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Old Nov 13, 2009, 3:06 am
  #1  
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NRT-CPH SAS Business class Saturday 24th October 2009

Tokyo Narita (NRT) – Copenhagen (CPH)

Date Saturday 24th October 2009
Airline: SAS
Class of service: Business Class
Flight number: SK984
Aircraft type: Airbus A340-300
Scheduled (actual): departure time 1140 (1205)
Scheduled (actual): arrival time 1605 (1530)
Flight duration: 11h. 35 m.
Seat: 8B

Departure

I arrived at the huge Narita airport with the limousine bus from my hotel. The traffic in and out of Tokyo in the morning can be quite a hell, so I took an early buss. The ride from downtown to the airport took just over 1. h.
I arrived at the check-in desk at 09:00, two hours and thirty minutes before departure. I was early, but the bus ride could just as well have lasted two hours or more. I went straight to the check-in counter. There was no one in line at Business, two other persons in line at the Star Gold counter, next to business class and the economy class area was all cleared. Well maybe all the eco. Pax used the self-service kiosks? There were plenty of them. And usually they work really fine. There was a small line, like 10-15 pax, at the two baggage drop counters.
I received my boarding pass and had my lugged tagged for my final destination and marked with the star alliance priority tag within two minutes. I made my way to security to find a separate first and business class queue, but there were only two lines and they were used by all passengers. But since it only took 10 minutes it didn’t really matter. Maybe it was just Asian efficiency? As there were quite a lot of people in the security lines due to the heavy load of passengers travelling with the Lufthansa 747 the SIA A380 and one Thai 747 taking off within the next three hours. Then walking to the immigration I was shocked. All checkpoints were open but what a hell of people. No priority lines what so ever! I chose a line and then preparing for waiting. It took around 30 minutes to clear immigrations and then I was free. Then I walked straight to the UNITED Red Carpet Club, RCC, or the SCC as I call it. Well this one definitely was not a SCC lounge. It was brand new, spacious, with a really nice view and comfortable furniture’s. The food selection on the other hand, wow that was poor. Would even call it none existing, a great selection of licker though (but at 09:30 in the morning not really my thing). So had some coffee and one banana and then I decided going to the ANA Business Class lounge to get some real food.


United RCC Narita

The ANA lounge was really nice. There were a great food selection including sushi, fresh croissants, white bread and different chesses and ham, dark bread, sandwich and fresh fruit, along with a great drinks selection. Also there were a soba/muddle bar available, where you could chose from a huge selection of different kinds of soba and noodle dishes. And complementary wifi, a big plus for me! Don’t understand why some lounges only offers pay-by-minute wifi, and not free wifi…


4'th flor ANA Business Class Lounge at NRT
The ground floor lounge is huge, but was crowded this morning, so I went upstairs, netx to the ANA F Lounge


At about 11:10, an announcement was made that my flight was boarding. I walked to the gate, it took around 10 minutes. I used the Business class line and was soon onboard and sitting in my seat, 8B. It’s in the last row of business class in the small second cabin. Once on board my jacket was taken and I was offered a drink of water, orange juice or Charles Hiedsieck Champagne.


I know its a small thing. But I dont like the design of the champagne glass on the SAS flights...

I took the Champagne and some water with ice. We pushed back from the gate two minutes after our scheduled departure time. But due to the heavy traffic going in and out of Narita we weren’t airborne before 30minutes later. 30 minutes later into the flight the seatbelt sine is still on and the captain introduces himself and notifies us that we will be crossing some sewer jet streams and causing turbulence and that it will last the next hour or so and that everybody have to stay seated with the seatbelt on as well as the cabin crew. So no service before 2 h. and 30 minutes into the flight. Not really SAS fault, just a bit annoying.
After the seatbelt sign were turned off the service began. The crew handed out the comfort kit (better than the one on the CPH-NRT route) and noise cancelling headphones. I just bought a pair of my own Sony digital noise cancelling MDR-NC500D. And guys I tell you it’s the best I have ever tried. They are just amazing. The comfort kit were containing hand cream, lip balm, shaving kit, eye mask, slippers, sucks, earplugs, a shoe bag and shoehorn as well as mints and some antibacterial wipes. And we also got today’s menu:

