Europe has one of the most mature aviation systems in the world. Within it, an ecosystem of airlines from a diverse range of countries and operating models thrived. Most non-European airlines ply the hubs, while the European airlines also operated the intra-European flights – some even via subsidiaries – to complement their international routes.
We had flown in from Singapore as part of our aurora chase tour in Iceland via Singapore Airlines’ Business Class and Scandinavian Airlines’ (SAS) Premium Economy Class (SAS Plus). After wrapping up our week-long tour in Iceland, we went on to Tromso for the next phase of our holiday, before departing for good – all on SAS’ Economy Class (SAS Go).
This is the second of a 2-part series covering our experience on SAS Go – Scandinavian Airlines’ Economy Class on intra-Europe flights. The experience involved 3 flights. Keflavik – Oslo – Tromso (KEF-OSL-TOS) was part of the same journey, whereas the Tromso – Oslo (TOS – OSL) leg took place after our stay in Tromso. Our flight times for the 3 trips were between 1h 45m and 2h 20m and were operated on A320neo. The very similar timings and identical aircraft types made comparison between these 3 flights a straightforward deal.
Trip Overview
Copenhagen, Denmark to Keflavik, Iceland (CPH – KEF)
Flight Number: SK595
Aircraft Type / Registration: A320neo / SE-ROU
Class: Premium Economy (SAS Plus)
Departure (ETD/ATD): 0830hrs (CET) / 0833hrs (CET)
Arrival (ETA/ATA): 1040hrs (GMT) / 1035hrs (GMT)
Duration (Estimated/Actual): 3h 10m / 3h 2m
Seat: 1D
Meal Service (Snack): 0905h (25 min)
Keflavik, Iceland to Oslo, Norway (KEF – OSL)
Flight Number: SK4788
Aircraft Type / Registration: A320 neo / SE-ROF
Class: Economy
Departure (ETD/ATD): 1045hrs (GMT) / 1059hrs (GMT)
Arrival (ETA/ATA): 1425hrs (CET) / 1418hrs (CET)
Duration (Estimated/Actual): 2h 40m / 2h 19m
Seat: 15A
Meal Service: Coffee and tea service
Oslo, Norway to Tromso, Norway (OSL – TOS)
Flight Number: SK4434
Aircraft Type / Registration: A320 neo / OY-KAR
Class: Economy
Departure (ETD/ATD): 1930hrs (CET) / 1957hrs (CET)
Arrival (ETA/ATA): 2130hrs (CET) / 2132hrs (CET)
Duration (Estimated/Actual): 2h 0m / 1h 35m
Seat: 12D
Meal Service: Coffee and tea service
Tromso, Norway to Oslo, Norway (TOS – OSL)
Flight Number: TK8285 (SK4409) (Bought on Turkish Airlines, operated by Scandinavian Airlines)
Aircraft Type / Registration: A320neo / SE-ROX
Class: Economy
Departure (ETD/ATD): 0845hrs (CET) / 0854hrs (CET)
Arrival (ETA/ATA): 1045hrs (CET) / 1035hrs (CET)
Duration (Estimated/Actual): 2h 0m / 1h 45m
Seat: 11D
Meal Service: Coffee and tea service
Scandinavian Airlines’ Economy Class Experience – Pre-Flight
Although I had previously flown on Scandinavian Airlines’ Economy Class, it was back in 2018 and we were on transatlantic flights between Europe and USA. Therefore, I was still looking forward to a different experience on SAS’ intra-Europe flights.
Seat Selection – or the Lack Thereof
Although SAS is a full service carrier, it operates its intra-Europe flights like low cost carriers. The cheapest airfare would usually get you from point to point, and that would be all. Everything else would be added service – seat selection, check baggage etc.
For our flights, not only could we not select our seats, we weren’t able to select them after online check in. Therefore, we could only take whatever seats assigned to us.
Interestingly, this also applied to our Copenhagen to Keflavik (SK595) flight, which was on their Premium Economy class (SAS Plus), and was also on their A320neo.
