Full SK shorthaul flight: impressions
Apr 22, 2014, 2:40 am
#16
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Programs: SK Eurobonus Diamond (Lifetime Star Gold), Marriott Titanium (Lifetime Platinum)
Posts: 467
Apr 23, 2014, 3:36 am
#17
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2000
Posts: 14,352
It's a pleasure to be here.
Yes, you are right, this flight was not typical. I do think there were some systemic errors in how the full departure was handled, though. Specifically stowing the carry-ons (not hard to predict that this will be a problem on a full flight, no reason to let it cause a delay) and the completely disorganized F&B service. I so happens that I have another SK flight coming up in a couple of hours, and it looks like it is going to be full to the rafters again. I shall report my experiences here.
Does that go for *Alliance Golds too? I've had a free middle seat next to me on just about every SK flight I've taken except for the completely full ones. I thought I was just lucky.
My tickets are booked through a corporate TA, and for some reason I'm always automatically pre-assigned an aisle seat in the first row of Go. Needless to say, I then always get seat-shifted to a row further back, but usually still the first in Go. Occasionally, my assignment gets lost, like on today's flight. I was originally in 2C, but when I OCLI'd the seat was gone. Still managed to get the first row of Go, which at least gives me a tiny theoretical chance of catching the first train home.
Sounds fair enough to me.
Unless the middle seat is free, an upgrade to Plus would really not bring any advantages. Nothing to hope for, therefore.
Absolutely, even during a home invasion it is superior.
I guess that's so, but if they go to the trouble of announcing priority boarding, then it would make sense to enforce it too.
On a short flight like AMS-CPH it is a toss-up beween KL economy and SK Go. I just go by schedule and pick the flight with the departure time that suits me best.
Johan
Johan
Apr 23, 2014, 3:06 pm
#18
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2000
Posts: 14,352
Quick report on this afternoon's flight.
Online check-in
Didn't even try the app, used a PC. All done in less than a minute. My assigned seat 2C had vanished, but I managed to get an aisle seat in the first row of GO. It probably helped that I OLCI'd just under 30 hours before STD, well outside the official 22-hour window.
Lounge
Used the AMS Privium ClubLounge, which is head and shoulders about all other lounges at the airport. Requires membership, though.
Boarding
Boarding a full flight does not seem to be SK's forte. It took 40 minutes, we pushed back 15 minutes late. The flight departed from one of the C-gates which has the physical infrastructure to properly organize priority boarding, i.e. screens and (Tensa) barriers. Priority boarding was announced twice, and correctly enforced by the single gate agent. The announcements were in Scandinavian casual style: "Hello everybody! / Hallo allemaal!".
The FAs had taken the precaution of closing all overhead lockers in the Plus rows, but as these were of course opened by priority boarding pax and then left open, several Go pax managed to take advantage of them anyway. Once again there were far too many carry-ons, and far too little space.
Operational Upgrades
The gate agent had neatly arranged nine boarding cards on her desk, and the nine pax who took their aisle and window seats in Plus during priority boarding were later joined by another nine. Strikerbird is right, *Alliance Gold is not going to get me any upgrades on SK. I must add that most of the OpUps did not really look like SK frequent flyers, not even ones returning from an Easter leisure break.
Departure
As mentioned above, 15 minutes late. We arrived only five minutes late, but that was late enough for me to miss my train, and add another two hours to my journey.
In-flight catering
The cabin crew did better this time. Two trolleys appeared in Plus 22 minutes after pushback. The first trolley started with the last row of Plus, and then proceeded immediately to GO, leaving the second trolley to serve the first three Plus rows. The first FA proceeded down the aisle at a very brisk pace, annoucing "in-flight sales". I just managed to stop him, and asked for a glass of water (just for the heck of it, of course). This was offered immediately. I was not asked whether I wanted to purchase a bottle, and the glass I was given was full to the brim. The guy across the aisle from me was left sitting with the menu on his lap. He apparently though the first trolley was serving drinks and the second food. This second trolley of course never made it to GO, and the guy was apparently too shy to push the call button or get up and ask, so he had to go without food, and SK without the profit.
