I almost booked PLAY Airlines last March, then chickened out and paid $180 more for a Icelandair ticket. Three months later, my friend flew PLAY Boston to Reykjavik for $189 one-way, had a completely fine experience, and sent me a photo of her lava field hike with the caption "worth it." I've been paying closer attention ever since.
PLAY (stylized in all caps, because of course it is) launched in 2021 as the spiritual successor to WOW Air, the Icelandic budget carrier that collapsed mid-flight — metaphorically, thankfully — in 2019. PLAY's pitch is simple: fly cheap from the US East Coast or Europe to Reykjavik, and optionally connect onward through Iceland's Keflavik Airport. It's a lean, no-frills operation with an Airbus A320/A321 fleet and fares that can genuinely make your eyes water in a good way.
But budget airlines live and die by the fine print. So let's actually go through it.
What routes does PLAY fly?
PLAY's network is deliberately narrow, which is either a feature or a bug depending on your itinerary. From North America, they serve Baltimore/Washington (BWI), Boston (BOS), New York Stewart (SWF — not JFK, not Newark, Stewart), and a handful of other East Coast points. European routes include London Gatwick, Paris CDG, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Berlin, and a few others.
All roads lead through Keflavik (KEF). PLAY doesn't operate hub-to-hub transatlantic routes — every single flight touches Iceland. That means if you're flying BWI to Amsterdam on PLAY, you're actually flying BWI-KEF-AMS with a layover in Reykjavik. This is either a free stopover opportunity or an annoying inconvenience, and the difference is entirely your attitude.
The Stewart Airport thing deserves a callout. SWF is 60 miles north of Manhattan. If you're based in New York City and you see a PLAY fare from "New York," budget an extra $30-50 and 90 minutes for ground transport. It's not a dealbreaker, but it has surprised people.
How cheap are PLAY fares actually?
This is where it gets interesting. PLAY's base fares are legitimately low. In 2025-2026, I've tracked:
- BOS-KEF from $129 one-way during shoulder season (April, October)
- BWI-KEF from $149 one-way on select winter dates
- KEF-LGW (London Gatwick) from €59 one-way
- Full transatlantic BOS-AMS via KEF from $299-$389 round-trip during sales
For comparison, here's how PLAY stacks up against the competition on a sample Boston-Reykjavik route in shoulder season:
| Airline | Base fare (one-way) | Carry-on included? | Checked bag (1st) | Seat selection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLAY (Light) | $129-$179 | No (+$39) | +$49-$69 | +$15-$35 |
| PLAY (Comfort) | $199-$249 | Yes | +$49 | Included |
| Icelandair (Economy) | $279-$399 | Yes | +$60 | +$20-$45 |
| Delta (Basic Economy) | $320-$480 | No (+$35) | +$70 | +$39 |
| TAP Air Portugal (via LIS) | $310-$420 | No | +$55 | +$25 |
The baggage fee trap (and how to avoid it)
Here's where PLAY makes its money back. The fare structure has three tiers — Light, Comfort, and Business (yes, they have business class now, which is a little funny for a budget airline, but fine) — and the Light fare is essentially a seat and nothing else.
Light fare includes:- One personal item (under-seat bag, max 42x32x25cm)
- That's it
A carry-on bag is $39-$59 depending on when you add it. Add it at the gate and that number jumps to $80+. A checked bag runs $49-$79 each way. If you're a two-checked-bag traveler flying round-trip, you could easily add $200-$300 to your base fare.
The math I'd recommend doing before every PLAY booking:
- Price out your actual total with the bags you actually travel with
- Compare that to Icelandair's Economy Flex (which includes a checked bag and better change policies)
- If PLAY is still $60+ cheaper all-in, book PLAY. If it's under $40 cheaper, think hard about the flexibility tradeoff.
I set up a FlightKitten hunt on BOS-KEF specifically to catch PLAY's Comfort tier fares during sales — that tier bundles a carry-on and better seat selection, and when it drops to $189-$219 one-way, it's genuinely the best value on the route. Pounce alerts on those are worth having.
Pro Tip: PLAY frequently runs flash sales with 48-72 hour windows. Their "Comfort" fares during these sales often undercut what you'd pay for a Light fare plus carry-on at normal pricing. Follow their email list and set a FlightKitten alert — the sales don't always get announced loudly.
What's the actual onboard experience like?
Let me be honest: I've now flown PLAY twice (I eventually stopped being a coward) and talked to a dozen people who have. The consensus is pretty consistent.
The planes are Airbus A320s and A321neos, which are modern, relatively quiet, and not the cramped regional jets you sometimes get on budget carriers. Seat pitch is around 29-30 inches in standard economy — tight, but not Spirit Airlines tight. The A321neo in particular is a genuinely comfortable aircraft for a 5-6 hour transatlantic hop.
Seats are leather (or leather-adjacent), which I mention only because some budget carriers have gone back to fabric and it shows. Tray tables are standard. There's no seatback entertainment — bring your own downloaded content. There's no in-seat power on older aircraft configurations, though the A321neo has USB-A ports at some seats. Confirm before you go.