Check in
Although our KEF-OSL-TOS journey was on a single ticket, we opted not to have our luggage checked through. Instead, we would re-check in at Oslo Airport. We wanted to ensure that our baggage would follow us to Tromso. Because of this, we got to experience the check-in process in Oslo Airport, on top of Keflavik Airport and Tromso Airport.
While the check in process is part of the journey we had with SAS, the experience themselves depended very much on the departing airport and the ground staff (who are usually not the airline’s employees).
Both Keflavik Airport and Tromso Airport are small local airports. Navigating around the airport was easy. However, Keflavik Airport didn’t have self check-in kiosks like those of Tromso Airport and Oslo Airport. The crowd in Keflavik didn’t feel like the airport needed self check in, though.
Keflavik Airport (SK4788 KEF – OSL)
Due to its compact size, navigating Keflavik Airport was easy and we found the check in counters without batting an eyelid. I mean, the check in counters were literally right beside the arrival hall where we had passed through a week earlier. Check in was quick as there wasn’t any queue.
The staff was also helpful. The check in staff had forgotten our request to claim our bags at Oslo instead of checking it through to Tromso. However, she promptly recovered by searching for the bags. Thankfully, we got our bags in Oslo as expected.
Oslo Airport (SK4434 OSL – TOS)
Oslo Airport was much bigger. However, the airport had adopted self-service check in and installed plenty of the kiosks. The entire experience, from checking in to printing of boarding passes and check in luggage tags, to the depositing of check in luggage, was very much similar to that of Changi Airport. Therefore, there wasn’t a time when we felt lost or experienced inconvenience.
Tromso Airport (SK4409 TOS – OSL)
Tromso Airport was as compact as Keflavik’s. We had also wanted to pick up our luggage at Istanbul for re-check in, again to ensure that they wouldn’t be lost in Istanbul Airport. Again, the check in staff at Tromso Airport understood our request and was able to make the necessary arrangements smoothly.
Scandinavian Airlines’ Economy Class Experience – Security Clearance and Boarding
All our SAS Economy flights were within the Schengen area, hence there was no need for passport control. Instead, we only needed to clear the security check after check in.
Keflavik Airport (SK4788 KEF – OSL)
Since the check-in counters were at level 1 (as was the arrival hall), we had to go up to level 2 to go through the departure process. Thanks to the low traffic, we cleared both security and immigration in no time.
There was no gate hold room for the flights. Instead, there were designated queues outside the gate – very much like at bus interchanges. Due to the open concept design, travellers could shop around the terminal right up till boarding time.
People just lined up and sat on the floor if they were early. The ground staff also went around to ensure that passengers of different boarding groups were at their right queues. Since the airport also adopted an automated boarding pass scanning system, the boarding process was also streamlined.
Oslo Airport
Oslo Airport also had a centralised security check. It was also the first time I had seen so many security counters lined up. And all of them were open. Thanks to that, our security check at Oslo Airport was also speedy, despite there was more traffic than at Keflavik’s.
Oslo Airport also employed an open concept gate hold room like that of Keflavik Airport. However, there were proper seating, which in turn was clustered to demarcate the boundaries of each gate’s waiting area.
There were also boarding pass scanning machines at Oslo Airport, but they weren’t activated for my flight. Like Keflavik Airport, they also had an open concept holding area, albeit bigger. I’m not sure if related, I found the queue management less organised than Keflavik’s.
Tromso Airport
Despite being a small local airport, Tromso Airport waiting area was designed more like that of Oslo Airport than Keflavik’s. There were proper seating, though the rows of chairs weren’t positioned to really differentiate between the different gates’s waiting area. The low ceiling design was also more reminiscent of Keflavik Airport. In a way, Tromso Airport was a blend of both Oslo Airport and Keflavik Airport.
The staff also took a more laissez faire approach to the boarding. Even though the incoming flight arrived late, the ground staff didn’t seem much bothered, and only informed us that boarding would be late after we had passed our departure time.
