Review of SAS flight from Copenhagen to Chicago in Economy

Welcome to Part 2 of my trip with Scandinavian Airlines from Düsseldorf, Germany to Chicago O'Hare, via Copenhagen Kastrup, Denmark! I was lucky to catch the plane as I only had ten minutes to get to my connecting flight. Good thing Copenhagen International is such an efficient airport and I made it through passport control very quickly.
 

Our aircraft was an Airbus A330-300, a twin-engine jet airliner, specifically designed for medium- to long-range flights. It can fly distances of up to 7,250 nautical miles (13,430 kilometers/8,350 miles) and can accommodate up to 335 passengers. 
 

Unfortunately, I didn't get a window seat on this flight, which, I think, is one of the downsides when booking cheap fares online, such as Expedia. But at least every passenger had their own Inflight Entertainment (IFE) screen, so I could observe information that I'm really interested in. :) I'm in pilot training, by the way, where things like weather, coordinates, and altitudes are part of the schedule throughout flight school.

It was a pretty short taxi to the runway as there were not many airplanes departing at that time. We took off on runway 04R, which is the one in the lower right corner before we made a left turn to head northwest towards Iceland & Greenland.

This was my first west-bound transatlantic flight taking off in the afternoon. Before, I had always departed in the morning hours, but it was an interesting experience. :)

Soon after take off, the flight attendants started with the beverage service. For the first couple of hours I couldn't sleep, because, if you read my review of my previous flight from Düsseldorf, Germany, you will notice that even that flight didn't take off until mid-afternoon, so I was able to sleep in before heading to the airport.

Lunch was served over Stavanger, Norway. On most transatlantic flights like this one, passengers in Economy have a choice between chicken and pasta. I chose the chicken, served with BBQ sauce, a salad and bread. It was very delicious! (Despite the difference in air pressure, which makes food taste less good :)). 

I took a short nap to get into the new time zone better, and woke up as we were approaching Greenland. I spent the rest of the flight watching movies, reading a bit, and listening to some typical Scandinavian music. :) SAS has a great selection of films, songs, and games to entertain yourself on a long flight. We also had some turbulence over the Atlantic, as usual, but since our route took us further north where there is not as much air traffic, we were able to climb to higher altitudes pretty much any time it got bumpy.

As we approached the US-Canadian border, the flight attendants served a pre-arrival snack: a burrito and a smoothie. Also very tasty!

Almost there!

We were over the east side of Lake Michigan when the Captain announced our descent into Chicago. He told us that the weather was nice, with lots of sunshine and mild temperatures. We flew through a couple of holding patterns, but landed on time. Despite some crosswinds the pilot brought the Airbus down very smoothly and we arrived at the gate shortly afterwards.
Down below I have posted a video of our landing in Chicago. One of the things I enjoyed most about the IFE was that it featured camera views  of the aircraft, and of course, I chose the "pilots' view". :) My compliments to the Captain for a butter-soft landing!