fassy

Hi all,

The last year or so I read over and over again people complaining about SAS, in particular about the attitude of their staff.

While I admit that on one hand
- the machines are in no good condition
- the service concept in Europe (Go+Plus) is really crappy while on long-haul the current old C-class is disappointing and even though with getting new seats I doubt that the catering will get any better (I really do not enjoy the SK C-class food... it is not bad, but far behind the competition from my point of view)
- the cuts into the EB program are ridiculous while on the other side there are no upsides to stay loyal
- and a lot more things to moan about...

So in total flying SAS has become quite miserable in terms of comfort while they are usually the most expensive option.

On the other hand there are the crews, ground services and phone agents.

I have to say, I do not recognize the picture being painted here. I live in Sweden since 4 years and since then fly on a at least weekly basis through CPH with a 50% quota on SK and the rest on other *A metal.

I can't remember just one bad experience with staff at CPH - be it at the check-in/bag drop, FastTrack (Just once with a very rude security guy which I would say is out of the SK control), Lounge Entrace/Desk/Service or at the gate. Especially the lounge ladies have been very helpful for getting better seats on long flights or giving helpful advises.

The worst experiences I had with rude and unfriendly Lounge personal or check-in/service desks were with LH and OS agents in FRA, MUC and VIE - even though I speak German.

Similar my experiences with SK phone agents have been only positive in the last 4 years. They have been always polite, helpful and mostly I got what I was calling for - even doing favors out of the ordinary, like getting moved to an earlier flight being on a non-refundable/non-changeable Go Ticket free of charge because it was family emergency. Rerouting in IROPS works like a charm for me, most of the time I get an SMS with my new flight before I even know the old one was cancelled. Even if I called in to get a different option it worked out every time as long as I stuck to the rules (e.g. not asking for getting a flight on DY, AF or DL even though a *A flight was available in reasonable limits)

On the long-haul flight crews I would say for 95% of the time they are doing good. I can remember a lot of flights with real nice crews (especially my last flight PVG-CPH in C, the crew was wonderful, charming, attentive and all over one of the best C class flights I ever had - ignoring the bad seat and food ). Out of the x long-haul I did on SK, only once I had a miserable crew - or better one crew member, perhaps because I "just" sat in Y+? Also he was Norwegian and this FA serving my area was a guy probably weeks before retirement and most probably not very motivated to go the extra mile anymore while being also quite arrogant as he didn't even try to speak English to me even though he knew I was only "ok" in understanding Norwegian.

On short-haul I would say it is a mix but I also can't really complain. A lot of flights, I get a cheery smile with the coffee or during boarding and deplaning. Sure, some just do their job and get on with it which is fine for me on these short flights and like said, it doesn't happen too often. Especially flying with my significant other, who is very afraid of flying, the cabin crew usually takes very good care of her. I would say the crews are really nice 50% of the time, good enough another 35% and not that great 15% - but not once that I can remember they have been rude or impertinent.

This is not much different to what I see on LH, OS, LX or LOT... let's not talk about UA

So, is this just the expectation what a good crew should do for you which differs from mine? Or is it a language thing? I usually talk in English with the crews and if I talk in Swedish with them I might not get some finer detail of a Scandinavian language which some might perceive as rude?

So, what is your experience? I would really like to hear stories about what means "bad staff" to you?

Svantevit

I also do not recognize this picture. I think that I´ve had a bad crew once and that was just one member of the crew. All the other times they have been either ok or great. And I´ve done more than +100 flights on SK the last 4 years.

IMHO I think that the picture being painted be some on this board is too simplistic.

Svantevit

FFlash

I don't want to make a long list here, but a bit different observation:

The thing that really annoys me, and it is actually not a big deal: many many times the SAS FA's are having hectic gossiping and chitchatting and smiletalking between themselves when boarding the plane (from start till closing door), during which they could do something useful, smile with customers, help them, chat with them etc.
Bottomline, that behaviour completely lacks the minimum of manner&etiquette and therefore it irritates me a LOT

fassy

Interesting point.

This is probably one of the things I wouldn't ever notice. On short haul flight as I board the plane saying hello to the FA at the door, put my bag in the overhead bin, sit down and read/listen to music.

On long-haul they are usually quite attentive with serving drinks, helping store away stuff, hanging jackets etc. in C while in Go or Plus I never checked as I do the same - just sit down and do not look around too much.

livious

No complaints ever with the flight staff, although I have never had an exceptional crew. Phone agents has always served me well. In the past I have had horrible problems with ground staff at ARN and swore off non-business travel with SAS for almost 6 years. Gave them a try last year and have had only minor complaints since then.

While SAS staff are not exceptional in any way, they tend to do their job respectably and I can appreciate that. Most of SAS's problems are on a higher level, although I would suspect that the performance to cost ratioof the employees could be improved. Rather than complain about the staff, SAS needs to address issues related to its hub strategy and overall service concept if it wants to better compete.

nussle

I guess I could ask if you all worked for SAS but that would be to easy. I also wondered if it was me but since I get really good service on other airlines mostly the I have to think SAS is the problem.

Not all flights but most do not go as they should the main difference is that I stopped telling SAS and now put my experiences here, when/if I get a problem free flight I will put the result here but up to date that just has not happened.

fassy

Seriously? Nobody here claims SAS is the greatest airline in the world and has no problems, please read my first post again - especially the first part. Actually I'm just trying to understand why you see the staff that negative while I think they are mostly ok?

As said in post #1, in my experience the crews on 85% of the flights are not too bad, so if you have consistent very bad experience with the staff please share the stories - that was the intend of this topic.

This is not about a crappy hard or soft product, weird pricing, miserable IT or the down-spiraling FFP.

intuition

I don't fly that much SK, but I feel I more often than not have had issues with staff.

