Andriyko

I am sorry I do not understand why you keep saying that SK does not have a shorthaul business class cabin? Because it is not called BC? Can you provide some facts that I am not seeing? You say that it is all economy but don't say why you think that SAS does not have a premium product on shorthaul (irrespective whether or not we call it business class).

SK markets and sells SAS Plus as a separate cabin. How is it an economy cabin then? Just because there is no curtain and the middle seat is not blocked does not mean that it is not a separate cabin/product. I pointed all of this out in my previous posts, and other posters confirmed that SAS Plus is a separate (premium) product. Both within Europe and on Intercontinental flights. If you perceive it as an economy seat with an included meal then it is a different matter and tells more about the quality of SAS's business class product within Europe, but SAS markets it as its premium cabin on shorthaul routes.
I think whatever one thinks SAS Plus is, it still should be compared with CE rather than ET. BA does not have an ET Plus product but basically sells CE as such - food and drink, lounge access and 2 bags allowance. Similarly to SK with SAS Plus. CE is different in that the middle seat is blocked and there is a curtain. But neither airline directly refers to their premium shorthaul product as 'business class'.

Jetstreamer

What level of APD does this cabin attract? That may go some way to indicating whether it is business class or not!

HIDDY

Before I get the third degree....I've flown SAS in both the old and new cabin configurations.
So have they done away with having a separate business class cabin on all short haul routes? Pity if they have as our flight was quite enjoyable although not any better than CE.

As for the new low cost style layout. We were in the busy BOB section down the back. There was this one lone guy sitting all by himself up the front who was given a tray with a small salad. When I booked the tickets there was at least £200 difference in price between the two fares. It seemed to me you were paying mostly for ticket flexibility than anything else.

GUWonder

Forward cabin APD, as with business class on a BA flight with ET and CE on it.

shefgab

Sorry I meant SK Plus that the OP flew

Andriyko

As GUWonder already posted, SAS Plus attracts the standard rate of APD, while SAS Go Light/SAS Go attract the reduced rate of GBP13 for the lowest cabin (same as ET).

BTW, thanks for pointing out yet another way to establish what SAS thinks SAS Plus is!

AverageHighFlyer

Despite the APD, I don't think it's fair to say that SAS Plus is a "business class" product, or that SAS markets it as such. Historically, SAS used to have three cabins on their s/h aircraft: "Business", "Economy Extra" and "Economy". A few years ago (2013 I think) they then got rid of "Business", renamed "Economy Extra" to "Plus" and "Economy" to "Go". The old "Business" used to have a blocked middle seat, curtain etc., and the old "Economy Extra" still gave priority boarding, lounge access and so on (that was its main selling point).

Also, whilst Concur gives me a travel policy warning when booking e.g. BA CE, it doesn't complain about SAS Plus (which sometimes books into Y - but sometimes into C, etc. as well).

That said, for people who are connecting to l/h business class and end up in Plus on their feeder flight without knowing what to expect, I definitely understand if they get disappointed.

Andriyko

I agree that SAS Plus is not 'proper' business class (whatever that may mean in Europe, anyway). However, it is SAS's premium cabin and classed as a separate class of service by SAS itself (hence the higher APD). If one wants to compare SAS Plus with another airline then surely it would only be fair to compare it against the other airline's premium cabin rather than the lowest class of travel? That was the point I tried to make, not whether or not SAS Plus is proper business class.

mec72

... and I think the market also agrees that there is no business class cabin anyomre on SK S/H:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...cost-challenge

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...usiness-class/

https://insideflyer.com/forums/threa...riences.65645/

Andriyko

If SAS wants to market and sell this as its premium cabin then what can one do? BAEC forum is probably not the best place to discuss how business class-y SAS Plus is.

ksu

SAS is a major competitor in a major market for BA, especially for premium cabins. There is a reason (and a local market) for ex-EU fares from Scandinavia!

NickB

There is no more reason to compare SAS Plus to business class on other carrier than to compare it to economy. It is neither a business class cabin nor a plain vanilla economy one. It is a premium economy one. While there has been in the past some intra-European premium economy products (on bmi, on Air France, on KLM), AFAIK no carrier other than SK still has a full-blown premium economy product intra-Europe. Therefore, there will be no direct "live" comparison to the SK product. Saying that it is SK's "premium cabin", and therefore you should compare it to other "premium cabins" is not a convincing argument. You might as well say that since CW is the lowest cabin on BA1-4, it is fair to compare it to the lowest cabin on other carriers. These are just rhetorical tricks than solid arguments.

Now, let us not forget the starting point of the OP, though: the starting point was comparing what £100-120 will buy you on SK vs BA on the LON-CPH route. Now, it is was consistently the case that SAS Plus on LON-CPH is priced at more or less the same price level as plain vanilla economy on BA, it would be a fair comparison. As somebody else pointed out, however, this is not really the case, which invalidates the meaningfulness of the comparison.

So, ultimately, I join you in considering that the comparison has rather little value, albeit not for exactly the same reason as you.

hugolover

SN have a premium economy product within Europe and have done for some time. It was b.flex now it's Flex&Fast. It shows as premium economy in the system too.

In fact they have three classes intra-Europe!

NickB

Thanks. So a meaningful comparison could be made between SN and SK premium economy products. This, however, is perhaps not for this board.

GUWonder

Flying SAS and collecting Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points for the SK flights can be a rather decent option for some.

SAS Plus, on short-haul too, provides lounge access based on class of service.