Iceland, as well as PLAY publicly admitting that they’re focusing on their European product instead of their North American product, it’s only a guess of how much more commitment the airline will put into this transatlantic product.
Room for Improvement?
While the airline has won some awards, flying 5+ hours to Iceland on an Icelandic version of Spirit Airlines isn’t the best user experience for all.
But yes, there is a demographic of budget conscious travelers that will take PLAY’s offer 10 out of 10 times. Some of these passengers are quite happy with the experience.
But let’s look at this with another lens.
If you as an airline are using Iceland as a jump off point to Europe or promote Icelandic tourism, but you nickel and dime passengers for bags, the majority of the passengers may opt for an airline like Delta or Icelandair, which are more expensive but at least you’ll be comfortable and have more amenities.
PLAY Airlines has an interesting concept. It is hard enough being an ultra low cost airline in 2025. Adding the transatlantic factor definitely multiplies that difficulty.
It’ll be interesting to see if PLAY is able to salvage their U.S operations by promoting quality over quantity. Tailwinds working for them include flying a relatively new Airbus fleet. Could they sacrifice a few seats to improve leg room? Could they add WIFI and inflight entertainment on their Airbus A321s? The airline has to be taking a long look at these options, as many ultra low cost carriers are.
Sources
https://www.flyplay.com/en/news/play-airlines-has-been-recognized-as-the-top-low-cost
https://www.flyplay.com/en/about-us
https://www.flyplay.com/en/play-schedule
https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/175cl2x/anyone_fly_play_airlines/
https://thriftytraveler.com/reviews/flights/play-airlines-review/