All 3 flights that we took were full and boarding was also completed speedily. This was impressive considering that 2 of our flights were delayed as the arriving aircraft were late.
Seats on Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) Economy Class
Once onboard, the experience between the 3 flights were pretty similar. All the flights were operated on the Airbus A320neo, which was a narrow body aircraft that could seat between 120 to 214 passengers and fly a maximum of 4,700nm (which is around the distance between Singapore and Australia).
SAS had installed uniform hardware on all their A320neo. They fitted 168 Recaro BL3520 slimline seats in a 3-3 configuration. As mentioned in my review flying on SAS Plus, the “premium” SAS Plus passengers were seated at rows 1 – 8 with the exact same seats as the Economy Class passengers. The only difference? They had meals and priority check-in / boarding.
With a seat pitch of 30 inches and seat width of 17.7 inches, the space was rather decent for short haul flights. There was enough legroom and seat width especially for us short legged Asians. USB ports and coat hooks could be found at the seat back. Our flight on the older aircraft on SK4434 though didn’t have coat hooks and the seats were showing age and were flattened out at the edges.
Typical of Economy Class seats, the single-piece tray table was on the seat back of the front row. There was the usual netted seat back storage below the tray table, as well as a magazine rack hidden behind the tray table. I’ve always wondered about the usefulness of the latter, as it could only store big, soft and flat items (like a magazine), which a normal person would not have brought on board with them.
Overhead Luggage Bin Space on Scandinavian Airlines’ (SAS) A320neo
One of the perennial headaches for airlines operating narrowbody aircraft like A320neo, especially for low cost carriers, was the lack of overhead compartments for hand luggage. That being the winter season, we had expected the space to be full from all the winter baggage.
Amazingly, there was enough space and more for all my flights.
Do Not Expect Inflight Entertainment on Scandinavian Airlines’ (SAS) A320neo
The only downside? There was no inflight entertainment (IFE). Neither was there a public IFE. Therefore, one could only entertain himself with whatever that was downloaded on the mobile phone, or pay to use SAS’ inflight wifi (which as I had mentioned in my SAS Plus review, was spotty).
Lavatory on A320neo of SAS
There is a total of 3 lavatories on board the aircraft, with 1 at the front and 2 at the back. That makes for a passenger to toilet ratio of 56:1, for a full flight of 168 passengers. Considering that we were on 2hr flights with no meal service for the Economy Class (which meant almost the entire flight), this high ratio didn’t pose much of a problem.
The lavatories weren’t superb (they’re for Economy Class, after all), but neither were they at the bottom. But let’s just say they’re functional and one should really consider using it only during emergencies.
Inflight Meal & Staff Service
That being short haul intra-Europe flights, there weren’t meal services for Economy Class passengers. The flight attendants had informed us that there would be free flow of coffee and tea, but we didn’t request any. Of course, I didn’t feel like the flight attendants were eager to dole out the beverages too.
That being said, they were very efficient. They could finish the beverage rounds (and of course there were still passengers who purchased food) and still go around collecting rubbish multiple times before landing.
And speaking of landing, they were very efficient in preparing the cabin for landing. On all flights, they only started doing landing checks 15 minutes before landing. And yet they managed to complete all the checks in time.
Arrival and Disembarking (or should it be the other way?)
European travellers were more rule-abiding than Asians, the latter of which always couldn’t wait till the seat belt sign to be turned off before jumping out of their seats. The taxi time from landing to the gate was also short. And as it was a small aircraft, we were out in no time.
Tromso Airport being a small local one had only a few baggage claim belts, which were immediately outside of the arrival gates, just like Keflavik’s. In fact, the belt was also right by the exit! I never realised how small it was, until we were about to leave Tromso. While checking in, I saw that the check in counters were just beside the baggage belt we had hung around earlier!
Unfortunately, the luggage was loaded rather slowly, so most of the passengers were waiting around the belt for quite a long time. It made us so worried that we would miss the last bus to the town centre!
