PLAY airlines announces its first route in Canada

To the point Iceland's low-cost airline PLAY Airlines has announced its first service to Canada, with a flight from Hamilton beginning in June 2023.

Flights to Iceland Flights to the rest of Europe Luggage and other fees Where does PLAY Airlines come from? Using Reward Points with PLAY

Those who were saddened by the bankruptcy of WOW Air will be delighted to learn that PLAY Airlines is gradually taking over and will begin its first routes in Canada as early as June 22, 2023 from Hamilton John C. Munro International Airport.

The first route has been announced between Hamilton and Reykjavik, starting June 22, 2023. Here are the details:

Flight OG202 : Departure from Hamilton YHM at 6:35 pm and arrival at 4:20 am the next day in Reykjavik KEF
Flight OG201: Departure from Reykjavik KEF at 2:50 pm and arrival at 5:10 pm in Hamilton YHM

At the time of writing, PLAY Airlines serves 30 European destinations.

To celebrate its arrival in Canada, PLAY Airlines is offering flights to 13 European destinations for as little as $169, as well as to Keflavik from $129 including taxes and fees for flights between August and October 2023.

This offer ends on January 31, 2023.

Flights to Iceland

Iceland is on your list of dream destinations? These low prices for direct flights to Reykjavik from Hamilton should interest you.

After a short search and through the introductory offer, we found a Hamilton-Reykjavik round trip for $348 from June 22 to July 6, 2023.

Flights to the rest of Europe

For example, a round trip from Hamilton (shown here as Toronto) to Barcelona in late August costs $555. However, long stopovers in Reykjavik should be considered.

Luggage and other fees

As is usually the case with low-cost airlines, it is important to consider the cost of a carry-on or checked bag.

According to the chart on PLAY’s website, it costs $62 for a carry-on bag and $72 for a checked bag during the booking process. Prices go up if you choose one of these options after booking, and even more so if you wait until you are directly at the airport.

These prices are per flight, and increase when booking with a stopover, as detailed here:

The same applies to seat selection and flight change fees. Therefore, it is important to go through the booking process to know the total price before you book.

Where does PLAY Airlines come from?

If you’re not familiar with the name, it’s probably because the airline has only been around since 2019, and only operated in Europe at first. The company was founded by the former WOW Air management team and operates A321NEO and A320NEO aircraft. PLAY made its North American debut in 2022.

Using Reward Points with PLAY

With a travel rewards credit card, you can use your reward points as a credit of all or part of your airline ticket.

For example, charge the expense to one of the credit cards below. Then, you will be able to refund all or part of the cost of your airfare. For example, if your PLAY ticket from Hamilton to Reykjavik cost $348, you could use :

34,800 Membership Rewards points from the American Express Cobalt^® Card (or other Membership Rewards credit card)
34,800 RBC Rewards points from RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card (or an Avion credit card)
34,800 Scene+ points from Scotiabank Passport™ Visa Infinite* Card (or other Scene+ credit card)
45,000 points (for a $225 discount) or your $100 annual Travel Privilege credit from the HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^®

There are options to reduce costs of checking in luggage, choosing a seat on board or parking at the airport. Don’t forget that you can use up to $150 in annual credits on your National Bank’s World Elite Mastercard^®.