Icelandair vs United
United scores 8/10 against Icelandair at 6/10 on seat, screens, lounge and fare.
By Jon Miksis · cabin data verified · fares for travel November 8–14, 2026
Best product each one flies
Scored on what can be verified. Service, food and ground recovery are absent deliberately: they need someone in the seat, and they live in the reviews rather than here.
One caveat on the Value line, stated rather than buried: the cabin scores describe a business product and the fares behind Value are economy. A carrier that prices economy aggressively generally prices business the same way, but they are different products. Read Value as how an airline prices against its competitors, not as what its business seat costs.
Icelandair
737 MAX / 757 (Saga Premium)
- Seat
- 0/10
- IFE
- 4/10
- Lounge & bags
- 10/10
- Value
- 10/10
- Product score
- 6/10
United
777 / 787 (Polaris) · flown by Jon
- Seat
- 8/10
- IFE
- 8/10
- Lounge & bags
- 10/10
- Value
- 6/10
- Product score
- 8/10
Dimension by dimension
Seat: United
0/10 on the 737 MAX / 757 (Saga Premium) against 8/10 on the 777 / 787 (Polaris).
IFE: United
Screens, connectivity and power: 4/10 against 8/10.
Lounge & bags: level
What the fare includes before you board: 10/10 against 10/10.
Value: Icelandair
Median premium over the cheapest carrier on the same route: 10/10 against 6/10.
Where both were priced on the same dates
Every fare is November 8–14, 2026, so a difference between two rows is a difference between two airlines and nothing else. These are economy fares, while the cabin scores above describe the business product — read them as how each airline prices against its competitors, not as what its business seat costs.
| Route | Cabin | Icelandair | United | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOS → KEF | economy | $449 | $471 | Icelandair by $22 |
| MCO → KEF | economy | $772 | $477 | United by $295 |
| ORD → KEF | economy | $727 | $517 | United by $210 |
| MCO → ZRH | economy | $633 | $799 | Icelandair by $166 |
| ORD → CDG | economy | $649 | $1034 | Icelandair by $385 |
| ORD → AMS | economy | $655 | $1291 | Icelandair by $636 |
| ORD → DUB | economy | $673 | $759 | Icelandair by $86 |
| MCO → CDG | economy | $680 | $1116 | Icelandair by $436 |
| ORD → LHR | economy | $699 | $1678 | Icelandair by $979 |
| MCO → MUC | economy | $703 | $862 | Icelandair by $159 |
| MCO → AMS | economy | $714 | $1136 | Icelandair by $422 |
| MCO → FRA | economy | $714 | $1280 | Icelandair by $566 |
| ORD → FRA | economy | $734 | $1114 | Icelandair by $380 |
| MCO → DUB | economy | $748 | $857 | Icelandair by $109 |
| MCO → BCN | economy | $823 | $770 | United by $53 |
| MCO → FCO | economy | $838 | $786 | United by $52 |
| ORD → ZRH | economy | $896 | $857 | United by $39 |
| ORD → MUC | economy | $960 | $909 | United by $51 |
| ORD → FRA | business | $3195 | $6832 | Icelandair by $3637 |
Common questions
- Is Icelandair or United better to Europe?
- United scores 8/10 against Icelandair at 6/10 on seat, screens, lounge and fare. On the four dimensions we can verify, Icelandair wins 1 and United wins 2. Service and food are not scored here because they cannot be read off a spec sheet.
- Which is cheaper, Icelandair or United?
- On the 19 routes where both were priced for the same week (November 8–14, 2026), Icelandair was cheaper on 13 and United on 6. Every pair of fares is the same departure and return date in the same cabin, so the difference is the airline rather than the dates or the cabin.
- Does the aircraft change the answer?
- Not on seat: both carriers fly a consistent product across the aircraft we have verified.
- Has Jon flown either of these?
- United, in business on a Europe route. Icelandair has not been flown, so nothing here claims firsthand experience of its cabin.
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