LT56

Hi all

I am new to this forum and joined in order to hear feedback from others who have either Eurobonus Diamond (EBD) or Gold (EBG) level.

I have been EBG since 2008 and been EBD since SAS introduced this.

However, since the EBD level was introduced I have received poorer and poorer services from SAS.

This goes from all small perks such as getting a free seat next to when flying in economy (even despite asking fort this), treatment when SAS cancel flights, experience with customer service and booking/availability of bonus flights.

It culminated this summer, where I for the second time in 3 months were stranded the entire weekend in various airports due to SAS cancellations and following inability to get even the slightest things right afterwards (such as confirming the re-booked flight which cost my family including children of 1 and 3 11 hours stay in BKK!!).

I got no help from customer service, neither when they re-booked CPH-PEK to CPH-BKK-PEK and when they forgot to confirm BKK-PEK.
I will refrain from detailed descriptions of the telephone conversations (basically they told me to buy a ticket myself and see if SAS would refund it later if I would avoid the wait)

Now I have frustrations with their customer service in regard to compensation where I despite contacting them 3 times have not heard anything for 1½ month (despite their claim that EBD/EBG has highest priority)

I have not had that experience in the past when I was EBG.
Have any of you experienced deterioration of services level after becoming EBD?

Further, I have started to be so distressed with SAS EBD that I would look into joining another Star Alliance program instead and altogether skip SAS.
Have any of you tried this and what can you recommend?

I am looking at LH or UA, but are there others that you can recommend? (I now primarily fly Europe CPH-LHR-FRA-ZRH-CDG and ARN as well as EWR and BOS as well as occasionally PEK). I fly various Star Alliance carriers but mostly LX, LH and UA besides SK (which I would like to scrap for good.)

fassy

No, actually I have received pretty good service from the SAS help desk every time I called in the last two years. I always call the Swedish or Norwegian number, not sure it makes a difference but actually I always end up with a Swedish speaking agent and never end up in India or Estonia like others report.

But on the planes and on the ground, yes... the product, service and also Elite recognition has deteriorated over the last 5 years and has reached a absolute low in the last year or so which is a good joke as they introduced a new highest member level just not to recognize it.

But that is nothing related to EBG or EBG... it is just the overall service and product.

In the Miles and More forum a lot of people complain basically about the same. Service deteriorates, no elite recognition anymore, not even for HONs... Also mixed reviews on UA for 1Ks and even GS.

I think overall, you will only get some attention being in the highest bracket... flying internationally first a lot having a sizeable corporate account behind your name. Otherwise... vote with your wallet.

LT56

I called the Danish number - and talked with Danes, actually after some discussion with one customer service supporter they told me that there was a special Diamond number which they recommended me to call which I did. I got to same call center and they "diamond supporter" was the one suggesting buying my own ticket and then hope SAS would refund. Obviously I did not
My problem also goes when writing to the diamand@sas mailbox. I simply get the standard answer "our people have been busy with holidays etc. "..."but as EBD you will be first in-line" and then nothing happens..

You are probably right,
I am actually flying quite a bit on corporate account and currently, when flying, I am actually deciding trips for 1-2 other persons as well . We are shortly flying CPH-LHR-ZRH-BOS-EWR-BRU-CPH 3 persons on business class
So their poor service has so far cost them at least DKK 100-120.000 but I would prefer not to be angry and concentrate on other things instead.

Not so encouraged by your LH and UA comments

fassy

Hmm, you seem to be a unlucky one. The Swedish diamond mail agents replied to me in a matter of hours. Not that they told me what I wanted to hear but it was a long shot anyway...

So far, no complaints. Perhaps next time try the Swedish number?

