Experiences with SAS airlines to and from US for a R/T cruise from Copenhagen?

[Dr. Peds]

Is SAS a decent airline for international travel to and from the US?  Decent service?  Decent equipment?  Decent amenities?  Baggage service and cost?  I have done some research but have gotten mixed information.

[hallasm]

SAS is my preferred airline - a bit biased as I live in Copenhagen.  
The fleet is new - Airbus A350 aircraft on 'overseas routes' - three classes - economy, plus and business.  Good comfort and decent service.
I have always found that the 'final total price' for SAS was reasonable - depending on class and amount of luggage.  Have a nice regularity and I have never in the more than 30 years I have frequently flown SAS on vacation or business experienced any problems that have not been solved fully satisfactorily.

Only airline with non-stop service from ORD to CPH.

[Dr. Peds]

6 hours ago, hallasm said:

SAS is my preferred airline - a bit biased as I live in Copenhagen.  
The fleet is new - Airbus A350 aircraft on 'overseas routes' - three classes - economy, plus and business.  Good comfort and decent service.
I have always found that the 'final total price' for SAS was reasonable - depending on class and amount of luggage.  Have a nice regularity and I have never in the more than 30 years I have frequently flown SAS on vacation or business experienced any problems that have not been solved fully satisfactorily.

Only airline with non-stop service from ORD to CPH.

Thank you!

[nini]

On 7/21/2021 at 10:47 PM, hallasm said:

SAS is my preferred airline - a bit biased as I live in Copenhagen.  
The fleet is new - Airbus A350 aircraft on 'overseas routes' - three classes - economy, plus and business.  Good comfort and decent service.
I have always found that the 'final total price' for SAS was reasonable - depending on class and amount of luggage.  Have a nice regularity and I have never in the more than 30 years I have frequently flown SAS on vacation or business experienced any problems that have not been solved fully satisfactorily.

Only airline with non-stop service from ORD to CPH.

 

Hi hallasm- You have been very helpful to me regarding lodging in Copenhagen. We are also looking at SAS for our 2022 cruise. I have done some research, but am unable to find information about luggage charges for Economy class. We would each have one carry-on, my purse and possible a larger check on bag per person. Are there charges for the check on bags (assuming they are below the weight maximum). Thanks!

[hallasm]

58 minutes ago, nini said:

I have done some research, but am unable to find information about luggage charges for Economy class.

Yes, a bit complicated - you’ll need to purchase a ‘Go Smart’ ticket.

Luggage depends on the ticket you buy - for economy:
- SAS Go Light - 8 kg carry-on only (17 lbs)
- SAS Go Smart - 23 kg checked baggage (50 lbs) and 8 kg carry-on included.
See more details in the table below. 
Carry-on maximum size is 55 cm x 40 cm x 23 cm (length x width x depth).

For additional luggage the fee may vary depending on your travel class,  ticket type and if purchased on-line - between $ 60 and $ 90 per bag.

You should be able to find prices and details on flysas.com

Edited August 6, 2021 by hallasm

[nini]

1 hour ago, hallasm said:

Yes, a bit complicated - you’ll need to purchase a ‘Go Smart’ ticket.

Luggage depends on the ticket you buy - for economy:
- SAS Go Light - 8 kg carry-on only (17 lbs)
- SAS Go Smart - 23 kg checked baggage (50 lbs) and 8 kg carry-on included.
See more details in the table below. 
Carry-on maximum size is 55 cm x 40 cm x 23 cm (length x width x depth).

For additional luggage the fee may vary depending on your travel class,  ticket type and if purchased on-line - between $ 60 and $ 90 per bag.

You should be able to find prices and details on flysas.com

Thank you so much for your quick and detailed response. What was puzzling to me, is that we would book through the cruise ship (EZAir) and it would be economy (Premium Economy fares are really high right now). I am guessing that "Go" Class would be Economy?  However, EZAir is allowing us to choose seats upon booking. Thanks again

[hallasm]

10 hours ago, nini said:

we would book through the cruise ship (EZAir)

When booking SAS Go through EZAir one checked luggage should be included. Enjoy your Enchanted cruise.

[hallasm]

13 hours ago, nini said:

Premium Economy fares are really high right now

Once you have your booking reference you can make a bid for an upgrade - and also add additional luggage if required.

In the booking you can see your luggage allowance.

Edited August 7, 2021 by hallasm

[nini]

Thanks again!

[sjhanksaz]

We got really good prices on SAS from Royal Caribbean's air to sea program.  

 

Looking forward to giving them a try.

 

I was a little unhappy though when we upgraded the seat directly with SAS and then had to change the the reservation for the route home.  Royal told me they had to cancel the flight we had already upgraded the seat on and then rebook it with a new reservation number.  Before I gave them the green light I called SAS and told them what would happen to my seat.  They said just call back with new reservation number and they would use our credit to get the seats again.

 

Long story short they didn't do that and charged us again.  I tried working with their customer service and they would not budge.  It's left a sour taste for them at the moment.

[FlyerTalker]

Probably because the one agent was likely thinking of this as a standard revenue ticket, while you actually were utilizing a consolidator bulk ticket from Royal Caribbean.

