In a world where travellers have wide choice in who they fly with, Icelandair have come up with an interesting way to differentiate themselves from the crowd. Passengers flying over the Atlantic can stop over in Iceland for up to seven nights, at no extra cost. They can even be accompanied by a stopover buddy …an Icelandair employee…who will help them explore the country. The stopovers are available to anyone flying between Europe and the USA or Canada with Icelandair.

The scheme seems to achieve a number of things simultaneously:

1.    It gives people a reason to pick Icelandair over other carriers
2.    It promotes Icelandic tourism
3.    It creates free publicity for both the airline and the country

Is this an idea you could take inspiration from? Could you give your customers something free of charge, which none of your competitors can match? Or could you ‘hijack’ them mid-transaction to give them the opportunity to try out something else you want to sell?

www.icelandair.us/stopover-buddy