To be honest, I would take LX or OS over SK any day on long haul business. Even though the new cabins are nice, the catering is subpar and service often sucks. I still credit to EuroBonus though since it is a quite ok program for me. I get miles for my rent, taxes etc with Coop and Betala, can redeem 2-4-1 flights twice a year through the AMEX, the award booking is easy and painless with no scam charges (at least on SK), can not complain about award availability lately, the extra Gold card for my SO is highly appreciated.... So overall, for me a good program, at least better than LHs M&M where I probably wouldn't even qualify for FTL

You will need to look around. Don't expect the red carpet roles out for you in the other programs. 'Enhancing' the frequent flyer programs and cut back on service seems to be the trend in the airline industry at the moment.

But as said, EuroBonus works for me.

UltraRant

First of all, welcome to FlyerTalk!

I can understand your experience, it's in line with mine (yet not so extreme). SAS is completely indifferent about what customers think of them and acts upon it. So, yes, rebooking and forgetting to confirm with the other airline, no fast lanes for elites with major screw-ups, a highly inflated bonus program, staff that doesn't care further than the core of their duties and sometimes not even so much... been there, done that. It also fits with the Scandinavian business model: staff knows it won't get punished when they make mistakes, as long as the intention was good.

Usually the Diamond mail answers within a week or so. Keep calling them, push a bit, try one of the other mail boxes for diamonds and make sure you write in English.

I cannot recommend Miles & More. I still have a Senator card but I'm ditching the program, as LH made it absolutely clear that I'm not welcome if I'm not at least flying in full flex business or first. Also service is deteriorating there. Ground staff is usually arrogant, indifferent and sometimes plain aggressive. In the air, LH still has a decent product, though.

I personally still like LX best for long haul, even in economy. And I agree with fassy: SK is pretty decent when it comes to award bookings (another thing I don't like about M&M: sometimes the price of a reward ticket is higher than the price of a revenue ticket), and the extra gold card is gold. And, of course, the goodie bag... (ok, a bit sarcasm there in the end). But what is important in a frequent flyer program differs per person. Some people go for fast status and lounge access, others go for lots of points and bonus flights and upgrades, and other people maybe have other reasons. Before, the Aegean program used to be quite popular. They've now changed the rule,s but it's still quite decent if you want to qualify for gold fast and don't care much about points. Otherwise, Asiana might have a good deal... For me, SK is still the best deal within Star Alliance though...

fassy

Hrrhrr... So true... After 6 months in a Scandic company ( interestingly my iPhone autocorrected to 'Scandic comedy' which seems to be more on the point) I'm fed up and leaving! I see so much in SK as I see in my current employer... That it can't be a coincidence

Oh, how could I miss out on the goodie bag?

I think it makes sense to be elite and collect miles in program which is reasonable close to the home market or the market you're flying to a lot. Otherwise you're looking at always crediting the miles according to the agreed Partner Rates and have to redeem *A partner awards which are usually expensive and even harder to get hold off.

Try to book e.g. OSL - MUC on Asiana, Turkish or A3. If at some point you get a agent which could do it (After Hours in hold and dozens of HUCAs, also mind the long distance calls), good luck at finding award space and then be shocked about the quotes for YQ. On SK you can book it online and pay around 500 SEK in taxes. I use the EuroBonus for intra-European bookings quite a lot since I often have to pay last minute flights Scandinavia to Germany which would be in the 300 to 800€ region while I often enough can get them for a reasonable price at EuroBonus.

UltraRant

Point with Asiana is more that you get a gold card for life if you have 500.000 miles.

Agreed on points redemption with far-away carriers, although I have to say that I never had an issue with finding empty capacity. I love putting SAS points into TG flights, though... and TG is usually pretty wide open on *A awards (compared to other partners).

fassy

Right, but that is not my point. Try the other way around, book SAS tickets via the TG program... Or a OS flight using OZ miles calling the ICN call center...

My point is: Even though a lot of people complain about bad customer service the phone agents I had at SAS doing the bookings had been quite able to find what I want while often enough on other carriers I had spend hours on the phone without success, mostly wondering if we even speak the same language, which should have been English (with more or less heavy accent)

UltraRant

Thanks a lot for clarifying, indeed didn't get that point.