 

Those "really good prices" are because you are NOT buying the same ticket as what you would get from the airline directly. You are getting a negotiated rate, and getting the restrictive fare rules that go along with that negotiated deal.  Even if it is the same flight, same dates and time - you are not getting the same "fare", fare rules and ticket.

 

Your sour taste should be with Royal and their air department.  But hey....you got a "really good" deal.  And isn't that why you booked it?  Without understanding the nuances of a bulk ticket?

[sjhanksaz]

On 12/8/2021 at 10:49 AM, FlyerTalker said:

Probably because the one agent was likely thinking of this as a standard revenue ticket, while you actually were utilizing a consolidator bulk ticket from Royal Caribbean.

 

Those "really good prices" are because you are NOT buying the same ticket as what you would get from the airline directly. You are getting a negotiated rate, and getting the restrictive fare rules that go along with that negotiated deal.  Even if it is the same flight, same dates and time - you are not getting the same "fare", fare rules and ticket.

 

Your sour taste should be with Royal and their air department.  But hey....you got a "really good" deal.  And isn't that why you booked it?  Without understanding the nuances of a bulk ticket?

I told them that I bought the tickets through Royal Caribbean when I called the first time.  I was very specific about what I was trying to do because I was a little worried something like this was going to happen. 

 

I am happy with the ticket price I got.  Just disappointed that I was told something else and a friend of ours going on the cruise and flying with us lost out on the funds too.

[Pootimer]

I recently reserved thru Princess Cruises EZ Air a nonstop RT ORD-CPH on SAS for August. Later, just out of curiosity, I compared my Go/Smart EZair coach fare to SAS’s current fare for same category and SAS’s fare was over $50 less. Princess air fare is almost always cheaper for international flights.  My spouse said it was probably higher this time as Princess buys seats at “bulk” rate and SAS’s regular web fare has gone down sine then.  Has this happened to anyone else? 
 

[hallasm]

4 hours ago, Pootimer said:

coach fare to SAS’s current fare for same category and SAS’s fare was over $50 less.

…are you sure that the fares can be directly compared -  is the same luggage allowance, or choice of seat?  Like ‘Go Light’ versus ‘Go Smart’?

[Pootimer]

Yes, the fare class was identical (go smart). I double checked today and the SAS fare was cheaper than I remembered - almost $100 cheaper. What the heck, Princess Cruises!

[FlyerTalker]

The price of a bulk ticket and a published fare ticket have ZERO relationship with each other.  And expecting there to be some kind of corresponding price differential that stays the same is a huge misassumption.

 

Plus, the tickets are fundamentally different from the get go.

[Pootimer]

Thanks for your response.  I wasn’t thinking about the airline published fares had no relationship with cruise line airfares, since bulk fares have such different fare codes. Can you tell I’m hoping Princess Cruises come out with lower SAS fares (ORD-CPH RT) before my final payment!
Merry Christmas to all!

[FlyerTalker]

On 12/23/2021 at 3:05 PM, Pootimer said:

Can you tell I’m hoping Princess Cruises come out with lower SAS fares (ORD-CPH RT) before my final payment!

 

You want the cheaper price....buy the ticket from SAS directly.

 

Hope is not a strategy.

 

(And FWIW, fare "class" does not mean the same thing as fare "basis".  You can have many different fare categories within the same "class".)

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

On 8/6/2021 at 3:52 PM, hallasm said:

Yes, a bit complicated - you’ll need to purchase a ‘Go Smart’ ticket.

Luggage depends on the ticket you buy - for economy:
- SAS Go Light - 8 kg carry-on only (17 lbs)
- SAS Go Smart - 23 kg checked baggage (50 lbs) and 8 kg carry-on included.
See more details in the table below. 
Carry-on maximum size is 55 cm x 40 cm x 23 cm (length x width x depth).

For additional luggage the fee may vary depending on your travel class,  ticket type and if purchased on-line - between $ 60 and $ 90 per bag.

You should be able to find prices and details on flysas.com

Thanks for sharing..

[sjhanksaz]

We booked SAS flights from Royal Caribbean's Air to Sea and we paid under half of what SAS's web site has been charging for the tickets.  We got round trips from the west coast to Copenhagen mid June for just over 900 and it comes with a carry on and a checked bag.

 

 

[sjhanksaz]

is SAS very stringent on the size of the carryon?  Mine is a little over 1/2" bigger than their posted size limit.

 

 

[hallasm]

8 hours ago, sjhanksaz said:

is SAS very stringent on the size of the carryon?

It is not my experience if it is only 1/2 ”.  Over the years, I have seen many passengers with oversized carry-on luggage.  Problems primarily with filled plane or if the hand luggage is too large to fit the overhead bin.
 Pay attention to the weight.  It is more likely that carry-on luggage will be rejected due to overweight. 

An example where a passenger broke the overhead bin because of an oversized carry-on and delayed the plane with more than an hour,

Edited December 28, 2021 by hallasm

[sjhanksaz]

Just wanted to follow up about our flight.

 

We had a great experience.

 

We did pay for the seats right behind the middle class seats and it was well worth it.  Tons of leg room.  Having the swing out monitor was a little bit of a drag but it worked.

 

Flights were on time and plane was clean and everyone was nice.  We were worried about our flight home as SAS employees had announced a strike..... but we made it just fine.

 

I would fly the airline again.

[jsglow]

We'll be on SAS getting to Europe this August.