Review of SAS flight Chicago → Stockholm in Premium Eco

Welcome to my flight report, finally international! 

My husband and I went on a long-awaited international getaway to Austria and Scandinavia. Flight prices to Europe are brutal thanks to various factors, including pent-up pandemic demand, so we as customers are basically seen as happy to pay whatever to get to Europe. Thankfully, SAS was running a great sale, with discounts even on premium economy. Say what??

 I've seen lots of flight reports that show premium economy as fine but maybe not worth paying $1200 ish or more. Well, I had the best of both worlds with this deal. We had premium economy for about $800 roundtrip per person, and the SAS premium economy is quite robust in its benefits. You get more for less with air travel here: even if it's just a brief promotion, we sure as hell took advantage of it.

 Though we were intending on flying nonstop to Vienna via SAS, by the time I refreshed the page to book, those flights were sold out. Our first leg was ORD to ARN, and after this, we flew ARN to VIE. On the way back, we were going to end our trip in Stockholm anyway, and we grabbed a direct flight from ARN back to ORD, so only the flight(s) to Europe were not direct. 

Of course, the fly in the ointment is that, by the time we got to Europe, we were tired. This wasn't just regular tired but absolutely zombified, confused, grumpy, oblivious to concepts of space or time. TLDR we didn't sleep on the plane (he tried, I kind of did but never can?). Thankfully, at the ORD check-in desk, we talked to an SAS agent who changed our second flight so we didn't spend 7 hours in ARN, just 2-3, getting into Vienna earlier in the (next) day. On that day, we barely registered where we were while in ARN but benefited from a comfy lounge, thanks to the SAS Plus ticket. Lingonberry jam FTW. We stayed up for the shorter flight and landed even more dead/zombie-like in Vienna. Why does the Vienna airport smell like cigarettes nearly everywhere? Our hotel wound up being deceptively tiny and badly laid out, so we did the rare thing of switching to a different hotel. This time, we were in a bigger chain hotel that was beautifully maintained, had large and comfortable rooms, and was way closer to the center of Vienna anyway. It was a long day, but we came out on top! 

To backtrack and take you through our flight experience, we began at ORD in a stupidly long security line. It's been forever since I've traveled internationally, so things have changed - namely, staff now walk through the security line to try to sell you CLEAR. It is very tacky and I hate that they keep going up to people like we're at some sporting event and trying to sell us hot dogs. BTW I could've gone through the precheck line but stayed in the long one with my non-precheck husband to be nice. I later told him that on the way back, I would skip the customs line and ditch him for Global Entry (which I have, and it includes precheck). He understood! 

I want to warn you that the SAS lounge in ORD is a pathetic space - small, cramped (you spend the entire time weaving around people), and weirdly hot on a chilly spring day. It is barely worth the free anything you get! The ORD international terminal is under construction, which is their excuse to make it super cramped. Once you get to the post-construction area, it looks nice, but the multicolored chairs feel like crap. Oh, and during our gate walking, we passed an empty gate where a woman was playing the recorder, one of the most shrill instruments around. Why was this happening? It was so weird! \  

But here we are on a beautiful plane! Whew. As I said above, SAS Premium Economy (AKA Plus) is a well done affair. It is not just skimping but truly a legitimately luxurious product. The seats are wider, the legroom is crazy, and the seats are pretty darn plush and comfortable for so many hours. Also, the screens are very large (even in economy, they were a good size!). I felt very pampered for my first international trip in a decade, a perfect situation, especially after the crappy experience of ORD Terminal 5. When we got to our seats, we had a huge blanket, a good pillow, and a shoe bag with headphones, a sleep mask, and I forgot what else (sorry). It was very nice :)
 

We agreed that one day we would name our future child Ekobyggeriet. Just kidding. I feel like some Scandinavian languages are meant to be an initiation prank for the non-native speakers. Consider Danish. Ask how something is pronounced; it will not be what you think. (I mean zero offense. English is difficult too! And Denmark was a dream to visit. The people were so kind. We felt SO very short.)

Another seat pic so you can get an idea of the tasteful medium luxury environment. Please disregard my husband's Reptar socks. If you can't wear novelty socks on a plane, where you'll never see people again, where else can you show them off? (Fun fact, we actually saw someone on the plane back, ARN-ORD. It was one of the flight attendants! On the way back, when we mentioned it, she seemed mildly confused at first, but then she said she remembered us. No shame if she doesn't, since she sees so many customers day to day. But it was sweet, because later in the flight, she said "see you next time!")