LT56

Thank you
I actually get replies from them within hours...their answers are the issue as I get: "you have priority but we are very busy please wait another 8-14 days"..then I patiently wait and contact them after 15-18 days and I get reply within hours: "you have priority but we are very busy please wait another 8-14 days" (and then when they leave me/us behind in airports due to missing confirmations and re-booking screw up from their side etc. you run your head against the wall and are left to wait 7-9-11 hours in some remote airport in the weekend (my last couple of intercontinental flights)

Thanks for the feedback - My experiences with LH has actually been very good which is why I considered them. However, I see the feedback in this thread and took a look on the M&M thread and will probably not join them.

UA I was interested in since you can see their available Star Alliance bonus flight online which you cannot with SAS. Actually, when I lived in China it was very difficult for me to spend my points

Definitely - for me it is the value of getting help once you run into problems (as this happens quite a bit if flying frequently) and the lounge access when not flying business. I will try to look at Aegean and Asiana - the 500k deal with Asiana sounds quite interesting^ My award flights tend to be through Star Alliance anyway - when I lived in Asia it was always on Air China, Asiana or ANA despite holding SK card - and my experiences from flying the Asia carriers, including TG, has been very good service (especially when traveling with small children)

UltraRant

I do believe those mails are standard (auto-generated?) mails. I also get those within hours when sending something to the Diamond bin. Usually followed by a proper reply within hours, days and sometimes a week.

The only disadvantage with OZ is that serious point earnings seem to start with higher booking classes. Furthermore, a lot of people seem to be happy about TK's Miles & Smiles these days. Not sure why, as to me TK is a bit of the 'loner' within *A. Just check them out anyway.

There are actually some tools / sites which display *A availability. I remember from the 'travel tools' forum or the StarAlliance forum, one of those two, that more people are actually interested in seeing it.

fassy

Colleagues on TK told me to stay as far away as possible if I'm looking for good customer service or booking Star Alliance Awards. For having basic *G privileges it works well.

I can recommend the KVSTool. Works very well and I'm happy to pay for it as it is plain the most painless tool to find award space.

TPJ

OMG - after reading this thread I will stop moaning about TK...

So let me tell you how it is with TK:
- great in-flight service & food
- excellent F/A's - my guess is that they recently had to go via some sort of training as (at least in C) they smile, are very attentive, call you by name etc.
- amazing lounge in IST
- fairly reliable & good on-time performance (apart from this spring as one of the runways in IST was closed for rebuilding)

IROP's:
- during 2.5 years of extensive flying, I had one IROP and they put me on flights I wanted (OS via VIE)
- To minimize risk I always book connections with transit time in IST of 2-3 hours

Lost baggage:
- again - during 2.5 years of extensive flying - they lost my baggage once - they called me from IST the same evening, confirmed it was left behind and told me which flight they will put it on - I got compensation/reimbursement (one chaser was needed) for extra limo waiting time and small shopping (socks etc.)

Communication
- there is an option of sending a form via their web site - I always get an answer within 24-72 hours - don't try to call them - just write using basic English

Booking *A award tickets
- doable, but be prepared for a few HUCA's (hung up call again)
- TK awards are bookable via tk.com and the process works very well

FlyingMoose

I've seen some TK praise on here before as well which I've never understood. I found it a very unpleasant experience with a transfer at an airport that is so far out of the way it is not worth it.

UltraRant

Will be flying with them to ULN in one week from now, in C. Thought it'd be a good test case to see if the current praise (and the amount of Skytrax awards they're bragging about) would make for a decent airline for future long haul trips to Asia. And, if so, it'd be quite natural to switch to M&S, as partner earnings on TK are appalling both ways (that's also what I meant with being a 'loner')... So far I haven't been impressed with quite some things, especially the amount of things you can't do with your reservation on their website.

Anyway, I think the initial question was about a decent ffp, not a decent on board experience...