The 1-2-1 configuration provides ample room for each passenger. There are two cabins assigned to business class, with the first having eight rows and the second having two rows (Photo: RW)
This is a TravelSkills Reader Report submitted by RW.
Back in 2014, you wrote a trip report on the then-new SAS nonstop from SFO to Copenhagen (CPH).
My husband and I recently (April-May 2017) flew SFO-CPH and CPH-SFO nonstop on SAS in the new upgraded business classes seats on its Airbus 340-300 planes, so I thought you might want to know about the new service. Feel free to use any of this (or none of this) information on your blog. [Thanks, RW! We are using all of it 🙂 Great report!]
SAS business class passengers have access to the United Club lounge in the SFO international terminal, which is a nice respite from the terminal, but certainly is not in the same league as the SAS Star Alliance Gold lounges in Scandinavia (more about those lounges later).
The seat is adjustable to a completely 180-degree lie-flat bed. The side storage unit contains a reading light, a water bottle (stored behind the reading light panel), a hook for the provided headphones, and a small shelf for personal items. (Photo: RW)
The reconfigured A340-300s that SAS uses on SFO-CPH flights have 40 business-class seats with 180-degree recline, 28 “SAS Plus” seats with a 7-inch recline, and 179 standard economy seats with a 6-inch recline. [See SAS A340 on Seatguru]
SAS has a “business saver” fare for half of its full fare, but the tickets are nonrefundable. That said, for the leisure traveler or the business traveler with fixed plans, a roundtrip SFO-CPH business-class fare of $3,200 is quite reasonable, particularly when compared to nonstop flights to “major demand” cities such as London, Paris, or Frankfurt.
An SAS Airbus A340 with new business class seats (Image: SeatPlans.com
SAS has installed new business-class seats in at 1-2-1 configuration in two cabins. The forward cabin has eight rows and feels spacious and accommodating. The second business-class cabin has only two rows, so it has a sense Danish sense of hygge that you mentioned in your SAS review. [Hygge, pronounced hoo-gah, is roughly translated into English as “cozy.”] However, the second cabin was directly behind the galley, snack bar, and toilets, making is a very busy and noisy area.
The entertainment screen is large and can be controlled via touch or a wired remote tucked into the space in the side storage unit (Photo: RW)
The front of the plane appears to be the rest area and toilet for the crew, compounding the “busy-ness” at the galley/toilet area mid-plane and reducing the number of toilets for business-class passengers to only two.
The new business-class seats have ample room, large video screens, and a “side table” for storage of small items. There is still no in-seat storage space for hand luggage, but with the large cabin and new large overhead bins, there is plenty of room for luggage and the provided duvet, blanket, and pillows. The seat is quite comfortable with a large foot well. It favorably compares to many other airlines’ first or upgraded business class configurations.
In-flight entertainment provided some of the latest Hollywood films, as well as several “old favorites.” The television show offerings were nearly all American shows from the 2000s and early 2010s, e.g., Friends, Mike and Molly, and Two Broke Girls. I would have liked to have seen some Scandinavian entertainment offerings.
Related: 2014- SAS business class Trip Report SFO-CPH
The amenity kit was quite basic, but contained the essentials of eye mask, socks, toothpaste and brush, ear plugs, lip balm, and moisturizer. The bag was small, but reusable for small items such as ear buds, a few electronics cords, etc.
Cocktails featured Danish vodka (Mikkeller), Norwegian gin (Harahorn), and Swedish whiskey (Mackmyra).
There is a special cocktail offered each season. The cocktail on the CPH-SFO segment was “A Taste of Norwegian Summer,” a combination of gin, rhubarb, tonic, and strawberry garnish (Photo: RW)
Wine offerings including Charles Heidsieck champagne from France, a verdicchio wine wine from Italy, a French sauvignon blanc, and, in the red category, there were a pinot noir and a corbières from France. A nice addition to the drinks menu was the nonalcoholic Gravenstein apple must from Norway, a rich, full-bodied, unfiltered apple juice.
