Review of SAS flight Amsterdam → Copenhagen in Economy

Hey all,

On friday I was notified by operations that I will have to position myself to Malmo to start my shift for two weeks. Given that Malmo Airport is actually further away from Malmo itself rather than Copenhagen and Copenhagen is much better connected, they booked me on a flight to Copenhagen with SAS. It's actually an airline I have never flown on and the last planned booking I had with them ended up being a canceled one hour prior to the actual departure time.

To proceed to Amsterdam, I opted to go by train, which nowadays may be quite a challenge as certain routes are canceled due to construction work of Amsterdam Airport's station. Just keep that in mind if you plan to visit Amsterdam in one of the upcoming months.

Arriving at Amsterdam Airport about two hours prior to my departure I went upstairs to the departure level.

Scandinavian's check-in counters can be found at Row 2-3 in Terminal 1 where you usually find all the European Star Alliance Members for Check-in if it's a Schengen destination.

Given that I had to drop off my bag, I decided to use the self service kiosk to obtain my boarding card on paper (in case my battery runs out) and to grab my luggage tag. The system is self explanatory and is quite easy to handle.

Once I added my luggage tag to my bag, I proceeded to one of the drop-off counters to drop my luggage off. The system is self-explanatory and probably easier to handle than those where you need to scan your boarding card and luggage tag via a handheld device you can find at certain airports. It even tells you if the luggage tag is unreadable.

Security took me about 10 to 15 minutes to clear given that my bin was selected for an additional check. Once that was clear, I proceeded to the Aspire Lounge (No. 26), which I have access to due to my priority pass. The lounge itself isn't very special and I've been visiting it regularly over the past months. The seats they are using are worn, stiff and do not provide you with any privacy at all. It has a tendency to become crowded at peak hours.

Food offering is very limited too with a selection of bread, tomato soup, some salad and snacks as you can find in the photos below.

The beverage section does offer a little more, but is still limited with just a few liquors, wines, beers, soft drinks, juices, coffee and/or tea. The only benefit is that if you enjoy a beer, you are able to tap your own draught beer.

The selection I chose to have as a light dinner for tonight.

The lounge itself does not really provide you with any view over the platform, but rather gives you a view of the viewing terrace of Amsterdam to watch aircraft.

My seat was probably one of the most secluded one in the left corner with those uncomfy seats.

About ten minutes to boarding, I decided to head to the gate as it seems that my aircraft was on time and I had to walk for at least 10 to 15 minutes to my gate.

Call it great timing. By the time I reached my gate, our aircraft today just showed up.

Today's flight will be performed by SE-RSS. A 12.8 year old (at time of flying) bird that is currently flying in an all-white livery for SAS Link. This specific aircraft started it's career with Air Europa as 'EC-LKX' in May 2011. Consequently this aircraft was moved to it's sister company 'Air Europa Express' in April 2017 before it retired in January 2023. After idling for 9 months, EC-LXK became SE-RSS in September 2023 and joined service with the fleet of SAS Link.

Boarding was called right on time with adherence to groups and went with a fast pace. Given that the load of today's flight was probably around 50%, it did not take more than a few minutes for boarding to be completed, however I was not greeted upon entering by the flight attendant as she seemed busy with her company's ipad.

Given that SAS does not charge you for an emergency exit upon check-in, I decided to opt for it and the legroom was great to say the least.

The window view was not too shabby too with a Lufthansa Airbus A320 preparing for it's flight to Munich as LH2307.

 The cabin is equipped with individual airvents, a reading light if you need it, but is not equipped with WiFi. Considering the age of the aircraft, the cabin is in a very well-maintained state.

The literature which you could find in the seat pocket consists of a safety card, a BoB Menu and a sickbag.

You could find the BoB menu below and the offering isn't that extensive to be fair. It's also quite hefty on the price with a mineral water being 3.5 EUR for example. If you fancy a proper meal, you should considering using SAS's pre-order program which needs to be submitted at least 18 hours prior to your flight.

An impression of the cabin.

I'm quite lucky and have my row all for myself. The seats itself are very comfortable, have decent to good padding and legroom was no issue to me given that my seat with an emergency exit. One of the flight attendants gave me a brief instruction on how to open the door and asked me whether I was willing to open it when commanded to do so.

Pushback was about five minutes past our scheduled departure with a long taxi ahead of us to Runway 36L.

About 20 minute s later, we were rolling for a departure to Copenhagen.

View of Haarlem.

The west coast of the Netherlands before turning into a northeasterly direction towards Copenhagen.

Given that I received a brief explanation of the flight attendant regarding the emergency door, you can also find a placard in front of you on the backside of the table and on the left placed against the fuselage.

A zoomed-in version of the explanation.

By now the sun was setting.

Given the distance with you and the seat in front, the table itself was quite large and is movable like the photos below.

Some magnificent views.

Given that SAS is a Buy-on-Board airline, they do provide you with complimentary coffee and tea. I opted for a coffee with some milk.

Given that the aircraft was flying for a Spanish operator in the past, the only thing in the cabin that did remind you about the past of the aircraft is the ''Prohibido fumar'' (No Smoking) text on the seat.

After finishing my cup of coffee, I decided to pay a visit to the toilet in the aft seat. The toilet in the aft is quite tiny, but was in a clean state and did not smell.

Other than that, nothing fancy to be found.

Upon completing my business, I went back to my seat. I decided to take a photo of the cabin and to give you an impression of the load of today's flight. Row 31 (Last) up to Row 25 were completely empty with a few empty rows between 24th to the 1st row and most of the rows just had a single occupant per side.

Enjoying the view.

Flight attendant eventually came by again to serve us a second cup of coffee if we opted for it. I decided to go for a black coffee now and can say that the coffee is quite good.

By now we were already descending into Copenhagen on approach for Runway 04L

About to touch down.

After a short taxi to stand B15, it took less than five minutes for us to disembark with some passengers trying to force themselves as far as possible to the front of the cabin to disembark asap. Don't really understand as to why given the light load, but I'd say ask before trying to push yourself up front :).

After a walk of five minutes, I was waiting for my luggage at belt 4 and it took about 15 to 20 minutes for my luggage to appear.

Once my luggage was obtained, I had about 15 minutes or so to catch the first train to Malmo, which is just a 25 minute train ride away from Copenhagen.

Thanks for joining!