7 reviews
Welcome to the third part of this series of reviews to, from, and within Scandinavia.
Although I am generally a loyal oneworld flyer, I do enjoy opportunities to try airlines outside of the alliance from time to time. I was looking forward to flying Scandinavian Airlines for the firs time in many years. I found prices for SAS Go Smart fares to be quite reasonable. These fares include baggage and seat assignments, as opposed to the more basic and cheaper SAS Go Light fares, which include neither.
There is no Business class on SAS short-haul flights, only a Premium Economy product marketed as SAS Plus. The benefits of an SAS Plus fare are similar to short-haul Business class fares with more flexibility, additional baggage allowance, priority check-in, priority boarding, lounge access, and complimentary food and drinks on board. The main difference with traditional European Business class is the lack of a free middle seat. Prices to purchase SAS Plus at booking were about double the price of standard Economy fares, which I found to be expensive for these short flights considering there was no difference in seating from Economy. Luckily, SAS have a system in place to bid for upgrades, which started at 40 USD per person for eligible segment. I bid the minimum of $40 at booking and was notified about 48h before the flight that we had been upgraded.
After a nice few days in the beautiful Danish capital, it was on to out next Scandinavian destination–the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway.
Reviews in this series:
For this flight at 8AM, we had to get up very early to take the train to the airport. Luckily, we were staying very close to the central station so it was quick.
The direct train to the airport is a comfortable train that continues on to Sweden. It's a bit more expensive than the metro, but much more convenient.
We arrived at the terminal about 2 hours before departure. I had checked in on the SAS app 24 hours ahead of the flight, but needed to drop off out checked baggage.
The Business class check-in counters, to which we had access as SAS Plus passengers, were mostly quiet with only a few people in the queue ahead of us.
Baggage drop off was friendly and efficient and we were on our way to security in just a few minutes.
As mentioned earlier, SAS Plus passengers have access to priority security screening through the Fast Track lanes.
Going through Fast Track security was quick and efficient and the personnel were friendly and helpful, even at this very early hour.
As is most airports, there is a duty free shop on the other side of security.
It was a bit of a walk to the SAS lounge from security, and I remember signage being a bit confusing, but once you're headed in the right direction it's very obvious to see where it is, as the entrance is right on the main concourse.
The lounge is on two levels, with the Business lounge on the main level, and the Star Alliance Gold lounge on the mezzanine level.
The main lounge is a good size with several seating areas. The areas closest to the entrance were the most crowded, while we found areas in the back of the lounge to be quieter.
We had no issues finding seating near windows–not that there was much to see in the dark of the early morning.
There was also a Flight information screen conveniently nearby so we could keep an eye on the status of our flight.
There are a few work stations and free printing available.
The self serve bar is simple with a few sodas, juices, beer, and wine available. It kind of reminded me of an Ikea restaurant–not in a bad way.
Food options were basic, nothing fancy, but certainly enough to snack on while waiting for a flight.
Not being super familiar with CPH, as it had been a long while since I'd been here, we left the lounge about 10 minutes before boarding to allow enough time to find the gate.
Boarding was just about to begin as we arrived at the gate. This was one of the first times I'd ever been through automated boarding gates without agents present.
As Premium Economy tickets come with priority boarding, we boarded early with group 1.
The cabin gave a good impression. It's very clean with reasonably well-padded modern slimline seats.
The legroom isn't great, however. Configured with 189 seats, the maximum possible for a 737-800, these wet-leased Jet Time aircraft didn't offer the same level of comfort as standard SAS cabins, which are configured less densely and have additional legroom in forward rows. The average seat pitch on these Jet Time 737-800s is a very tight 29" (74cm).
Despite the tight spacing, the seats themselves are reasonably comfortable.
There is a QR code on the bottom of the tray table in front leading to the buy-on-board menu. As JetTime aircraft do not have Wi-Fi, the menu must me downloaded on the ground prior to switching phones to airplane mode.
There's a decent variety of snacks and drinks for purchase, and the prices seems reasonable, though I didn't see any kind of fresh food like sandwiches, which is a shame.
Boarding was completed on time and doors were closed right at scheduled departure time.
We pushed back a few minutes later as the sun was rising and the rain was tapering off.
After a quick taxi we were off.
