Last edit by: Nick Art
Introduction to SAS & Eurobonus / Frequently Asked Questions
Introduction
Scandinavian Airlines System (for short SAS, IATA code SK) is the flag carrier airline of Scandinavia. It's owned for 71% by private owners and 29% by the governments of Sweden (1/7th) and Denmark (1/7th). The government of Norway has recently sold its stake in SAS.
SAS mainly flies to destinations in Europe, particularly within Scandinavia, but also operates on a few long haul routes to Asia and the USA.
SAS is part of the StarAlliance network and has in addition codeshare operations with several airlines.
Fleet
The fleet of SAS consists of mainly short haul material, mainly A320neos, but also several variants of the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families, although the latter are diminishing in number.
Bombardier CRJ regional jets and ATR turboprops are operated for SAS by the Irish airline Cityjet and Estonian airline XFly. A small fleet of Embraer 195 are operated by subsidiary SAS Link out of Copenhagen.
A fleet of A320neo aircraft is close to being fully delivered to Irish-registered subsidiary SAS Connect (formerly SAS Ireland).
For long haul operations, SAS uses the Airbus A330-300 and A350-900.
An up to date overview of the SAS fleet can be found here.
Hubs and Focus Cities
SAS has three hubs:
Copenhagen (CPH),
Stockholm (ARN) and
Oslo Gardermoen (OSL).
In addition,
Bergen (BGO),
Stavanger (SVG),
Trondheim (TRD) and
Gřteborg Landvetter (GOT)
have been defined as focus cities.
Service classes
Instead of the traditional Economy Class, Economy Extra Class and Business Class, SAS has made up its own service class system.
Short haul
On all short haul, SAS serves the following classes
Experience teaches that Plus, with the exception of full flex tickets, is not considered as a business class fare by any of the airline partners of SAS. As a result, if someone books a flight in SAS plus with a partner airline, the chance is quite big to end up in regular economy. The same goes for re-routings on partner airlines. This also may affect lounge access on Plus tickets: not all partner airlines may allow Plus ticket holders in their lounges.
Frequent Flyer Program / EuroBonus
SAS has its own frequent flier program called EuroBonus. It has been around since 1992. EuroBonus offers frequent fliers the possibilities to earn points. These points can be used to obtain status and /or to save for award travel or products from the gift shop.
After subscribing to EuroBonus, the qualification period starts running. This is an period of 12 months from the month of subscription to the end of the 12th month thereafter. This cycle repeats itself every year.
For example, if someone subscribes in October, his or her qualification period runs from October to September the next year (both inclusive).
Membership levels
EuroBonus offers five levels in its program:
Qualifying segments can be earned on all flights flown by
For point earnings, please see below.
Point earnings
EuroBonus offers 2 kinds of points:
The validity of points varies and is based on the type of point and the membership level.
Basic points can be earned on all flights operated by
* Please note that only 'points for use' can be earned on AirBaltic and Ethiad Airways and only on selected routes.
Booking class
Critical for the determination of how many points will be earned is the booking class in which a flight is booked. A booking class is represented by a single character and can vary per flight segment in your booking.
A regular SAS booking via the SAS website doesn't explicitly state the booking class in the reservation, although it is possible to see in which class the booking will be done:
Step 1:
Select a suitable flight or routing and the available fares will show up. For flights fully operated by SK the booking site will show the points earned on the lower right side for each fare (1). Note that for Eurobonus Status members, the bonus % earned on flights is included in these calculations.
Step 2:
Click the (i) icon on the top of the fare (2). A popup will show up showing the fare rules. The letter is the booking class (3). In the case of more than one flight, the booking class for each flight is displayed in chronological order.
To check the booking classes later on, review the Electronic Itinerary SAS sent via mail:
Or check the booking classes directly under my bookings on the SAS website:
Star Alliance Benefits (for elites in other *A programs flying on SK)
Star Alliance Silver Benefits
You'll get nothing and like it?