Service in Plus was still very slow, possibly because the OpUps seemed clueless (which also argues against them being frequent flyers). They had not studied the menu, the FA had to explain what was available, about which they then had to think for a while, etc. A normal business class service with one or two choices is far more efficient and customer friendly.
In conclusion
The experience was marginally better this time round, primarily because the crew seemed a bit more organized. And hey, I got the glass of water I asked for without any fuss.
Johan
Online check-in
Didn't even try the app, used a PC. All done in less than a minute. My assigned seat 2C had vanished, but I managed to get an aisle seat in the first row of GO. It probably helped that I OLCI'd just under 30 hours before STD, well outside the official 22-hour window.
Lounge
Used the AMS Privium ClubLounge, which is head and shoulders about all other lounges at the airport. Requires membership, though.
Boarding
Boarding a full flight does not seem to be SK's forte. It took 40 minutes, we pushed back 15 minutes late. The flight departed from one of the C-gates which has the physical infrastructure to properly organize priority boarding, i.e. screens and (Tensa) barriers. Priority boarding was announced twice, and correctly enforced by the single gate agent. The announcements were in Scandinavian casual style: "Hello everybody! / Hallo allemaal!".
The FAs had taken the precaution of closing all overhead lockers in the Plus rows, but as these were of course opened by priority boarding pax and then left open, several Go pax managed to take advantage of them anyway. Once again there were far too many carry-ons, and far too little space.
Operational Upgrades
The gate agent had neatly arranged nine boarding cards on her desk, and the nine pax who took their aisle and window seats in Plus during priority boarding were later joined by another nine. Strikerbird is right, *Alliance Gold is not going to get me any upgrades on SK. I must add that most of the OpUps did not really look like SK frequent flyers, not even ones returning from an Easter leisure break.
Departure
As mentioned above, 15 minutes late. We arrived only five minutes late, but that was late enough for me to miss my train, and add another two hours to my journey.
In-flight catering
The cabin crew did better this time. Two trolleys appeared in Plus 22 minutes after pushback. The first trolley started with the last row of Plus, and then proceeded immediately to GO, leaving the second trolley to serve the first three Plus rows. The first FA proceeded down the aisle at a very brisk pace, annoucing "in-flight sales". I just managed to stop him, and asked for a glass of water (just for the heck of it, of course). This was offered immediately. I was not asked whether I wanted to purchase a bottle, and the glass I was given was full to the brim. The guy across the aisle from me was left sitting with the menu on his lap. He apparently though the first trolley was serving drinks and the second food. This second trolley of course never made it to GO, and the guy was apparently too shy to push the call button or get up and ask, so he had to go without food, and SK without the profit.
Service in Plus was still very slow, possibly because the OpUps seemed clueless (which also argues against them being frequent flyers). They had not studied the menu, the FA had to explain what was available, about which they then had to think for a while, etc. A normal business class service with one or two choices is far more efficient and customer friendly.
In conclusion
The experience was marginally better this time round, primarily because the crew seemed a bit more organized. And hey, I got the glass of water I asked for without any fuss.
Johan
Apr 24, 2014, 4:25 am
#19
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: AGH
Posts: 5,961
Handling of opups seems to be quite weird at SAS. It looks like to be based only on the discretion of the gate agents. It seems some prefer SK*G, some prefer expensive revenue tickets, some pick by names they like.
On my last TATL SFO-CPH they opuped round about 15 pax (10to Y, 5 to C), most of them without any status with SK or *G.
A clear, consistent and transparent procedure how opups are cleared would be a great.
On my last TATL SFO-CPH they opuped round about 15 pax (10to Y, 5 to C), most of them without any status with SK or *G.
A clear, consistent and transparent procedure how opups are cleared would be a great.