Wifi is available for purchase. I paid $12 for a full-flight pass BWI-KEF and it was functional enough to send emails and scroll slowly. Don't expect to stream.
Food, drinks, and the onboard buy-up situation
Nothing is free. This is not a surprise for a budget carrier, but it's worth knowing what you're walking into.
PLAY sells food and drinks onboard. The menu is Iceland-themed in a cute marketing way — there's a "lava" hot chocolate, some Icelandic-branded snacks — and the prices are airport-ish but not outrageous. A meal deal (sandwich + drink) runs about $14-18. A beer is $7-9.
The move, which anyone who's flown European budget carriers already knows, is to eat before you board and bring your own snacks through security. A $4 airport sandwich and a water bottle will serve you better than anything you'll buy onboard, and you'll land $25 richer.
Comfort tier passengers get a voucher for a snack and drink, which is a nice touch and one more reason to watch for Comfort fare sales.
How does PLAY handle disruptions?
This is the real question with any budget carrier, and the honest answer is: it depends, and it's gotten better.
PLAY had a rough patch in 2022-2023 with some cancellations and rebooking headaches that spooked a lot of travelers. In 2024-2025, the operation has tightened up. They fly a limited route network with a small fleet, which means disruptions can cascade — but it also means they're not trying to coordinate 400 daily flights across 30 hubs.
EU261 protections apply on European routes, which is meaningful. For US departures, you're in the standard American consumer protection zone (which is less robust, but PLAY has generally been responsive to complaints based on community reports I've tracked).
My honest take: don't book PLAY if you have a same-day connection to catch at your destination. Give yourself a buffer. If you're flying BWI-KEF and then KEF-CPH on PLAY, and the first leg is delayed, you're in Iceland overnight. That's actually not the worst thing in the world — KEF is a functional, pleasant airport — but it's worth knowing.
Also: PLAY books directly, and their customer service is phone and chat based. There's no GDS presence that makes rebooking through a third-party OTA easy. Book direct, always.
The Iceland stopover angle
This is genuinely underrated. Because every PLAY itinerary touches Keflavik, you can book a stopover in Iceland for free — just book your onward flight as a separate leg with a gap in between. PLAY doesn't charge extra for this.
The Blue Lagoon is 20 minutes from KEF airport. Reykjavik is 45 minutes. You can feasibly land in Iceland at 6am, spend 10 hours exploring, and catch an evening flight to London or Amsterdam. I've seen people do 3-night Iceland stopovers on what was nominally a budget transatlantic ticket, and the total cost — PLAY fares plus a couple of nights in a Reykjavik guesthouse — comes out to less than a direct flight on a legacy carrier.
This is the move that turns PLAY from "decent budget option" to "genuinely clever travel strategy."
Pro Tip: If you're planning a stopover, set separate FlightKitten hunts for each leg independently. Catching a $129 BOS-KEF and a $59 KEF-LGW separately will almost always beat the bundled through-fare, and you'll get pounce alerts when either leg drops.
PLAY vs. the competition: who should actually book it?
Let me just be direct about this.
Book PLAY if:- You're flying from the East Coast to Iceland or onward to Europe and you're flexible on dates
- You can travel with just a personal item OR you're buying Comfort tier
- You're not connecting to a tight onward flight
- You're open to the Iceland stopover and want to make it part of the trip
- You've checked FlightKitten and the all-in price is $80+ cheaper than the next option
- You have checked bags and you're comparing against Icelandair Economy (the gap often disappears)
- You need flexible rebooking — the Light fare is essentially non-refundable
- You're flying from the Midwest or West Coast (the connection via East Coast + KEF adds too many legs)
- You're traveling with kids under 5 and value predictability over price
The comparison I keep coming back to is PLAY Comfort vs. Icelandair Economy. When PLAY Comfort is on sale at $199-$229 one-way BOS-KEF, it beats Icelandair on price, matches it on carry-on inclusion, and loses on checked bags and flexibility. That's a reasonable tradeoff for most budget travelers.
The verdict
PLAY Airlines is the real deal — with caveats. It's not a scam, it's not WOW Air reincarnated, and it's not going to leave you stranded in Reykjavik (probably). It's a lean budget carrier doing exactly what it says on the tin: cheap seats to Iceland and Europe, no frills, your problem if you overpack.
The fares are genuinely competitive. The planes are modern. The experience is fine. The baggage fees are aggressive but predictable. And the Iceland stopover angle makes it one of the more interesting budget carrier strategies in the transatlantic market right now.
My recommendation: put PLAY on your radar, but don't book blind. Run the full cost comparison with your actual bag situation, check whether Comfort tier is within $30 of Light-plus-carry-on, and set a FlightKitten alert so you catch the flash sales when they happen. That's when PLAY goes from "pretty good deal" to "why is everyone not talking about this."
If you're hunting East Coast to Europe fares, add a PLAY catch to your watchlist. The $299 round-trip BOS-AMS windows exist. I've seen them. You just have to be ready to pounce.
