SAS Scandinavian

Forward trip to Copenhagen was canceled, nobody contacted me, I only found out in Chicago - I live 400 miles away. They booked me to Vilnius, and I planed to spend 3 days in Copenhagen with my daughter. Finally I got the last seat for the next days flight, so I lost one day. Trip to Vilnius was late, they changed the gate a few times. Return trip was through Stockholm Arlanda airport, plane to Chicago was late 3 hours! It was a 10.20 am trip, they promised a 12.45 trip, plane left at 1.30 pm. First time on 9 hour trip with no hot meal! All food was cold. Will never pick SAS again.

We had nothing but delays and lost luggage. Our fight from Copenhagen to Bergen was cancelled, rerouted flight to Oslo was delayed twice due to mechanical issues and a missing loading stairway. The delay into Oslo caused a missed flight to Bergen which was rescheduled, putting us in Bergen 6.5 hours behind our regularly scheduled arrival time. Flying back to Copenhagen from Bergen (a direct flight) was no different. We had to make a detour to Stavenger to pick up 60 passengers who were stranded due to mechanical issues/cancelled flight. This detour delayed our flight arrival by 1.5 hours. Had we arrived on time at 9.30 pm we would have missed the SAS baggage handlers strike that began at 10.00 pm. It has been nothing but frustration in dealing with SAS. The only positive that I can say about SAS is that they have very nice customer service representatives in their airport location - unfortunately they did not have nearly enough to handle the demands of the situation. Finally, the quality of the actual airplane was hit and miss. All said, if you can fly a different airline, I would highly recommend you do that, even if it costs more.

SK 539, CPH-MAN on an A320. I got an incredible fare of USD60 for this flight on their website so really can't complain too much. This rockbottom economy fare still came with 23kg baggage allowance with seat selection only at online check-in. For some reason, their self check in / bag tag machines at CPH wouldn't scan my passport. Helpful SAS staff did direct me to check in again at one of the counters, and this was resolved. Boarding was quick and flight was right on time. On board, its the usual buy on board menu with a free coffee. The cabin crew were very personable and seemed to enjoy their work. The seats are slimline so while you might have decent legroom its not the most comfortable after a while. For the price I paid, SAS did the job for this short trip. Though without the free wifi onboard that Norwegian offers, SAS would be an easy one to pass on, if the fare was any higher.

HEL-CPH-MAN on 2nd June 2015. At Helsinki airport there were no facilities to get checked in apart from Self Service machines. I was amazed that once you have your boarding card you also have to tag your own luggage and then scan it personally at the SAS check in. There were a large party of Chinese travellers transiting through CPH to Beijing who were seen to be struggling and were offered limited assistance and were treated very disrespectfully by the check in supervisor. First sector was by Blue1 on a Boeing 717. Comfortable modern seats but no catering apart from an overpriced buy on board menu and free tea and coffee - they might as well not bother. Second sector from CPH-MAN on an SAS A321. Staff nice but again no catering. I know that all airlines are charging for more services but self service boarding card bag check in and zero catering is a joke. Would never choose SAS again.

MAN-OSL-HEL on May 29th 2015. Booked seats way in advance only to check my booking online to see that the aircraft had changed and seats had changed with it. There was no correspondence from SAS to inform me of this. Had to phone a premium rate number to get them changed. Check in at Manchester was unprofessional and disorganized. Very tired and dull looking aircraft which were on time. Onboard there was NO catering apart from a ridiculously overpriced buy on board selection and free tea and coffee. The free tea and coffee was more like coloured water and the cabin crew looked quite embarrassed to be serving it - they might as well not bother. Staff looked generally uninterested and you can fly other carriers for the same price and get a lot more service and quality. Will not be booking with SAS again.

Arlanda to Edinburgh. Shabby old 737 aircraft. 10 mins after departure time captain comes on PA and says there's a 10 min delay as nobody to despatch plane. 30 min after this wagons with bags turn up. Flight leaves an hour late. Captain again on PA saying not to worry we have a straight route to EDI and we'd make up time. We didn't and I missed onward connection. Coffee free (same sort of cup you'd get from a free machine at a garage) but everything else paid for. I'd flown a few days earlier on Air Serbia with some reluctance & what a nice surprise - virtually a full breakfast meal in economy nicely presented. All flights on time and excellent transfer service. At EDI SAS flight parked next to Ryanair aircraft well away from main terminal. So parks in budget airline slot no free drinks or food poor reliability shabby equipment. That makes SAS a budget carrier and a poor one at that as many budget carriers these days invest in new fleets. Price wasn't cheap either.

HEL-CPH-LHR on a CR9 and then an A321. Both flights arrived early and baggage claim at Heathrow was speedy. Service is limited only tea or coffee is free although a second cup was offered on the CPH-LHR sector. You can buy food but I noticed a number of passengers out of CPH tucking into sandwiches they had purchased at the airport. The A321 has nose wheel cam which displayed on the overhead screens. Great images of the taxi and take off and approach onto 27L at Heathrow. Seats are ok - not leather but fabric like the old days. The crews are mixed. The older staff are fine jolly and do smile the younger ones though are the opposite. They are efficient but seemed unable to smile. This let the airline down. As for recommending they are ok but you might get as good a deal using some LLCs from CPH.

We flew from Dulles to Copenhagen in May we were moved back 12 rows and told we can do that if we want to. I had made reservations five months before the flight and paid extra to chose decent seats. Big show of giving business class wet towels and glass stemware and chocolate mints while the rest of us received dry disgusting sandwiches in boxes. You even have to buy peanuts! Surly waitresses (I can't call then stewardesses) hard old seats half the touch screens on their miserable "entertainment" constantly malfunctioned. I will not fly SAS ever again.

CPH to VNO 8th May 2015. The route was operated by Estonian Air. No food no drinks not even for sale. No inflight magazine no safety instruction leaflet no waste bag. The "free" newspaper never materialized. When I friendly mentioned to the cabin staff that it was supposed to be a SAS flight they couldn't care less. As far as I'm concerned I paid a whole lot of money for a SAS flight that turned out to be an Estonian Air flight with a level of service that is completely unacceptable even the low-cost carriers do better.

ARN-TXL-ARN in April in SAS plus. B737-800 of somewhat ageing model but still well kept. SAS plus is a mix between business and premium economy within European and domestic routes and works fine. As a SAS and star Alliance gold member offered seat block. Breakfast on first leg was good as was lunch on second leg back. Free drinks and snacks on that is a nice touch. FA's polite and smiling which is always nice. Flight back no priority boarding but by bus to gate which feels very low cost especially flying in premium cabin. Flights on time.