Once again, great views of the impressive Øresund Bridge
Flying just south of the Danish port city of Helsingør, with the Swedish city of Helsingborg just across the Øresund strait
Our 11-year-old aircraft, OY-JYA, which originally flew with FlyDubai, was equipped with the modern Boeing Sky Interior and had nice mood-lighting.
As time in the air between Copenhagen and Olso is barely 50 minutes, the cabin crew were up and about in the cabin shortly after takeoff and wasted no time in distributing the light meals in the SAS Plus cabin.
The cold meal came in a box, which is perfectly fine for Premium Economy.
The contents were surprisingly good with deli meats, cheeses, and cherry tomatoes, a juice, yogurt with raspberry granola on the side, and some bread served separately.
Very decent, considering that this is not Business class, and the flight was less than 50 minutes in the air. In addition to the included juice, cabin crew offered coffee, tea, juices, water, and other soft drinks in the Premium Economy section. Note that all drinks are chargeable in Economy, with the exception of water, coffee, or tea.
Beautiful early morning colours as we started our descent into Oslo.
It was misty and rainy below the clouds, but it did not impact our on time arrival.
Velkommen til Norge!
Nice view of our ride on deplaning.
While I have to admit I was a bit disappointed when I found out that our SAS flight would be operated by Jet Time, the AvGeek in me welcomed the opportunity to try a new airline. The service on board was according to SAS standards, so there was no difference there. The Jet Time cabin was more basic and more cramped than SAS aircraft, which are less dense and have in-seat USB power, as well as Wi-Fi. Neverless, it was a perfectly comfortable flight for the short 50-minute hop between Scandinavian capitals and the cabin crew were lovely and cheerful despite the early morning hour.
Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 3 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Copenhagen (CPH) → Oslo (OSL).
La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Jet Time avec 6.9/10.
La durée moyenne des vols est de 1 heures et 16 minutes.
More information
4 Comments
Yup, it was a really great value! Especially since I don't like flying airlines on which I don't have elite status, so it totally made up for it
No more Jet Time flying for SAS. The upgrade bidding is an SAS thing---they do upgrade bidding on all their flights, so sometimes you can get lucky on long-haul with some cheap bids up to Business. The leased Jet Time aircraft ] were only flying for SAS a few months for extra lift to meet demand as SAS's own 737 fleet was being retired as planned.
Thanks for your comments!
A bargain considering the included amenities. You’d pay double that for just an extra legroom seat on a legacy US carrier.
The SK Lounge is really nothing remarkable since lacks hot food options, but is fine for a short 1h stay (I’ve had to kill multiple hours here before, which is less ideal) and allowed you the chance to avoid wandering the terminal and letting your son see the big Lego store…
I guess at the time you travelled, mainline SK still was operating B737s, didn’t retire them until end of the year. Nowadays, should be a red flag if B738 is shown as the aircraft type. JP also operates for DY do the 29” seat pitch is appropriate. Please tell me you got the YooHoo Toy Pilot ;)
For a <1h breakfast time flight, the offering is on par with most full-service J carriers. The non-blocked middle seat is really the only deficiency in their product, I guess we’ll see if they keep the model or follow AF/KL.
Great aerials throughout, lucky to have clear skies in the late fall. Even got to see the ET 5th freedom at OSL.
Absolutely! I really wasn't expecting to win the bid, so I just bid the minimum...amazing value indeed considering that just buying lounge access separately costs more that than at more airlines.
Exactly, the food options are pretty lacklustre, but it's a hell of a lot better than being in the terminal
Haha right...can't deal with all that at 6:30AM hahaha ...We hit up the Lego store on the way back hah
Yeah I think they had like 1 or 2 left in the fleet at that time. I get the reasoning for the lease--retirements are planned well ahead of time and they did not foresee the continued surge in demand--but it's just funny that they leased 737s when they had their own but were retiring them...doesn't seem great financially. It kind of reminds me of how Air Baltic leased out a ton of their A220 fleet post-Covid (mostly to the LH Group) and then couldn't handle the surge in demand with the aircraft they had left and so themselves had to do ACMI leases...just such a funny business.
Yes, definitely lucky with clear skies. Didn't last unfortunately haha
Thanks for stopping by!
Login to post a comment.