Apr 24, 2014, 6:15 am
#20
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: CPH, Denmark
Programs: EBD
Posts: 443
What does a SK frequent flyer look like?? You can easily be a frequent flyer without knowing what's on the menu in Plus; a mere 25 domestic r/t's (with no menus) will take you into EBG and thus eligible for op-ups on a European flight with Plus-class.
Apr 24, 2014, 9:11 am
#22
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: EFHK - HEL
Programs: AY, LH, KL, SK, D8, Marriott, Melia.
Posts: 607
April 2013, SK984 at NRT gate; there were 9 pax who were upgraded at the gate. But I cannot say, were those upgrades by EB points or * status. As I´m new to EB I went to ask points upgrade, it could have been done right away, but I was missing 100 points... I think some were opup´s as Go was full.
Apr 24, 2014, 2:10 pm
#23
Join Date: Aug 2010
Programs: TK Elite Plus, SAS EBG, QR Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,297
Looks like a nice lounge, though I don't see a point for membership when you get the same perks for free from the airline. It it actually possible to use the KLM Crown Lounge when traveling on SAS or any other *A Airline. Just give them your FB Platinum card and your mobile BP. They don't seem to bother if it's not Skyteam/KLM. Worked for me all the time back when I lived in Rotterdam and used Schiphol as my home base.
Apr 24, 2014, 2:31 pm
#24
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2000
Posts: 14,352
OK, look at it this way: what does a SK frequent flyer probably not look like?
A SK frequent flyer probably does not look like:
- a Chinese family with only rudimentary English.
- a pimply young male dressed like a skateboarder carrying his belongings in a plastic shopping bag advertising a local supermarket.
- somebody who has a hard time finding his seat row, and then an even harder time working out what the letter after the row number on his BC stands for.
Note that I used the word "probably". I may have been wrong, but I don't think so.
Johan
A SK frequent flyer probably does not look like:
- a Chinese family with only rudimentary English.
- a pimply young male dressed like a skateboarder carrying his belongings in a plastic shopping bag advertising a local supermarket.
- somebody who has a hard time finding his seat row, and then an even harder time working out what the letter after the row number on his BC stands for.
Note that I used the word "probably". I may have been wrong, but I don't think so.
Johan
Apr 24, 2014, 11:46 pm
#25
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: HEL
Programs: AY, SK, TK
Posts: 7,591
OK, look at it this way: what does a SK frequent flyer probably not look like?
- a pimply young male dressed like a skateboarder carrying his belongings in a plastic shopping bag advertising a local supermarket.
Note that I used the word "probably". I may have been wrong, but I don't think so.
Johan
- a pimply young male dressed like a skateboarder carrying his belongings in a plastic shopping bag advertising a local supermarket.
Note that I used the word "probably". I may have been wrong, but I don't think so.
Johan
I agree with Johan that it is tempting to build "FF stereotypes" but beware: I can sometimes look even worse than that skateboarder 
since I always prefer to travel "cozy-dressed" instead of tie-tight suit, especially when it comes to long-haul.Hence, once upon a time at boarding (dressed "cozy"), the FA waiting at the door tried to lead me to the right while I was trying to turn left with my C ticket
Apr 25, 2014, 1:27 am
#26
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: CPH, Denmark
Programs: EBD
Posts: 443
A SK frequent flyer probably does not look like:
- a Chinese family with only rudimentary English.
- a pimply young male dressed like a skateboarder carrying his belongings in a plastic shopping bag advertising a local supermarket.
- somebody who has a hard time finding his seat row, and then an even harder time working out what the letter after the row number on his BC stands for.
- a Chinese family with only rudimentary English.
- a pimply young male dressed like a skateboarder carrying his belongings in a plastic shopping bag advertising a local supermarket.
- somebody who has a hard time finding his seat row, and then an even harder time working out what the letter after the row number on his BC stands for.
