I debated for a long time about this last year, many of you guys know that.
Here are my 2 cents:
To say that SK C is a lot better than UA and LH is bull crap.
I know exactly the feeling Miikka is describing about UAs service.
I have to tell you, Miikka, it gets a lot better when you have UA*G (you don't have to be 1K)
Let me explain:
2 weeks ago I flew OSL-LHR-ORD. I called the 1K desk and wanted to use one of my system wide upgrade vouchers. The customer service representative said: "Hello Mr. Danielsen. I can see that you are one of our most valued customers, I want to thank you for flying with us, what can I help you with?"
My upgrade request was the day before my flight, so C was full, but I looked good on stand-by. The lady ended the call with "thank you for flying United, we really appreciate your business"
When I came to LHR, a C boarding pass was handed to me at transfer check in. The lady said "Mr. Danielsen, you don't have to use a SWU today, because the flight is full and because you are one of our most valued customers, we have upgraded you for free, have a nice flight!"
Well on-board, the usual routine starts. First, when they take meal orders on board, they call you by your name and they ask 1Ks first before all other passengers. Makes you feel real special.
Being a top tier member with UA just makes me feel special.
*****
When it comes to the EBG status, for me as a Norwegian, it means less and less every year. I fly over 200 flights within Norway every year. SASBraathens is the least customer friendly company in the SAS Group. They just don't care about good customers anymore. They are to me a LCC now. That means if DY and SK fly at the same time when I need to go somewhere, I choose the cheaper one. If the flights cost the same, I choose SK because I can reserve a seat.
SAS in Sweden and Denmark still give EBGs recognition. In Norway EBG means NOTHING anymore.
Here are a couple of examples from last week:
Monday
Get to OSL, there's still a EBG check in desk on Norwegian domestic, but it's together with the huge line for regular people and they often yell at EBGs for cutting in line...
I was going OSL-TRD and then to BNN on a different itinerary, so I needed to check my bag because of the DH-8-100 leg (BNN is a WF destination, so no problem getting your luggage 5 minutes after touch down)
I know what you guys are thinking, how often does an EBG check luggage? I know, I rarely do (especially when SGS only employs monkeys with oatmeal for brains as luggage handlers)
A grumpy check in agent asked me my flight number TRD-BNN so he could tag my suitcase to BNN. Of course I didn’t know that. After dealing with this guy, my phone rang and I didn’t look at my BP where I was seated between OSL-TRD (I reserved a seat the night before)
Next up is the security line. No priority line like it is at ARN and CPH. It took me 10 minutes.
I finally got through security; as you all know there's is no lounge like there is at CPH and ARN.
When I approached the gate, I could see my seat had been changed from 1C to 7E
I went to the service center and asked what had happened. The lady said I had a discounted ticket and wasn't guaranteed a seat. I tried to tell her I was EBG, she looked annoyed and said it didn't matter at all... I didn’t feel like arguing, she didn’t know the rules at all, lets just leave it at that.
I was assigned 7D after meeting the second grumpy SGS representative of the day...
Flight was delayed, but I made my connection.
On board, a stressed FA charged me NOK 20.- for a cup of coffee...
I later found out the reason why they scrapped my seat was because of equipment change..
Wednesday
I had DY from TRD-OSL
Thursday
OSL-MOL.
Just hand luggage, no lines at security... Flight delayed (could really have used a lounge when it's snowing and we have ATC problems in Norway all the time)
Got 1D this time. 57 pax on a 737-700. Nice purser (ol BU gal with a bunch of charm, but not very happy with the new security regulations SAS gave her and made sure to tell me about it) (why would SAS want FAs to DOUBLE crosscheck the slides anyways??)
Good flight, nice visual approach to MOL, but no one made me feel special though.
Friday
MOL-OSL. SAS called me and told me my flight was cancelled and if I wanted, I could get on an earlier flight. Great gesture, but they called all passengers, not just EBGs... I told the nice dude who called from MOL airport that I would like to keep 1C, the seat I reserved the night before. He said no problem.
I arrived 45 minutes before the flight and the check in machine told me to contact the SAS.... Uh oh....trouble.
My seat was, of course, given to someone else. I was blessed with 16E!!! I told the girl that the seating was unacceptable. The best she could do was 15D... I told her to tell the colleague who called me to keep his promise next time. He overheard the conversation and said "I reserved 1C for you" He then started hammering on the computer to find out the seat was not reserved for me after all... "Well, the flight is full, at least you have an aisle seat".. I said: I do this almost every day and I use 1/4 of the time getting in and out of the plane than the leisure traveler who got my seat... He said "I haven't thought about it that way..."
Sitting next to a guy with an Opel tattoo drinking 3 beers in 40 mins, I knew it would take me 5 minutes to get out of the plane...
It also made me think: If I ended up in the back of the plane every time and I had to check my luggage every time, with a priority tag it will always come out last at OSL.
It would cost me 200 x 5 minutes getting out of the plane a year, that's 1000 minutes. Waiting for luggage would take me 25 x 200, so 5000 minutes or 100 hours or more than 4 days!!!!!
For the majority SAS traveler, the vacation dude who has 2-6 flights a year, it would cost him an hour tops, if I was him, I could certainly live with that...
To conclude with my travels last week: My EBG card gave me NOTHING!! Something alarming SASBraathens should notice is that I had more DY flights this and last weeks than SK flights..... On todays DY flight, I noticed something funny: In the overhead bin I placed my Travel Pro, I saw 2 roll aboards next to mine. In addition to my EBG tag the 2 other cases had one EBG tag and one EBS tag... Makes you think...
So why do I still keep the EBG card??? I get the occasional upgrade, if I am on standby for a flight, I have priority. I also need to make some points because it's my only tool to upgrade on SK. And the EBG tier bonus is nice to get.
Will I give up my EBG card? Since I travel enough to have 2 cards, I will keep it for now, because I think EB will get better. Also, I need the EBG card to get into the RCC when flying UA domestic (it's sad that's the best perk with the EBG card these days...)
Like you say, Miikka, SAS needs to do something with EBG. Our FT group is working on that with Kerstin, Tony and Thomas at EB.
The challenges EB are facing now are huge, I hope we all can play a role in making EB better
I hope we can help them make a better product so we all can feel more appreciated and keep our airline SAS alive...
I'm gonna take all of these thoughts to EB and I will post their reply