Canapé

Grilled scallop, red pimento, Japanese sweet chili and pickled Chinese artichoke skewer

Green leaf salad with dressing of the day

First course

Swedish gravlax with wasabi cream sauce, salmon roe mache lettuce and lime


Selection of breads

Rye bread, rolls and selection of Scandinavian crisp breads served with Danish butter


Main course

Simmered alfonsino fish, vegetables in sweet soy sauce and black sesame rice

Sautéed chicken breast with penne pasta, vegetable tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese

Roast lion of lam with almond crust, leek and potato gratin, root vegetables, suga snap peas, dried lingonberries and Madeira sauce



Mushroom risotto with vegetable tagliatelle and okra in a basil cream sauce (the vegetarian course)

Cheese

Camembert and Danish Blue cheese with date and apple chutney


A sweet finish

Chocolate cream cake with fresh fruit salad



Wine

White wine:
Chateau Haut Bertinerie 2006 Bordeaux 100% Sauvignon Blance
Sancerre Les Grandmontains Domaine Laport 2007 100% Sauvignon Blance
Today’s guest wine: Chablis 2002 – don’t remember the name of the house

Red wine:
Crozes-Hermitage Petite Ruche 2007 100% Syrah from the northern Rhone district
Casa Silva Los Lingues Grand Reserva 2006 100% Carmenere Colchagua Vally Chile
Today’s guest wine: Sorry don’t remember anything else beside it was from Italia

Champagne:
Henriot 2000 Vintage Millesime, 58% Pinot Noir and 42% Chardonnay

Within 10 minutes the drink service began, I continued with the champagne and some nuts and the canapé. I forgot to pick up a newspaper at the gate so asked the sweet FA taking care of our small cabin if she got an extra Berlingske and Børsen (two Danish papers). So before the dinner service began I enjoyed my Danish paper and the nice chilled champagne. The scallops though were kind of tasteless and boring.

Then the FA came around setting up the table for dinner, a white tablecloth and wine glasses. I asked for more champagne and a glass of the Chateau Haut Bertinerie. Then the FA’s came around with the starter, a perfect gravlax with fresh salmon caviar. But wonder what people who don’t like seafood does? The first course as well as the canapé was seafood and no option of anything else.
For main course I chose the Roast lion of lam. It was perfect cooked for my taste, medium done and tender. Served with a great potato gratin, perfectly backed root vegetables, perfect steamed sugar snap peas, dried lingonberries and Madeira sauce. I found the sauce to be a bit too thick for my taste, but overall a great course. With the lamb I chose the red Crozes-Hermitage Petite Ruche and continued with that for the great cheese platter, as always on SAS. Followed by the desert cake from the trolley served with fresh fruit salad, it’s a winner, every time. Some may find I boring that the dessert always is a variety of cake and fruit, but I enjoy it and especially the Sautern makes the dessert complete.
After dessert I tuned to the movie selection. As I have pointed out before I find the AVOD system on SAS a bit lousy. The movie selection is just too small for a 12 h. flight as well as a frequent traveler on SAS intercontinental flights the selection is too small. I enjoyed one movie together with a nice selection of snakes from the buffet area. And then I went to bed. If you recline the seat fully you fell like your sliding down, so you need to adjust the seatback and leg rest after reclining the seat. And I find the seat a bit too short, I’m 185 tall, so I prefer a bulkhead seat, since the normal seats recline into a box under the seat in front of you. So the best row in business is for me row 1 and row 7.



Woke up around 5 hours later and asked the FA to get me a fresh brewed cappuccino, a fresh sandwich and some fruit (strawberry’s, melon and pears). A nice small meal, which I enjoyed will working on my laptop. The business class seat offers great space for working and eating at the same time and lots of table space available. But it’s a shame that you can’t turn the seat into a fully flat bed.