Apr 25, 2014, 9:47 am
#27
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Koala Lemur
Programs: SK EBD LTG (*G)
Posts: 2,445
I agree with Johan that it is tempting to build "FF stereotypes" but beware: I can sometimes look even worse than that skateboarder since I always prefer to travel "cozy-dressed" instead of tie-tight suit, especially when it comes to long-haul.Hence, once upon a time at boarding (dressed "cozy"), the FA waiting at the door tried to lead me to the right while I was trying to turn left with my C ticket
Apr 26, 2014, 1:31 pm
#28
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: OSL
Programs: SK Diamond, LH SEN, KL Ivory, AY Basic, OZ silver
Posts: 1,103
Just a few thoughts here...
The way I learned the *G lounge is upstairs is because I always was pointed to my left for entry to the lounge by the host when I was still flying as non-EBG in C. They suddenly pointed right, towards the stairs, when I had that shiny golden card. I'm not so stupid that I can't get a hint when I get one.
Not that there's much difference between the lounges, by the way. In OSL there is (was? *G lounge is now being refurbished, not sure what it will be like) absolutely no difference between the lounges and there's actually no gatekeeper that will stop you as C or Plus passenger to enter the gold lounge.
I think the LH lounges in FRA are better in every single respect than the SK lounges, if it were only for having plenty of clean showers available and no ridiculous waiting times. That's the biggest 'miss' on OSL and I haven't been very impressed with CPH either.
I stopped flying KL when they were serving dried out slices of bread with tasteless cheese (no butter, as butter costs money) packed in plastic foil and Royal Delft-ish cardboard. I'm not sure where they are now with on board service in Y, but I rather get nothing than that I've paid for such a 'treat'. The KL Crown Lounge on AMS is only better than the Menzies lounge on AMS (for SK passengers), while the SK lounge on CPH is at least as good as the KL lounge on AMS.
I only fly PLUS on private trips when the price is the same or less than Go (yes, that happens). On business trips I often fly Plus nowadays. It's only in very unfortunate circumstances that PLUS is fully booked, is my experience, so chances are that you will get an empty seat anyway. Unless you have a halfway retarded check in agent who just books all other plus passengers right next to you on the first row, leaving row 2 and 3 completely empty (yes, I even experienced that). In addition, my SK account happens to fill up quite fast. I'm actually going to make Diamond this year due to some of those Plus flights. SK points can actually be used for things, while points on KL have so little value (they had a point value inflation there that even would have made Mugabe jealous) that I still haven't been able to book a reward flight, having been platinum for years. I think the points expired now... With SK sometimes round trips CPH-AMS or OSL-AMS go for 10.000 or 15.000 points or so (where I already earn 5000 in Plus on direct flights or 7500 on OSL-CPH-AMS). Agreed, apart from rebooking and extra points there are absolutely no benefits for *G members in booking Plus.
Soft seat blocking is a perk with SK and all other *A that I really enjoy. KL doesn't offer this service. I always ask at the check in agent if the seat next to me can be blocked (even when flying Plus) and this is almost always granted (given the flight is not fully booked).
When counting upgrades, I have the impression that SK uses the Great Random Generator In The Sky Operated By A Lazy Schroedinger's Cat But In Leap Years By A Pink Hedgehog Drawn By Escher to assign upgraded seats in order to comply with the annoying forced equality principle that still keeps Scandinavia in a harsh grip. Even I, as EBG, haven't by far had the pleasure to be upgraded so often as I should have based on status. If you want to get upgraded with an airline because you are *G, I recommend you fly with LX, OS and TP. I got most of my upgrades with those airlines. LH you can forget. I actually experienced quite a few times that LH rather left passengers on the ground than upgraded a few to C. LH is in love wiht it own rules, not with its passengers.