The starter course for the dinner offering on the SFO-CPH leg included a mixed salad, plus a choice of either beet-cured salmon with cucumber and horseradish-chive crème or prosciutto with feta cheese, beets, and melon.
For my starter, I chose prosciutto with feta cheese, beets, and melon, along with ample choices from the frequently passed bread basket (Photo: RW)
Main course offerings included seared red snapper, grilled chicken breast, braised beef ribs, or vegetable ravioli.
The braised beef short ribs with Lyonnaise potatoes and roasted carrots was not particularly inspiring or tasty (Photo: RW)
Following a cheese course, passengers were offered dessert choices including a Bakewell tart with raspberry mascarpone, ice cream, or fruit.
On the return CPH-SFO flight, the starter course included a mixed salad, plus a choice of either salmon with picked root vegetables and mustard sauce or slices of dried pork, moose-and-juniper sausage, with a garnish of pickled onions and lingonberries (although the latter actually included only one pickled onion and one lingonberry).
My starter was slices of “dried pork” (prosciutto), moose-and-juniper sausage, and a picked onion and lingonberry. The dish was delicious (Photo; RW)
Arrival in Copenhagen was, as you described in your 2014 article, easy and efficient, with an efficient immigration/customs process, and a quick train trip to central Copenhagen. The only quirk in the arrivals area is finding where to pick up a Copenhagen Card, which provides transportation, admission to multiple museums and attractions, and discounts at restaurants and entertainment. Just look for the Tourist Information desk, and they have the Copenhagen Cards (either for pickup for those who purchased online ahead of their flight) or for purchase.
Fly through SAS’ new business class in this video
We took several internal Scandinavian flights during our trip, with all planes being configured in an “all economy seating” pattern. Even so, service was efficient and friendly.
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The SAS business-class lounge, available to Star Alliance gold members, has a wide array of food and beverage offerings, plenty of workspaces and chairs, all with easy access to an electrical outlet (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
We visited the SAS Star Alliance Gold lounge when we left Copenhagen to fly to Helsinki, as well as during our layover from Oslo before our CPH-SFO trip. The lounge is modern, the staff is friendly and professional, and the food offerings far exceed those of first-class lounges for U.S.-based airlines. Upstairs from the regular SAS lounge, the business-class lounge had multiple rooms for eating, resting, working, and a special play room for those traveling with children.
We also had the chance to visit the SAS lounge in Oslo, which was smaller than the one in Copenhagen, but still offering a wide array of food and beverage choices, along with work stations and comfortable seating options.
The SAS lounge in Oslo had a nice array of food and beverage options (Photo: RW)
Note that there is a new security procedure for passengers flying from Copenhagen to the United States. As noted on the SAS website, “United States authorities have tightened the security rules for entering US territory. As a result, an additional security check will be conducted at the gate when passengers board flights from Copenhagen Airport bound for US destinations. In particular, passengers must ensure that their smart phones, tablets, computers, digital cameras and other electronic devices are charged.” We found this process to be efficient, but be sure to allow time at the departure gate for this additional security procedure.
In conclusion, the business class experience on SAS was excellent. The staff on all our SAS flights were cheerful, courteous, friendly, and professional. In fact, given the savings we achieved by buying the “Business Saver” fare, we’re tempted to use CPH as our hub for future European travel.
Rich and Brad enjoy an outdoor lunch in Copenhagen at one of the restaurants along the Nyhavn waterfront, which was a 17th-century wharf that has been redeveloped into a trendy entertainment district, focusing mainly on restaurants and cafés. We had herring prepared in multiple ways in Heering, one of the outdoor cafés. While there were heaters, as well as blankets to cover our legs, we still kept our coats on all during their al fresco lunch – it was April and still chilly in Copenhagen (Photo: RW)
Have you flown on SAS in business class with the new seat yet? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
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