Star Alliance Gold Benefits
Priority check-in: Yes
Fast-track security pass: Yes (for everyone on same itinerary; excludes SK-operated fast-track security)
Extra baggage allowance: Yes (HBO fares might be excluded)
Preferred seats: Yes
Lounge access: Yes (for traveler and one guest; SAS-operated or Star Alliance-affiliated lounges only)
Priority baggage handling: Yes
Priority standby: Yes
Priority boarding: Yes (for everyone on the same itinerary)
Introduction
Scandinavian Airlines System (for short SAS, IATA code SK) is the flag carrier airline of Scandinavia. It's owned for 71% by private owners and 29% by the governments of Sweden (1/7th) and Denmark (1/7th). The government of Norway has recently sold its stake in SAS.
SAS mainly flies to destinations in Europe, particularly within Scandinavia, but also operates on a few long haul routes to Asia and the USA.
SAS is part of the StarAlliance network and has in addition codeshare operations with several airlines.
Fleet
The fleet of SAS consists of mainly short haul material, mainly A320neos, but also several variants of the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families, although the latter are diminishing in number.
Bombardier CRJ regional jets and ATR turboprops are operated for SAS by the Irish airline Cityjet and Estonian airline XFly. A small fleet of Embraer 195 are operated by subsidiary SAS Link out of Copenhagen.
A fleet of A320neo aircraft is close to being fully delivered to Irish-registered subsidiary SAS Connect (formerly SAS Ireland).
For long haul operations, SAS uses the Airbus A330-300 and A350-900.
An up to date overview of the SAS fleet can be found here.
Hubs and Focus Cities
SAS has three hubs:
Copenhagen (CPH),
Stockholm (ARN) and
Oslo Gardermoen (OSL).
In addition,
Bergen (BGO),
Stavanger (SVG),
Trondheim (TRD) and
Gřteborg Landvetter (GOT)
have been defined as focus cities.
Service classes
Instead of the traditional Economy Class, Economy Extra Class and Business Class, SAS has made up its own service class system.
Short haul
On all short haul, SAS serves the following classes
- SAS Go is what should resemble regular economy. The following is included in SAS Go
- 23 kg. luggage
- on line check in and on site check in
- Buy on board (coffee and tea are included in the ticket price)
- seat selection (may come with additional costs)
- SAS Plus is a hybrid form of economy extra and business class and includes the following features
- seating in the front of the plane
- no guaranteed free middle seat
- choice of food and beverages from the on board menu is included
- priority check in counter usage
- fast track security where applicable
- priority luggage labels on your hold luggage
- higher point earnings
- lounge access where available
- priority boarding where applied
Experience teaches that Plus, with the exception of full flex tickets, is not considered as a business class fare by any of the airline partners of SAS. As a result, if someone books a flight in SAS plus with a partner airline, the chance is quite big to end up in regular economy. The same goes for re-routings on partner airlines. This also may affect lounge access on Plus tickets: not all partner airlines may allow Plus ticket holders in their lounges.
Frequent Flyer Program / EuroBonus
SAS has its own frequent flier program called EuroBonus. It has been around since 1992. EuroBonus offers frequent fliers the possibilities to earn points. These points can be used to obtain status and /or to save for award travel or products from the gift shop.
After subscribing to EuroBonus, the qualification period starts running. This is an period of 12 months from the month of subscription to the end of the 12th month thereafter. This cycle repeats itself every year.
For example, if someone subscribes in October, his or her qualification period runs from October to September the next year (both inclusive).
Membership levels
EuroBonus offers five levels in its program:
- Basic is the standard entry level for everyone who subscribes to the program.
- Silver is the level for everyone who has flown 10 one way flight segments or gathered 20.000 basic points within one qualification period on qualifying flights. This comes with the status Star Alliance Silver.
- Gold is the level for everyone flying 45 qualifying flight segments or gathering 45.000 basic points within one qualification period on qualifying flights
- Diamond is the highest tier available by basic point earnings or flight segments flown. 90 segments or 90.000 points in one qualification period are required.
- Pandion is an invitation only level for the best customers of SAS. Not much is formally known about the requirements for achieving this level.
- Lifetime Gold: While not in itself a separate status level, Gold status can be achieved for life by maintaining Gold status or higher for 10 consecutive years.
Qualifying segments can be earned on all flights flown by
- SAS, with the exception of SAS flights with numbers ranging 3000 - 3999 and 6000 - 9999. More information can be found here
- Widerře, with the exception of all flights within Norway that are carried out on PSO agreements. An overview of eligible routes can be found here.