The buffet bar

Then the second meal service began, offering:

First course – selection of canapés

Shrimp cocktail with spicy tomato salad
Smoked chicken with onion and pimento confit

Hot main course – your selection from the trolley

Swedish beef Lindström – beef, beentroot and caper patties, with creamy demi-glace sauce

Steamed salmon galette in a tarragon cream sauce, sautéed potatoes with red onion and thyme, rice with black sesame seeds and sautéed vegetables



Dessert
Fresh fruit salad


Short after dinner we began the in-flight into Copenhagen airport, landing just a bit before schedule.
The flight was overbook in economy and economy extra but almost empty in business. One of the FA’s told me this. So most of the passengers in business were some lucky bastarts – then I asked if they had upgraded the passengers depending on their FF tier level. But no, all by luck at check-in. It makes one wonder why no one at SAS ground staff at the gate decides to upgrade some Eurobonus Gold or Silver members before upgrading other passengers.…

All in all a great flight. And I must say again. The service on the intercontinental flights has improved a lot over the last two years, even though the staff has been cut down. Great job SAS.


Last edited by NicoEBG; Nov 17, 2009 at 10:38 am
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Old Nov 13, 2009, 3:08 am
  #2  
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Pictures

Dont understand why the pictures isint showed in my trip reports... Im using picasa to uploade them to the web - suggestions for a better progrem???

Plz see all the pictures and videos here: http://picasaweb.google.dk/Nicolaiebg/NRT#

And my next TR will follow soon - Stockholm-Chicago-Los Angeles-Honolulu with SAS in C and United in Eco plus return in United Eco plus and SAS Premium Eco
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Old Nov 14, 2009, 5:08 am
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Adding pictures to this board from Picasa requires some manual work.

1. Select the picture you want to add in your Picasa photo collection.
2. Select Size (Small, Medium, Large)
3. Copy and Paste the link which is shown under "link to this picture" and not the one from the address-line of your browser!

The link will look like this:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...eat=directlink

4. Add the [IMG] Tag in Front and at the end of the Link. The Picture should be shown correctly now.

Last edited by flyingfkb; Nov 14, 2009 at 5:16 am
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Old Nov 15, 2009, 4:06 am
  #4  
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Originally Posted by caspritz78
Adding pictures to this board from Picasa requires some manual work.

1. Select the picture you want to add in your Picasa photo collection.
2. Select Size (Small, Medium, Large)
3. Copy and Paste the link which is shown under "link to this picture" and not the one from the address-line of your browser!

The link will look like this:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...eat=directlink

4. Add the [IMG] Tag in Front and at the end of the Link. The Picture should be shown correctly now.
Well I would like this picture to be shown: http://picasaweb.google.dk/lh/photo/...eat=directlink



I have doen as you said, but well it still dosent show...
And having no pictures in a TR just dosent seem as cool as having them displayed
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Old Nov 15, 2009, 8:32 am
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Great report. But can't help on commenting on the following:
I enjoyed one movie together with a nice selection of snakes from the buffet area.
SAS must be one of the most open-minded airlines concerning gourmet food!
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Old Nov 15, 2009, 2:24 pm
  #6  
 
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Interesting report! Thank you for sharing!
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Old Nov 15, 2009, 2:40 pm
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Thanks for the info and pictures.

United's NRT lounge is one of my favorite.
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Old Nov 15, 2009, 2:58 pm
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It was quite a time I added pictures from Picasa to one of my own reports. I remember now how it is done.

You have to use the link from the HTML-embedding. That is the second link Picasa offers you right under the direct link. It will look like this:

<table style="width:194px;"><tr><td align="center" style="height:194px;background:url("http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/transparent_album_background.gif") no-repeat left"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/XXXXXX/XXXXXXXXXXXXX&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_9Q5RnTbxPFM/SfhwnHeCfVE/AAAAAAAABXs/QJ6sDZ7ROOU/XXXXXXX/XXXXXXXXXXXX.jpg" width="160" height="160" style="margin:1px 0 0 4px;"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="text-align:center;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:11px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/XXXXXX/XXXXXXXXXXX&feat=embedwebsite" style="color:#4D4D4D;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;">XXXXXXXXXXXX</a></td></tr></table>

