Review of SAS flight from Copenhagen to Aarhus in Economy

Hey again,

I arrived from Budapest to Copenhagen at around 9:00 and I was supposed to attend an university activity in the city. This was cancelled last minute so I started thinking about going to Aarhus the same day. I didn't have a booking because I didn't know when I would to be able to go. Tricky situation but I guess I really made the most of it.

There are several ways to get from Copenhagen to Denmark’s second city. The cheapest option (from 13€) is the Flixbus company. Getting there takes roughly 4 hours – for me this seemed to be quite boring. Taking the bus-ferry combo via Sjællands Odde is more interesting (from 14€) – but still takes about 4 hours from the airport. Another way to get there was by train; the service quality provided by the state railways of Denmark is clearly high – just like the fares shortly before departure. I would’ve loved to go by seaplane (opt by Nordic Seaplanes), it’s been on my bucket list for a long time now. But this is mostly for business people so its price is obviously very expensive (around 250€ each way). I opted for SAS’s youth fare (25 or younger) and paid about 40€ for the one-way flight. Yes, three hours before departure! The ticket price would have normally been 140€ but SAS is generous to offer cheap tickets on this route to young people even very shortly before taking off.

I booked on my phone but as it was about to die I asked a kind lady at the SAS transfer desk to print out my boarding pass. She was happy to help me. 

I made my way to the SAS business lounge since I still had 2,5 hours before the gate was due to close. I purchased access at the front desk. The interior is stylish:

It was still breakfast time when I arrived: 

My choice: 

The lounge is also perfect for those who want to relax:
(Note: there are shower facilities available) 

There’s even a real fireplace: 

And a working zone (with computers and printers): 

Meanwhile they started serving lunch:

I had a bowl of SAS’ signature tomato soup along with bulgur, feta cheese, salmon rillette and salads. The meal was completely restaurant quality, especially the soup. Don’t miss it if you’re here!

More pictures of the lounge: 

Some interesting facts of today:

I asked an assistant when boarding would normally start and she answered „in these seconds”. She was right so I went to gate E1 at 11:55.

The new part of the airport: 

Our gate from where boarding is by bus: 

This Scandinavian Airlines-operated, Regional Jet-owned, Estonian-registered ATR-72-600 aircraft with a Nordica livery carried us on this Danish domestic route today:

View and legroom in the last row: 

While the attendants demonstrated the safety features we taxied to the runway, took off at 12:38 and turned immediately westbound. 

A friendly cabin crew member came to me and said that he had noticed me taking pictures of the aircraft and asked if I was into aviation. I answered „yes, definitely” and we chatted a bit about this plane type. He offered that he’d ask the captain if he allows me to enter the cockpit after landing. I got super excited :D

Some tea and coffee were offered later:  

I found some interesting articles in the onboard magazine (SAS’ brand new A350, developing the route network, how to install wi-fi on aircrafts) but I didn’t have time to read them.

We reached the cruising altitude of 14,000 ft at 12:49 and started descent at 12:51 – yes, it was a short hop. We landed in Aarhus at 13:03 so the total flight time was 25 minutes.

Aarhus Airport’s terminal building is almost as big as London-Heathrow (joke): 

I wasn’t able to have a look in the cockpit due to our 3-minute delay. But it was still a great flight onboard ES-ATB: 

The airport from in- and outside: 

I was already on the bus which connects the airport and the city centre only eight minutes after landing. The bus departs according to the arrival of the flights.

Thanks for reading!