Maybe CE isn't that bad.....
 

I generally don't fly CE in Europe as don't find it worth the value, even travelling on the companies money, however on a recent trip to Stockholm I could only get a CE seat on the LHR to ARL.

Service was a bit slow to get going but decent when it did, food, drink all distinctly not bad and plenty of refills.

In contrast I flew back ARL to MAN on SAS, seeing as I had some Euro bonus miles to burn I figured I'd bid for an upgrade, which I 'won' - kind of wish BA Introduced this bidding thing!

Now typically SAS economy offering is better than BA as you get at least a drink, however their 'business' class product SAS Plus is dismal in the air..... Fast track and lounge of course we're a welcome perk. I was fairly surprised they don't block the middle seat at all (luckily no one was in 2B) and the meal was basically the snack box from the cart, you just didn't have to pay for it.

I accept that a SAS plus ticket is generally not much more than an stock economy ticket, whereas BA CE fares are often way higher than eco, I also accept that SAS frequent flyers refer to SAS plus as premium economy not business class but regardless, credit where its due, definitely one in the bag for BA!!

I also must say that my LHR-ARN was very good in CE yesterday. Attentive service, not bad lunch and plenty of Champers. The boarding at the C Gates could have been a little better perhaps but overall good service from the CC.

CE is not bad at all if you accept it for what it is. Most people's issue seems to be that it is not their fantasy premium cabin on shorthaul with proper seats and stuff. For those with shiny cards the only real benefits are the blocked middle seat and meal/drinks, and these can have different value to different people, but there are more benefits for those without status.

At the right price it's not bad at all. Food has improved over the last 18 months or so. Being able to get row 1 makes a big difference as well.

I agree. The price differential is often quite small. I wouldn't pay much of a premium for it, but in many cases you don't need to.

Also flying SAS Plus into and out of ARN shortly. My booking system (Concur) referred to the fare for one leg as Plus Smart (P) and one specifically as Premium Economy (A) rather than Business. The benefits were worth an extra £30 per leg. Unfortunately no lounge access in London any more as it's not SAS operated.

To be fair they don't market it as business in any shape or form, its more akin to a Eurowings SMART fare.

Kind of unfair comparison because SAS Plus does not pretend to be business class. As you mention the fare differential is minimal, as are the benefits. The biggest ones are probably flexibility and increased points earnings - but otherwise a snack is worth maybe 5 eur (as Diamond I get free drinks in economy - otherwise you would get free coffee/tea). The rest if you have Star Gold you get anyway - though I have found that even though the middle seat is not guaranteed to be empty you are more likely to get that in Plus (or as a Diamond in Go). Obviously without status it can make a difference getting fast track, lounge etc.

Actually I wish BA would offer free drinks to Golds in economy!

Totally agree on the last point, if AA. Can offer me something from BoB free of charge why can't BA. It seems a small change they could make to get a lot less grief from FF.

There is a choice of lounge for SAS in London. You can use any of the Star Alliance lounges. They typically suggest the Lufthansa lounge, as SAS flights often depart from A23-A26. But you can also use the United, Air Canada or Singapore Airlines lounges in the B gates.

It looks like I misunderstood The Points Guy's post on this, now I have reread it... so even without *A status I can use their lounges on SAS Plus? My booking online does not state lounge access for LHR but does for ARN.

Wifey and I are flying LHR-ARN Saturday morning using SAS Plus. We've been in the LH lounge, and it's nice enough but a bit 'German' (meant in a nice way :) ). Are either of the others worth the walk for breakfast?

sas plus trip on Sunday SVG-OSL-LHR. On SVG-OSL I got a drink and snack (chocolate bar) and on the OSL-LHR this snack box

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No blocked middle seat, although luckily on both flights I did have one. It certainly is a "business light" product. I did wonder where it sits in terms of fares compared to CE but I don't have an answer to that.

At first glance I thought that meal was a strange combination of ice cream and bread.

Dessert chocolates do look good though.

We still tend to fly Y short haul for the most part unless there is a bargain in CE, or we need the tier points.

Without status and Priority Pass, if CE return comes in circa (Y*1.5) + £50 + ( £10 for each full hour of service ) we tend to go for it.

Reality is, it just isn't worth the extra bucks to us when you are Silver and above. It's usually between 2 and 3.5 x the cost of Y and unless you get front row, better leg room in the exit rows.

If BA targeted POUGs at Silver+ that discounted the benefits from the ug fare that we already have by £25, I suspect we would fly it much more. :D

If I had the time (I would say a solid 20 min round trip for the walk) I wouldn't hesitate to make my way over to SQ for breakfast. The spread was pretty decent and included Singaporean style breakfast (rendang, nasi lemak etc) which I personally really like. They also had other breakfast options but I didn't give them a go so can't comment on how good they are.

As for the topic at hand -- I do find for the (sometimes very minimal outlay - and sometimes cheaper than Y) price of Club Europe, I get good utility from it, particularly from a £ per tier point / status credit (QFF) perspective.

My enjoyment usually comes down to a combination of the sector length, cabin size and the crew though, which is pretty typical for BA.