As mentioned, we had a 5 hour transit in Oslo during our trip from Iceland to Tromso, Norway. Since we had plenty of time, we also chose to pick up our bags and re-check in Oslo. Oslo Airport was more like the other international airports. There was substantial walking from the gates to the baggage claim hall, which was also spacious.
Transit in Oslo Airport (5hrs)
After claiming our luggage, we still had 4 hours left for our transit. The check-in and security clearance took another half an hour. Despite being more crowded than Keflavik Airport and Tromso Airport, Oslo Airport had a larger security clearance area and the process was very organised. We had transited through Oslo in the past, during our flight from Singapore to Washington DC where we city hopped through Bangkok on Thai Airways to Oslo, then onward to Copenhagen and Washington DC on SAS, so it was a breeze navigating to the departure hall from the baggage claim area.
1.5 hours into arriving at Oslo, we were back at the airside of the airport, with another 3.5 hours to spare.
Lunch at T.G.I. Fridays
Believe it or not, we chose to have our lunch at T.G.I. Fridays. To be honest, the entire airport was pretty empty at that point of time, so we had plenty of choices. After spending a week in the foodie desert that was Iceland, the comfort food from T.G.I. Fridays became the ideal choice to break the fast.
The fried chicken and Oreo milkshake really perked us up. After all, we had gotten up early to catch our flight. We could also hang around the restaurant till we recharged our manna, since the restaurant was almost empty.
After having our fill, we went exploring the airport. Despite its size, Oslo Airport had limited shopping and dining options. We were done exploring the terminal in half an hour. However, the high ceilings made the experience felt bright and breezy, which was in stark contrast with Copenhagen’s compact design. I would say I prefer a long transit time at Oslo than at Copenhagen.
Departing Oslo Airport
The area we were in was for the Schengen flights. Folks who want to fly international would have to clear the immigration, which was located near the middle of the terminal. Since the airport adopted an open design, we could see there were more food options at the international side.
Our boarding gate was at the part of the terminal that looked rather new. We started waiting in the area 2.5 hours before our flight, and the wing was totally empty. Even the lights were dimmed. The area only started to spring to life after 6pm.
The terminal adopted an open concept design, so there wasn’t a “gate hold room” per se. Instead, there were just plenty of seating around the gate. (Think Hong Kong International Airport) There was also an automated boarding pass scanning system, but it wasn’t used during my flight.
Parting Words
During my holiday last winter to chase the northern lights, I got to experience Scandinavian Airlines’ (SAS) Economy Class (a.k.a SAS Go), as Singapore Airlines doesn’t operate intra-Europe flights.
All flights were operated on the narrow body aircraft – A320neo. With flight times around 2 hours for all the flights, the experience onboard – hardware and service – was almost identical. Anyone familiar with low cost carriers in Asia would not feel out of place on SAS intra Europe flights.
Outside of the aircraft, the experience depended on the airport itself. Small airports like that of Keflavik and Tromso were easy to navigate and were less crowded. Large airports like Oslo had more dining and shopping options, which made a long transit a much endurable experience.
While the inflight service and hardware weren’t as impeccable as I was used to for Asian airlines, SAS Economy Class certainly doesn’t fall into the ranks of the horrific European airlines plying intra-Europe routes that the online lore made out to be. Considering that Singapore Airlines doesn’t fly intra-Europe flights, taking Scandinavian Airlines in between the European cities is the next best option. Of course, that is if I ever plan an intra-Europe holiday again.
And speaking of European airports, Europe being one of the first places to embrace aviation has a mix of old and new infrastructure. It would definitely be interesting to explore them all.
If you enjoyed my trip report, do check out the rest of my aurora chasing travelogue. After flying into Iceland via Copenhagen, we embarked on a week long tour to see the best of Iceland’s natural wonders. Following that, we returned to continental Europe to our second phase of the northern lights chase.
Till then, stay wanderlust!
All photos and videos were taken using Google Pixel 7 Pro, and edited with Google Photos.