Now for on board service. You must have gotten the weirdest SK crew ever on AMS-CPH. At least very grumpy and competely inefficient. My experience is that getting a glass of water has never been an issue on any flight (except one, where I could only buy a bottle for 25NOK). They nowadays usually go round the aircraft asking people if they want tea or coffee, giving an empty cup when you said 'yes'. If you're lucky they come through the cabin later on to fill it with something (usually at random, though). Apparently refills have disappeared and sugar and milk are only available on request: they're not offered by default anymore, I always have to ask for them explicitly. Nevertheless, this still by far beats the serving times of TP. I was on a few C class flights last week and it took them a full 2 hours on the flights OSL-LIS and LIS-OSL before they were ready to serve meals or drinks: both ways service started above Paris. Most SK flights are shorter.
I completely agree with the look of a typical 'status' or frequent flyer on SK, although I have to admit that I have had stuff with me that would easily beat the platic bag (a full Burger King meal on a tray, anyone? ). I even have to admit that I didn't look (or smell) my very best after attending a metal festival and crawling in a Plus seat directly afterwards to get home... especially not as I was still wearing my festival outfit. And, having become quite Scandinavian by now, even I don't fly with my suit (or regular business outfit) on that often anymore. Just a plain casual outfit will do.
I don't want to be a SK apologist, but if you blame SK for missing your train for being 5 minutes late, I suggest you take better margins next time anyway. If they landed on time but got parked at an outside position you would also have lost those 5 minutes. Or if they got one of the faraway A gates. Or if the gate was still occupied by another aircraft. Or if they departed on time but got put on a hold pattern for a few minutes... Air travel still requires a lot of time, unfortunately. And, given that SK for example NEVER respects priority luggage tags and such, things can get pretty time consuming anyway.
The way I learned the *G lounge is upstairs is because I always was pointed to my left for entry to the lounge by the host when I was still flying as non-EBG in C. They suddenly pointed right, towards the stairs, when I had that shiny golden card. I'm not so stupid that I can't get a hint when I get one.
Not that there's much difference between the lounges, by the way. In OSL there is (was? *G lounge is now being refurbished, not sure what it will be like) absolutely no difference between the lounges and there's actually no gatekeeper that will stop you as C or Plus passenger to enter the gold lounge. I think the LH lounges in FRA are better in every single respect than the SK lounges, if it were only for having plenty of clean showers available and no ridiculous waiting times. That's the biggest 'miss' on OSL and I haven't been very impressed with CPH either.
I stopped flying KL when they were serving dried out slices of bread with tasteless cheese (no butter, as butter costs money) packed in plastic foil and Royal Delft-ish cardboard. I'm not sure where they are now with on board service in Y, but I rather get nothing than that I've paid for such a 'treat'. The KL Crown Lounge on AMS is only better than the Menzies lounge on AMS (for SK passengers), while the SK lounge on CPH is at least as good as the KL lounge on AMS.
I only fly PLUS on private trips when the price is the same or less than Go (yes, that happens). On business trips I often fly Plus nowadays. It's only in very unfortunate circumstances that PLUS is fully booked, is my experience, so chances are that you will get an empty seat anyway. Unless you have a halfway retarded check in agent who just books all other plus passengers right next to you on the first row, leaving row 2 and 3 completely empty (yes, I even experienced that). In addition, my SK account happens to fill up quite fast. I'm actually going to make Diamond this year due to some of those Plus flights. SK points can actually be used for things, while points on KL have so little value (they had a point value inflation there that even would have made Mugabe jealous) that I still haven't been able to book a reward flight, having been platinum for years. I think the points expired now... With SK sometimes round trips CPH-AMS or OSL-AMS go for 10.000 or 15.000 points or so (where I already earn 5000 in Plus on direct flights or 7500 on OSL-CPH-AMS). Agreed, apart from rebooking and extra points there are absolutely no benefits for *G members in booking Plus.
Soft seat blocking is a perk with SK and all other *A that I really enjoy. KL doesn't offer this service. I always ask at the check in agent if the seat next to me can be blocked (even when flying Plus) and this is almost always granted (given the flight is not fully booked).
