So it’s time for the very last leg on this trip, a one hour flight between Copenhagen and Stockholm.

Interestingly the last leg is also the only one not flown in business class or first class.
Well technically I was flying business class to Stockholm. I got business class miles for the flight, I was entitled to the business class baggage allowance and I was entitled to lounge access (not that it mattered much with my gold card), it’s just that there was no business class cabin onboard.
Passengers on business class tickets and full-fare economy class tickets are all seated in premium economy called “Economy Extra” within Scandinavia.

Transfer in Copenhagen

Transfer security was very quick, especially as I was travelling in business class and arrived before the masses.
There was only one counter open at the transit passport control to get to the Schengen zone and the officer there was mildly interested in looking at my passport and basically just waived me through.

I already had a boarding pass for my flight to Stockholm, so no formalities to take care of.

This was an early Saturday morning and the transit hall was almost empty. I have passed through Copenhagen tons of times but never seen it so quiet.

Pics
The very empty transit hall Saturday morning at 7 am

SAS Scandinavian Lounge, Copenhagen

After a quick visit to the main tax-free shop to look for a gift for a friend I headed to the SAS lounge.

There are two different sections in the lounge.
The Scandinavian lounge used for first class and gold card holders is upstairs and the business lounge used for business class passengers without status is downstairs.
Just like in Stockholm (as I mentioned in the beginning of the report) the SAS lounge partly closes during the summer for refurbishment, but now both sections were open again.

The Scandinavian lounge in Copenhagen is quite nice, it’s very airy with lots of natural light and good facilities.
They have two nice fireplaces for example and tired passengers have access to two day rooms with toilet and shower. I have used it once during a long layover and it was a nice experience



The lounge was very empty this morning, most passengers in the lounge had arrived on longhaul flights and were waiting for their connecting flights within Scandinavia.

The buffet area had breakfast for self-service. A rather nice selection including bread rolls, cold cuts, cereals and fresh fruits. And not to forget, Danishes...

I wasn’t very hungry after the very extensive breakfast on the plane from Bangkok, but I made myself another cup of coffee and got some light snacks from the buffet.



The buffet also had a very cool cheese cutting device. Very original!



I spent around an hour in the lounge having another cup of coffee and surfing the internet using the free WIFI.
As the lounge was pretty empty I could also take a fair number of photos without disturbing the other guests too much.

Pics
The entrance to the SAS lounge in Copenhagen
Inside the Scandinavian lounge
The restaurant part of the lounge
The inner part of the lounge
The breakfast buffet
Fresh fruits, marmalade and cereals
The cool cheese-cutting device
The drinks area
Red wine and danishes
One of the coffee machines
Internet computers
View from the lounge of Öresund and the landside car drop-off
The business lounge reception desk
View of the business lounge

Anniversary lounge of the world’s first designer hotel

On the lower floor almost right opposite the reception desk they had a small exhibition about the Royal Hotel in Copenhagen.
It’s marketed as the world’s first designer hotel and celebrates its 50th anniversary now.

The hotel still exists in Copenhagen, located right opposite the main railway station. Nowadays it’s part of the Radisson chain and the hotel called “Radisson Blu Royal Hotel”.
A large part of the interior in the hotel still has the old design from the 60’s.



One room in the hotel still has the original furniture and fittings designed by Arne Jacobsen.
It’s room 606 in the hotel and it’s actually available for booking, although at most times I believe they only use it to show visitors.

There was a replica of room 606 in the exhibition in the lounge. Very nicely made!

The original china used in the hotel was also on display.



Pics
Hotel furniture
A replica of room 606 at the Royal hotel
Inside room 606
The original hotel china

Copenhagen airport

The flight to Stockholm departed from gate A22 in the A-concourse, on the complete opposite end of the terminal.
So a long walk from the gate in the D-concourse through the entire shopping area to reach the gate.
The transit area was far more crowded now than when I landed at 6.30 am.

All longhaul flights use the C-concourse and I was surprised to see a fair number of interesting widebodies parked at the concourse including Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways and Air Canada.

Pics
Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways and SAS widebodies
SAS, Qatar Airways and Air Canada on the apron
Busy transit area

Boarding



The gate area at gate A22 was quite packed and there was a young man responsible for the flight who had to do all the work himself.
Apparently he had a problem with his computer so eventually he had to ask all passengers in the gate lounge to leave so he could use the computer at the entrance to the gate lounge for boarding.

Scandinavian and international newspapers were available at the gate for self-service.

Pics
The Airbus A319 at the gate
Our gate area

Copenhagen-Stockholm, flight SK 402 operated by SAS Scandinavian Airlines
Departure: 08:30
Arrival: 09:40
Aircraft: Airbus A319
Class: Economy Extra (ticket booked in Business Class)
Seat: 03F

The flight to Stockholm ended up being completely full, I don’t think there was a single spare seat in the entire cabin.

