SAS

Terrible customer service. Flew home on SAS after flying out on United- not an airline known for quality service but flew circles around SAS. Not only did SAS refuse to honor my Star Alliance gold status (SAS is a star alliance member), but they changed our seat at the last minute citing that the seat we booked is just a “wish” and until we actually board, it can be changed at any time. Needless to say, the new seat was not an upgrade and my wife and I wound up sitting in middle seats for 9.5 hours. Never flying SAS again.

As I live in Sweden I frequently fly with SAS. As I have Elite status iat SAS I often enjoy flying SAS even tought they are not at the same level as some of their Star Alliance friends (Lufthansa, Swiss, Turkish etc)
But you get what you need to feel comfortable (lounge, fast track, priority boarding and check in). On this flight i’m goning to review I flew from Copenhagen to Zurich in SAS Plus (Business/Premium Economy on short haul flights). Flew this flight during the morning so was served breakfast. Typicall scandinavian breakfast with bread, cheese, ham, yoghurt, OJ and coffee. The staff was very friendly and the flight was overall what you expect when travelling SAS Plus in Europe.

Scandinavian Airlines deserves more stars on these passenger reviews. Flew SAS long haul between Copenhagen and Beijing, and it was the best thing ever. Staff very polite, in flight entertainment excellent, meals served were very good. Seats are ok, flying economy class you get what you pay for. Free coffee and tea served throughout the flight. Would fly again, as well as recommend it to others.

I booked to fly from Manchester to Arlanda and a couple of months later, due to personal circumstances (I am a doctor and work commitments changed), I had to change my departure city to Edinburgh. I called their customer service 3 times, and though polite, they were completely inflexible about letting me do this. I was instructed to cancel my booking (no refund of course), and make a new one. One of the girls at least checked with her supervisor (supposedly) about maybe getting my an offer/discount for my new booking, but of course there was no such luck.

EDITORS COMMENT: Unfortunately if you have the cheapest ticket they ( or any airline offers) then you have no flexibility. It is often cheaper to buy a new ticket than pay all the change fees on an inflexible ticket.

Systems are bad (unable to book extras) Staff on flight is discriminatory Customer care numbers hard to find and once found, extremely long waiting time Most customer care for most countries only available in office hours. not allowing for emergency situations Overall not very customer oriented airline.