When counting upgrades, I have the impression that SK uses the Great Random Generator In The Sky Operated By A Lazy Schroedinger's Cat But In Leap Years By A Pink Hedgehog Drawn By Escher to assign upgraded seats in order to comply with the annoying forced equality principle that still keeps Scandinavia in a harsh grip. Even I, as EBG, haven't by far had the pleasure to be upgraded so often as I should have based on status. If you want to get upgraded with an airline because you are *G, I recommend you fly with LX, OS and TP. I got most of my upgrades with those airlines. LH you can forget. I actually experienced quite a few times that LH rather left passengers on the ground than upgraded a few to C. LH is in love wiht it own rules, not with its passengers.
Now for on board service. You must have gotten the weirdest SK crew ever on AMS-CPH. At least very grumpy and competely inefficient. My experience is that getting a glass of water has never been an issue on any flight (except one, where I could only buy a bottle for 25NOK). They nowadays usually go round the aircraft asking people if they want tea or coffee, giving an empty cup when you said 'yes'. If you're lucky they come through the cabin later on to fill it with something (usually at random, though). Apparently refills have disappeared and sugar and milk are only available on request: they're not offered by default anymore, I always have to ask for them explicitly. Nevertheless, this still by far beats the serving times of TP. I was on a few C class flights last week and it took them a full 2 hours on the flights OSL-LIS and LIS-OSL before they were ready to serve meals or drinks: both ways service started above Paris. Most SK flights are shorter.
I completely agree with the look of a typical 'status' or frequent flyer on SK, although I have to admit that I have had stuff with me that would easily beat the platic bag (a full Burger King meal on a tray, anyone?
). I even have to admit that I didn't look (or smell) my very best after attending a metal festival and crawling in a Plus seat directly afterwards to get home... especially not as I was still wearing my festival outfit. And, having become quite Scandinavian by now, even I don't fly with my suit (or regular business outfit) on that often anymore. Just a plain casual outfit will do. I don't want to be a SK apologist, but if you blame SK for missing your train for being 5 minutes late, I suggest you take better margins next time anyway. If they landed on time but got parked at an outside position you would also have lost those 5 minutes. Or if they got one of the faraway A gates. Or if the gate was still occupied by another aircraft. Or if they departed on time but got put on a hold pattern for a few minutes... Air travel still requires a lot of time, unfortunately. And, given that SK for example NEVER respects priority luggage tags and such, things can get pretty time consuming anyway.
Last edited by UltraRant; Apr 26, 2014 at 1:53 pm
Apr 26, 2014, 2:18 pm
#29
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2000
Posts: 14,352
Is there any difference? I've had a look around downstairs in the Kastrup lounge, looked the same to me. I thought upstairs was just less busy.
That's one thing that doesn't matter for me. I only need a shower when flying from a hot country, or when connecting from a longhaul. In neither instance will I be flying SK.
You don't want to know. Oh, all right then, on AMS-CPH you get to choose between a yucky cookie full of E-numbers, or some pretzly salty things with even more E-numbers. I have never dared try either, but I'm sure they are disgusting.
I have Privium, so can give both the KL and Menzies lounges a wide berth. The CPH SK lounge stands heads and shoulders above the Novia lounge KL pax are condemned to (unless flying in J, in which case one can use CPH Apartment, which is OK).
I don't, really. What's the difference nowadays between Y and J on shorthaul? Not worth getting excited about, except for TK and a few others. Longhaul I fly J.
The purser who had to run back to the front galley a zillion times to swap the tea and coffee pots had to do so because he had a tray with milk and sugar in his left hand, restricting him to one pot in his other hand.
I don't. I fully expect to take a train an hour later, and plan accordingly. However, if I can make the earlier train I get home at least two hours earlier, so it is worth a try. I've become pretty good at racing through the terminal. I think I set a CPH World Record last month: from aircraft door to the train station in three minutes.
Johan
I don't, really. What's the difference nowadays between Y and J on shorthaul? Not worth getting excited about, except for TK and a few others. Longhaul I fly J.