For point earnings, please see below.
Point earnings
EuroBonus offers 2 kinds of points:
- Basic points
These are points that count towards membership levels. - Points for use (sometimes referred to as Extra points) These are the points that can be used for award travel and as a currency for buying products.
The validity of points varies and is based on the type of point and the membership level.
- Basic points are valid during one qualification period.
- Points for use (sometimes referred to as Extra points) are valid for 5 years for all memeber levels except Diamond and Pandion: those levels have no point validity. After losing Pandion or Diamond level benefits the counter for validity is reset to 5 years.
Basic points can be earned on all flights operated by
- SAS. All flights, with the exception of flights with number 3000 - 3999 and 6000 - 9999
- Widerře. All flights, with the exception of PSO routes. An overview of eligible routes can be found here
- Atlantic Airways. Please note that no points are earned on flight numbers RC001-399 and RC1000-9999.
- StarAlliance partners. Point earnings is possible on all StarAlliance partners. Please note that not all booking classes may be eligible on all carriers. A detailed overview of earnings per airline can be found here.*
* Please note that only 'points for use' can be earned on AirBaltic and Ethiad Airways and only on selected routes.
Booking class
Critical for the determination of how many points will be earned is the booking class in which a flight is booked. A booking class is represented by a single character and can vary per flight segment in your booking.
A regular SAS booking via the SAS website doesn't explicitly state the booking class in the reservation, although it is possible to see in which class the booking will be done:
Step 1:
Select a suitable flight or routing and the available fares will show up. For flights fully operated by SK the booking site will show the points earned on the lower right side for each fare (1). Note that for Eurobonus Status members, the bonus % earned on flights is included in these calculations.
Step 2:
Click the (i) icon on the top of the fare (2). A popup will show up showing the fare rules. The letter is the booking class (3). In the case of more than one flight, the booking class for each flight is displayed in chronological order.
To check the booking classes later on, review the Electronic Itinerary SAS sent via mail:
Or check the booking classes directly under my bookings on the SAS website:
Star Alliance Benefits (for elites in other *A programs flying on SK)
Star Alliance Silver Benefits
You'll get nothing and like it?
Star Alliance Gold Benefits
Priority check-in: Yes
Fast-track security pass: Yes (for everyone on same itinerary; excludes SK-operated fast-track security)
Extra baggage allowance: Yes (HBO fares might be excluded)
Preferred seats: Yes
Lounge access: Yes (for traveler and one guest; SAS-operated or Star Alliance-affiliated lounges only)
Priority baggage handling: Yes
Priority standby: Yes
Priority boarding: Yes (for everyone on the same itinerary)
SAS & EuroBonus Introduction / Frequently Asked Questions
#121
Join Date: Jun 2015
Programs: AY+, SK EB
Posts: 2,958
Originally Posted by kauppias
Thats alot of Pandions for a airline SK size I would have imagined far fewer outside scandinavia, the threshold must not be that high or is it a percentage of top grossing diamonds?
#122
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Seat 1L these days :)
Programs: AF Platinum/AY LUMO/SK EBG/baEC S/HYATT Globalist/MR LTP/A3 *G/HH Dia/IHG plat
Posts: 7,957
I still got that "fancy" leathern baggage tag this year. I ignore that höpö-höpö reason and guess that they simply try to save money. Shipping to Finland is so expensive.
It is said to be in total 2000 EBP evenly split between DK, NO, SE and the rest of the world. But it is rumored that SK may cut the total number.
It is said to be in total 2000 EBP evenly split between DK, NO, SE and the rest of the world. But it is rumored that SK may cut the total number.
#123
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Oslo
Programs: SAS EBG, IHG Spire Amb, CCG
Posts: 591
You can give away one per qualification period. Be aware that at the moment you cannot give away a card in the first 3 months of your qualification period.
It is valid for the recipient's current qualification period plus the complete next qualification period. So the status will be valid for up to 24 months.
No "grace period" anymore for give away cards since May.
It is valid for the recipient's current qualification period plus the complete next qualification period. So the status will be valid for up to 24 months.
No "grace period" anymore for give away cards since May.
