SAS to eliminate front cabin on "domestic" and Euro routes
STAR partner SAS has just announced that it will remove the business class front cabin from all its "domestic" and European routes [but not on national affiliate carriers like Braathens Air] in a bid to return to profitability. It will instead offer a more flexible fare scheme, cutting current business fares by 30%, and offering a range of peak and off-peak fares for various passenger types, according to a Reuters news story.
AC has already begun to reduce the number of front cabin business class seats on its domestic and transborder [US/Canada/Mexico] routes, to add more Y capacity. It has also launched an all-economy, discount carrier [TANGO] on domestic routes. [At the same time, AC is about to announce an upgrading of its international front cabin service, complete with sleeper bed-type seats.]
Of course, SAS has also been ordered in Norway to cease offering FF miles on all domestic Norweigan flights, for competitive reasons. Can anyone confirm if this extends to other STAR FF programs? I assume it would, but this has not been confirmed one way or another.
Note, for STAR members flying in Canada, you will still earn miles/points in your FF program when flying TANGO, but these will be at 50% of the actual mileage [as are all discounted AC domestic flights] and are not Q-miles/points.