:confused: I've flown longhaul J with a dozen airlines and I'd say that SAS biz is in fact quite stellar. I can think of few peers and very few that exceed on hard product (SQ, some ME3 planes)

I was thinking more about soft product in this context. Which might not have been entirely clear.

But in hard product comparisons, JAL and NH beats SK easily (SS7, SS8, SS9 for JL and business staggered for NH). KE is installing the same seat as JL, so there is one more for the list. And I am not quite decided on the Cirrus seat (AA, CX and some others) vs. SK.

The problem with SK isn't the hard product, it is the soft product and service (staff).

I've heard that complaint often, not sure why I've been so lucky with good crews, maybe because I always speak English? And my point also reflects my own priorities. For me hard product is my primary motivation, I just want to sleep comfortably eastbound, and watch a few movies westbound. I wish the better food lined up that way...

My primary motivation is time spend traveling and as little of it as possible. In most cases for my EU and US travel SK wins. I find their hard product in the new and refurbished planes acceptable.

The complaint on the soft product comes with 3 annoying issues that I don't experience on any other airline and they are unnecessary problems which are easily fixed.

- Staff is often rude, not service minded, speaks only broken elementary level English and doesn't mind a loud sigh for even the most basic requests (such as a business lavatory having ran out of toilet paper). Of course we shouldn't bother them while they discuss shopping in the galley with their colleagues which is far more important than doing your job and providing service.
- The food served in the Scandinavia->World direction is usually terrible and inedible. In the other direction the food is usually as expected due to non-Nordic catering. I don't know who they use in LAX but I've flown that route a few times now and that's by far the best catering I've had on SK. Just copy paste that concept at their Nordic catering partner and the problem is solved.
- The IFE is just a joke, a very small section of movies mostly recent blockbusters that you've most likely already seen. It also doesn't get refreshed every month so if you make multiple longhaul flights in a short period the problem gets exponentially worse.

Those are 3 significant pieces of the product for which I pay but isn't lived up to at least compared to international competitors.

My experience is there is a HUGE difference in the service depending on the crew. I've been on a flight where we were less than 2 pax on each row in business, and the service was REALLY inconsistent and rushed. Not even the jackets did the manage to handle without being asked multiple times.
The flight back home was overbooked. They were asking for 8 persons to take a later flight, but the service was like a clock work and unrushed.

It was available for weeks! I finally went to book it tonight and it wasn't available on the day I wanted anymore, but I did end up with ORD-ARN-DUB. Plus first was open on LAS-ORD, so that was a nice consolation prize. I'm just happy I was able to get something completely lay flat and in a 1-2-1 config, especially only two months in advance, in the summer.

I will try out the new J in November. Are there any seats with more room for your feet (e. g. a "bigger" hole in front of you). I thought the bulkhead seats might be better, but it doesn't look like it on the pictures.

I'd appreciate any insights.

All the same but pretty spacious anyway.

There was a post on here a while ago detailing the legroom differences for the seats in SK Business. Unfortunately I couldn't find it. If I remember correctly there are a few seats with slightly more legroom.

The window seats in row 2 has a fairly narrow footwell as that is where the fuselage starts to get narrower. So I'd advise to avoid those if you are looking for the best space.

Thank you for your helpful comments. So I take it the bulkhea seats 1A/K don't offer any real advantage?

I have not tried them, but they look like the footwell is larger than rest of the seats. But I may be wrong.

It is very minimal, on row 1 the foot space is in the "wall" and not in the seat in front of you. I can't remember if it felt more spacious as those are not my preferred seats in either direction.

I'll have a quick look on Tuesday when flying SK945.

Ah, rats I'm in 2A to PVG. Cabin is relatively open, should I move to 3 or 4A?