On all intra-Scandinavian flights there are two classes onboard:
Economy class: No frills, just buy onboard from the Cloud Shop
Economy Extra: Free breakfast until 9.30 am and free drinks (including champagne) and a small cold meal during the rest of the day.

The seats are the same in both classes and the partition between the two classes varies according to demand. On this flight there were eight rows of economy extra.
Unfortunately the seats on the newer Airbus A319 and Boeing 737 aircrafts are much more cramped than the older MD-80s which was the main aircraft type used within Europe for many years but is now being faced out.



A safety demonstration video was shown on the monitors before the cabin was prepared for departure.

Unfortunately it took a long time before they started loading the luggage on the aircraft. For some reason they didn’t start until 8.30 am, the scheduled departure time of the flight, and there was lots of checked luggage!

The cabin doors had already been closed, however the air condition did not work very well on the ground so the cabin became unbearably hot.
Eventually they were forced to open the doors again to get some ventilation in the cabin. There was some light rain in the air (in contrast to when I landed) however I don’t think anyone really cared in the heat.

Eventually we pushed back at 8.55 am. The captain kept a very high taxi speed and was immediately cleared for take-off, so we were airborne at 9.05 am from runway 04R.

Expected flight time to Stockholm was just under an hour.

Pics
The cabin on the A319

Breakfast



On this flight a light breakfast was served in economy extra packed in a paper box.
Nothing remarkable, but there was some yoghurt, cold cuts and marmalade, and a bottle of orange juice.
The crew served bread rolls from a basket as well as tea and coffee.

More bread and hot drinks were offered before the boxes were collected.
The boxes are easy for the crew to handle and can naturally also be recycled, however getting a meal served on a proper tray is of course much nicer. Previously the boxes were made of plastic.

Pics
The breakfast box
Contents of the breakfast box

Arrival in Stockholm



The flight passed very quickly and I dozed off during the remaining part of the flight.

Around 9.40 am we started our descent to Stockholm and overflew the city centre which I could clearly spot through my window. Most major sights were easy to recognise including the old town and the royal castle.

A 180 degrees right turn was made and we landed at 9.57 am on runway 19R at Arlanda airport, 20 minutes behind timetable.

Baggage delivery started reasonably quick but in no particular order, in fact it took quite a bit of time before my priority-tagged suitcase appeared on the belt.
They just never seem to get it right in Stockholm, such a contrast to all those great baggage deliveries I experienced in Asia and the South Pacific during the trip.

I caught the airport bus at 10.30 am from the airport to the city centre and my flat.
In fact I was just making a quick stop at home to leave my luggage, have a quick shower and change clothes before I would attend a wedding in the afternoon which was starting at 3.45 pm.

After 23 hours of travelling I was already in full swing for a long wedding party and more nice food and drinks, however I can assure you a very long sleep followed afterwards...

Pics
The city centre of Stockholm with the old town on the bottom left seen from the air
Another photo of the city centre from the air
Just landed at Arlanda airport passing terminal 5 with SU, DL and TG aircrafts
The baggage hall

Verdict

Not much to say about the flight, a quick feeder flight between the Scandinavian capitals.
It would have been nice with a slightly more extensive breakfast box when travelling on a full-fare ticket or a business class ticket, but not a big deal.

A few final words...

This concludes my summer trip of 2010! The trip is over and there are no more flights to post…

So what do you think?
I spent a lot of time planning this trip, maximising every single part of it and getting as much as possible out of the tickets and my time away. There were many sleepless nights and many changes before I was happy, then everything was verified, and finally I was ready to book.
I will include more details about the tickets later as promised, but to those who wonder how the itinerary was created I can say there is just one answer and it’s called hard work. There is no shortcut to creating something like this...

I was slightly nervous when I booked all the tickets and even more nervous when I headed to the airport for departure, wondering what I had got myself into and if I would really cope with all these hours of flying.
And then there were of course the risks of flight delays and missing checked luggage that could have ruined quite a bit.

But it all worked out extremely well, not a single mishappening, and what a trip!
I was just blown away by airlines like Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Korean Air in first class.
And it was really great fun to try a few unusual and exotic airlines like Air Calin, Air Austral, Shanghai Airlines and LAN Airlines. Airlines I had very little knowledge about.

In retrorespective it was a magnificent and delightful trip and I still can’t quite believe I actually did all this, it’s just a bit surreal.

I will post a few summaries, some last reflections and of course some details about the tickets, but afterwards the report will be added to the Flyertalk archive.

Thanks a lot for reading and thanks a lot for all the very nice and encouraging comments!! ^

It’s taken a massive number of hours to get this report completed, to sort out and upload all the photos, so it’s very rewarding to see people are enjoying it. Thanks again!