You have to remove all the red part to get the link for the picture. Add the [IMG] tag to it and the picture should be displayed.
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Old Nov 16, 2009, 12:35 pm
  #9  
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Originally Posted by tsastor
Great report. But can't help on commenting on the following:

SAS must be one of the most open-minded airlines concerning gourmet food!
Haha based on my selection of candy from the buffet?
Must add that the buffet were better than it looks on my picture. Took it just before the FA began prepering the cabin for landing. But your right - its simple food. But you can always ask the FA's for hot or cold snaks prepered by them at the gally and they have a great chees selection as weel as swiss chocolates offered duing the flight. Eps tha small chesse platter is great if you dont like the big 2 serving
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Old Nov 17, 2009, 10:17 am
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[QUOTE=caspritz78;12823340]It was quite a time I added pictures from Picasa to one of my own reports. I remember now how it is done.

You have to use the link from the HTML-embedding. That is the second link Picasa offers you right under the direct link. It will look like this:

<table style="width:194px;"><tr><td align="center" style="height:194px;background:url("http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/transparent_album_background.gif") no-repeat left"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/XXXXXX/XXXXXXXXXXXXX&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_9Q5RnTbxPFM/SfhwnHeCfVE/AAAAAAAABXs/QJ6sDZ7ROOU/XXXXXXX/XXXXXXXXXXXX.jpg" width="160" height="160" style="margin:1px 0 0 4px;"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="text-align:center;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:11px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/XXXXXX/XXXXXXXXXXX&feat=embedwebsite" style="color:#4D4D4D;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;">XXXXXXXXXXXX</a></td></tr></table>

You have to remove all the red part to get the link for the picture. Add the [IMG] tag to it and the picture should be displayed.[/QU

I will just give it a try
The hole link is this:
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.dk/lh/photo/1sjyECpG7YngbV8VO8jzQQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_NsjrKExw6pA/Sv0q4aneyZI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/5MwsdQwAqSw/s144/NRT-CPH%20032.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">Fra <a href="http://picasaweb.google.dk/Nicolaiebg/NRT?feat=embedwebsite">NRT</a></td></tr></table>

just the quote in the IMG spot

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Old Nov 17, 2009, 5:19 pm
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seems C in SAS is great ! i'd love to try some day
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Old Nov 23, 2009, 10:08 am
  #12  
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Originally Posted by tiddyzhang
seems C in SAS is great ! i'd love to try some day
I finde the service and food great. The seat is ok, but not the best. Hope SAS will re-fit the business cabin soon... The seats need more privacy and a flat-seat is soon a must have if you want to compeet on the int. routes.
I find ethe new Swiss C seat the best!
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Old Nov 23, 2009, 8:44 pm
  #13  
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Great report. I'm looking forward to my upcoming CPH-ORD flight in C.

Does SAS offer soup as well before the main course?
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Old Nov 24, 2009, 4:17 am
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Originally Posted by NicoEBG

The ground floor lounge is huge, but was crowded this morning, so I went upstairs, netx to the ANA F Lounge

Just a bit curious about this. I assume we're talking about the ANA lounges by gate 47. I was not aware of a second C class lounge next to the F lounge. Does it have a view. I assume it must be small. Does it have the same amenities as the large C lounge. I really do not like the fact that the C class lounge by gate 47 is located in a basement. And when I was there last I didn't feel like walking all the way to the other set ANA lounges - although the view of the runway from the C lounge there is great.
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Old Nov 24, 2009, 10:52 am
  #15  
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Originally Posted by MatthewLAX
Great report. I'm looking forward to my upcoming CPH-ORD flight in C.

Does SAS offer soup as well before the main course?
No they dont. But the portions is quite big, so I dont really need a soup. I would rather have the choice of another strater. At the moment sas only offers one starter, and 90% of the time its some kind of seafood. I really like seafood, but if your arent into seafood your out of luck. But between the meals sas offers 2-3 kinds of hot soup at the buffet.

Enjoy your flight - I just did ARN-ORD two weeks ago in C - only a few other passengers so the service were top notch.
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