The purser who had to run back to the front galley a zillion times to swap the tea and coffee pots had to do so because he had a tray with milk and sugar in his left hand, restricting him to one pot in his other hand.
Johan
Apr 26, 2014, 2:35 pm
#30
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: KSU (Kristiansund N, Norway)
Programs: SAS EBD/ *G
Posts: 2,163
Just a few thoughts here...
The way I learned the *G lounge is upstairs is because I always was pointed to my left for entry to the lounge by the host when I was still flying as non-EBG in C. They suddenly pointed right, towards the stairs, when I had that shiny golden card. I'm not so stupid that I can't get a hint when I get one. Not that there's much difference between the lounges, by the way. In OSL there is (was? *G lounge is now being refurbished, not sure what it will be like) absolutely no difference between the lounges and there's actually no gatekeeper that will stop you as C or Plus passenger to enter the gold lounge.
(...)
When counting upgrades, I have the impression that SK uses the Great Random Generator In The Sky Operated By A Lazy Schroedinger's Cat But In Leap Years By A Pink Hedgehog Drawn By Escher to assign upgraded seats in order to comply with the annoying forced equality principle that still keeps Scandinavia in a harsh grip. Even I, as EBG, haven't by far had the pleasure to be upgraded so often as I should have based on status. If you want to get upgraded with an airline because you are *G, I recommend you fly with LX, OS and TP. I got most of my upgrades with those airlines. LH you can forget. I actually experienced quite a few times that LH rather left passengers on the ground than upgraded a few to C. LH is in love wiht it own rules, not with its passengers.
(...)
They nowadays usually go round the aircraft asking people if they want tea or coffee, giving an empty cup when you said 'yes'. If you're lucky they come through the cabin later on to fill it with something (usually at random, though). Apparently refills have disappeared and sugar and milk are only available on request: they're not offered by default anymore, I always have to ask for them explicitly.
(...)
And, given that SK for example NEVER respects priority luggage tags and such, things can get pretty time consuming anyway.
The way I learned the *G lounge is upstairs is because I always was pointed to my left for entry to the lounge by the host when I was still flying as non-EBG in C. They suddenly pointed right, towards the stairs, when I had that shiny golden card. I'm not so stupid that I can't get a hint when I get one.
Not that there's much difference between the lounges, by the way. In OSL there is (was? *G lounge is now being refurbished, not sure what it will be like) absolutely no difference between the lounges and there's actually no gatekeeper that will stop you as C or Plus passenger to enter the gold lounge. (...)
When counting upgrades, I have the impression that SK uses the Great Random Generator In The Sky Operated By A Lazy Schroedinger's Cat But In Leap Years By A Pink Hedgehog Drawn By Escher to assign upgraded seats in order to comply with the annoying forced equality principle that still keeps Scandinavia in a harsh grip. Even I, as EBG, haven't by far had the pleasure to be upgraded so often as I should have based on status. If you want to get upgraded with an airline because you are *G, I recommend you fly with LX, OS and TP. I got most of my upgrades with those airlines. LH you can forget. I actually experienced quite a few times that LH rather left passengers on the ground than upgraded a few to C. LH is in love wiht it own rules, not with its passengers.
(...)
They nowadays usually go round the aircraft asking people if they want tea or coffee, giving an empty cup when you said 'yes'. If you're lucky they come through the cabin later on to fill it with something (usually at random, though). Apparently refills have disappeared and sugar and milk are only available on request: they're not offered by default anymore, I always have to ask for them explicitly.
(...)
And, given that SK for example NEVER respects priority luggage tags and such, things can get pretty time consuming anyway.
My experience is that SK respects status when upgrading. I have been upgraded on TP (with partner, EBS) and on LH (once OSL-MUC and once MUC-YUL. LH often gets status level wrong, though: often printing basic status on the boarding cards)
As for tea and coffee, I am always asked whether I want something in mye tea, and am offered a refill 70 % of the time on my usual 50-minute domestic run.
Priority tagging usually means that the luggage is handled so carefully, that it comes out last...