We love a USB charger that keeps our battery fresh! Also, SAS has lots of in-house videos, which is cool, but many are only 1 minute long? I watched many, including for cities I was not visiting. The Belgrade 3 minute video is from maybe 15 years ago at least, has zero narration, and is just weird fast-forward montages with loud music. Was the video editor on drugs? Probably! Also, I recommend skipping the 3 minute video about how they pick color schemes for SAS. The people involved in it have some of the most monotonous speaking styles I have ever experienced.

I can count on one finger what I didn't like about this setup. The seat pocket is very tightly wound, for lack of a better term. Putting items into the pocket is weirdly difficult, and you need a lot of strength and/or momentum to force it open. Keeping it open is even harder! This makes putting things in and taking things out both a bit of a chore. 

Cute mini tray! We were both amused by this. It had some crumbs (especially the ones we had on the way back), but it within the realm of "normal" in my opinion. We weren't planning on licking the trays anyway :)

Iberia and Viva Aerobus spotting before takeoff. Our gate was near many flights to Mexico. We knew we were not heading toward such good weather!

Wing pic! I didn't mean for my row to be in such a good position, wing-wise, but good for me, haha.

I forgot what I watched on the way there, but I think it involved the Danish political TV show Borgen, on my own device. Night was falling, as it did with both home and destination time zones, but we seemed immune to the effects of darkness and stayed up like weirdos. I remember what I watched on the way back, in case that helps any future SAS flight you might be taking. Sick of Myself, a Norwegian film, is solid if you can put up with awfully narcissistic characters (a woman hates that her boyfriend gets attention as an artist, so she begins to fake allergies, and then she takes discontinued Russian prescription drugs because she knows the side effects will make her face disfigured). Then, I watched 42, the film about Jackie Robinson, a trailblazer in baseball, featuring the gone-too-soon Chadwick Boseman. I highly recommend it! I also watched more Borgen. 

SAS takes mood lighting seriously. They saw that they could change up color gradients and got excited, I think. Even during descent, we went through a solid 5-10 colors within a short time. 

Other than my first-ever domestic first flight (report available on this site too!), I had never used real silverware or glasses on a plane. The excitement is not lost on me. Moreover, the ever-exclusive crystal brand Orrefors is used onboard. Ooh la la! 

It was cool to watch Borgen's 4th season/reboot (Power and Glory), which centers on the lucrative discovery of oil in Greenland, while flying over Greenland. 

I forgot to take pictures of the meal, but it was a pleasant serving of chicken marsala with a few noodles and green beans. The alcohol selection was basically "one of everything," so one whiskey option, one gin option, one red wine option, etc. I had some tasty red wine, I think Malbec. Also, I loved the sparkling water (Ramlosa).

This isn't going into my rating below, since this was on the flight back instead, but the fish entree I got then was awful. I thought the cod would be inoffensive in taste, but it was too fishy and had unappetizing purple spots from the purple pearl onions that had been on top of it for hours.  

Our descent into Stockholm, with its many islands! It was funny landing somewhere we were just passing through - but knew we'd be visiting fully a week and a half later. Thus, our SAS lounge at ARN was a bookend. By the time we returned to it at the very end of our trip, it felt like it had been weeks since our bedraggled selves went there in the first place.

Swedish efficiency is real, but it doesn't fully extend to the airport. Upon landing, we waited for a while in the immigration line. This was after flying through the night without sleeping, and knowing we still had a flight to Vienna to go. However, we found it funny because, amid the multilingual conversation noise, we would hear a cat in a carrier meowing loudly every so often. Just background murmuring and then "meooooowwwwwwwrrr," rinse and repeat. We went through security during the layover, which was uneventful and had no line, but it was funny because the employee was baffled by my (under 3 ounce) spray can of static remover. It helps the clothes not cling, people!

Also, fair warning that ARN is well maintained, bright, and stylish, even during construction (listen up ORD), but its SAS lounge is very very far away from many gates. Speaking of those gates, on the way back, our gate for our direct flight to Chicago was separated by a gate-specific security barrier. It was very strange to me. There was maybe one restaurant in the entire large area, and even to go there after getting through gate security, you would have to go back through this security system, making it a hassle just to get a crappy sandwich. I had not seen anything like this, and I lived in the USA during and after 9/11. 

Anyway, my ARN-VIE, MUC-CPH, and ARN-ORD related pictures are not enough to form a report, so thanks for dealing with a bit of other-flight discussion here. And thanks for reading! Tak!