I'd agree that phone agents are pretty good. Lounge workers are too, or at least very seldom an issue.
I have very little encounters with FAs (as I refuse to buy onboard), but I agree with FFlash's observation. This internal chit-chat-thing is also common onboard in flight, and I guess they are having very little to do, since they have less service in the cabin.

My major issues all have to do with CPH. I have no idea if it is about CPH or just because I've been unlucky or have had most flights from here.

Anyway, issues I have had are typical 2 things. Gold desk check in being either passive agressive, outspokenly rude or completely disconnected. For example, I've had luggage checked to the wrong destination just because I asked to make sure they checked to final destination. I've had miles send to Avianca just because I asked Gold desk to make sure my A3 card was registered.

Second issue is priority luggage usually don't work when CPH is involved. CPH is always the common factor when bags does not arrive early, so it is not about the other airport. Just the other week, bags CPH-PRG arrived among the last, and no, I never have any trouble with bags at PRG flying another airline.

These are my two gripes, but again, I don't fly SK that much.

Amexpat

While SK has lots of room for improvement, I think their flight crew and check-in staff are generally good. I've always found the FAs on long haul to be attentive and responsive to anything I needed. The service isn't as good on the many flights I take from OSL to BGO CPH and ARN, but that's understandable as the crew has to hustle on such a short flight.

The main issue I have with SK is the outdated planes, the poor in-flight entertainment, a poorly functioning website and changes in concept that don't make sense (how's SAS GO and Plus different from the industry standard of economy and economy premium?).

And what would be the alternative here in Scandinavia if SK goes under?

nussle

If you are prepared to hub lots of choice. Finnair and Norwegian spring to mind or I would use lufty.

Besides I am sure others would fill the gap and already are.

SAS needs to get better and fast.

FlyingMoose

The miserability of the crew experience on SK flights in my experiences scales 1:1 with the age and nationality of the crew. The older the worse and it gets worse in the order of Danish -> Norwegian -> Swedish crews. I have consistent bad experiences with the older Swedish crews.

I've had almost no bad experiences with SK Blue1 staff (aside from the occasional argument about wether an ipad can be in the magazine pouch as it's smaller than a magazine or not) since they are all young crews. More chatty, service minded, easier going and will drop by with a second round of drinks or snacks. On short flights such as CPH-HAM or CPH-AMS the CRJ plans will generally also have young crews and no service problems.

It specifically bothers me how easy the Swedish crews will wave away genuine complaints and make it not look like a big deal. Broken IFE on a 9 hour flight is a problem and you can't make it go away without even looking at the chair. As a company selling a highly premium service any complaint should be taken serious. I also don't need to be told by 3 different people in a 15 second interval to raise a seat or put away a tray table.

With that experience, if your flight pattern is primarily short-haul from CPH you probably get a better experience than primarily long haul and based at ARN. Asia bound long-haul flights also seem to get the better crews, not sure if that is a revenue consideration or just coincidence.

Have had little issues with phone support, folks have always been helpful and they do a reasonable job at prioritising Diamond and Gold members. Have also always gotten help on the EBG/D line for rebookings on cancelled flights so you don't have to stand in the queue at the rebooking desks. The only downside is that even though you pick the English option in the phone menu the agent always answers in a Scandinavian language, these kind of things are only minor annoyances.

I have not used a ground desk since the introduction of the iPhone app, no experience is a good one I guess.

Otherwise fully agree with Fassy that the (C-class) food is bloody terrible - I've asked them hundreds of times for food that is accessible to non-Scandinavian passengers but it doesn't seem to reach them. Except for the Asia bound flights which always have a very nice Asian choice.

Last but not least, SK is more likely to go out of their way for one-time flying children and handicapped people than for their most loyal revenue customers.

Finnair for Asia travel, BA for US travel, EK for Middle East/Africa/Oceania and probably BA/LH/KL for intra-Europe.

Pandion1Haliaetus

I tend to agree with Fassy, service is in general better than other airlines, food in my opinion is more or less comparable to other airlines, only thing I am looking forward to are the new cabins for long haul!

One thing that strikes me is that almost every time someone writes something positive, it is suggested that those people must be working for SK - I am not, but still enjoy to fly with them! On the other hand if we are to put people in boxes, it could be suggested that the ones that feel they are being treated badly possibly have an attitude problem? If the moment you get to the airport you are already worked up and have made your mind up already that it will be a bad flying experience, it inevitably will be! My experience is that if you are nice and curteous to FA's or other employees, you will 99 out of 100 times be met with the same attitude.

I joined this forum to get tips and exchange views with other like minded FQ travellers, but the experience so far, unfortunately is that there is a lot of .....ing going on! I have nothing against constructive criticism, but a lot of what I have seen on here does not qualify as such ... Really disappointing!

nussle

I will admit I did wonder the same thing, am I looking in a mirror having had many rude and poor experiences with SAS did I just expect it now and get what I expected. Perhaps except my wife comming home from a SAS flight with similar stories. I will fly the this year with open mind and let's see.
I also have had no rudeness or problems on any of the other lines I fly, it means in some regard I should just change airlines so I look into that.

If it's tips and tricks you want try their my SAS idea page. It is full of unused tips. But if you are happy on SAS then keep flying and stay happy.

Amexpat

That would work for long haul or European flights but not domestic flights in Norway. OSL to TRD and BGO are both are in the top ten busiest air routes in Europe. If SK folds then will perhaps have Ryan Air competing against DY on domestic Norwegian routes.

nussle

Try Norwegian or Wideroe for Bergan and Norwegian for trondheim. Don't see a problem hell Norwegian has many flights a day.

Ps I know wideroe is in SAS group.