#125
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Oslo
Programs: SAS EBG, IHG Spire Amb, CCG
Posts: 591
Good to hear, maybe they fixed it. When I gave my wife a gold card in the first month of her qualifying year 2 years ago it was only valid for 12+3 months. I got nowhere with EB support. There have been more reports of this happening in Norwegian and Swedish forums, but I haven’t seen any lately.
#126
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Seat 1L these days :)
Programs: AF Platinum/AY LUMO/SK EBG/baEC S/HYATT Globalist/MR LTP/A3 *G/HH Dia/IHG plat
Posts: 7,957
Good to hear, maybe they fixed it. When I gave my wife a gold card in the first month of her qualifying year 2 years ago it was only valid for 12+3 months. I got nowhere with EB support. There have been more reports of this happening in Norwegian and Swedish forums, but I haven’t seen any lately.
#127
Join Date: Jun 2015
Programs: AY+, SK EB
Posts: 2,958
Good to hear, maybe they fixed it. When I gave my wife a gold card in the first month of her qualifying year 2 years ago it was only valid for 12+3 months. I got nowhere with EB support. There have been more reports of this happening in Norwegian and Swedish forums, but I haven’t seen any lately.
#129
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Tokyo
Programs: JAL Metal Card (OWE), SAS Eurobonus Gold (*G), Marriott Titanium (LTP), Tokyu Hotels Platinum
Posts: 21,152
Our corporate TA has the number with the EBG prefix, and that generally works for registering points correctly.
#130
Join Date: Oct 2009
Programs: SAS Diamond (*G), Marriott Titanium, Hilton Gold
Posts: 424
For all Star Alliance airlines I always write the number as EBGxxxxxxxxx when making bookings myself. It has never caused any problems. When booking SK it is auto completed from my profile, so I pay no attention to how it is written.
Our corporate TA has the number with the EBG prefix, and that generally works for registering points correctly.
Our corporate TA has the number with the EBG prefix, and that generally works for registering points correctly.
For ex, if I book my ticket as EBS but was EBG by the time I too the flight?
#131
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Koala Lemur
Programs: SK EBD LTG (*G)
Posts: 2,447
Crediting works. But sometimes I have an impression that the operating airline (even SK) still has the old status on the manifest file (from when you bought the ticket). This does not matter for hard benefits (like lounge access, etc), but might matter for inofficial or soft benefits like free seat next to you, or you may need to explain why your EBD coke should be free on board.
#132
Join Date: Jun 2015
Programs: AY+, SK EB
Posts: 2,958
From my experience this year at least for the gates at the lounge in ARN it matters while for the gates at the lounge in CPH it does not matter. Interestingly SK*G was back then nicely printed on the boarding pass though.
When the prefix was changed by the staff in ARN, the gates opened.
When the prefix was changed by the staff in ARN, the gates opened.
#133
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Denver, CO
Programs: UA Silver, Bonvoy Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 21,540
I can't believe it's so difficult to find out actual benefits for non-SK *A elites flying on SK. I have started a new section at the bottom of the wiki detailing the benefits to the best of my knowledge. I would appreciate if someone more knowledgeable in the matter could fill out the rest.
#134
Join Date: Mar 2014
Programs: *G
Posts: 461
I can't believe it's so difficult to find out actual benefits for non-SK *A elites flying on SK. I have started a new section at the bottom of the wiki detailing the benefits to the best of my knowledge. I would appreciate if someone more knowledgeable in the matter could fill out the rest.
Fast-track security pass: Yes (for everyone on same itinerary?)
Extra baggage allowance: No
Preferred seats: No
Fast track, it depends on the airport. If it's SK operated, like at CPH, I believe you won't have access.
You do get +1 luggage.
"Preferred seats", you can at least reserve exit/bulkhead rows for free in go.
#135
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Denver, CO
Programs: UA Silver, Bonvoy Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 21,540
It's strange. On the outbound, where UA is the originating carrier, it says I get two bags for free. On the inbound, where SK is the originating carrier, it says I only get one bag.
As for preferred seats, as I noted in the other thread, I can only find that EBP and EBD get them for free. Anyone know where it says *G can also get preferred seats for free?
As for preferred seats, as I noted in the other thread, I can only find that EBP and EBD get them for free. Anyone know where it says *G can also get preferred seats for free?