SAS Longhaul Gremlins [Irregular Operations Ticker]
 

I was booked on SK926 IAD-CPH on January 19th and last night they did an involuntary rebook and put me on UA's IAD-AMS flight (and then rebooked my connections also). Anyone have information on this? Did a plane go out of service? I'm flying back SK925 CPH-IAD about 10 days later and that one is still in my reservation.

In my experience, scheduled maintenance cancellations are done far in advance so a rebooking being done just a few days before may be an indication of something else.

Looks like my plan to use soon-to-expire SK points to upgrade to eco+ will no longer work then, since now I'm on UA and not on a booking class eligible for *A upgrade.

Oh dear, looks like one aircraft has gone completely tech:

Call them and ask them what's going on. They may be honest with you and tell you why. If points expire soon, you may ask them to rebook you on the flight to EWR or ORD and connect you there on the flight to IAD with UA. Should get them more revenue as well, as you stay on board with SK for the longest segment.

Otherwise you can always use points to book an award flight...

You are by the way right about scheduled maintenance. That is usually already planned before the schedule for the season is released.

EDIT: Just saw Oliver2002's post. That answers a lot of questions. I'd still recommend to call SAS and get a different rerouting: one that involves long haul SK to EWR or ORD.

Looks like OY-KBA went tech in NRT for a day on Jan 11, LN-RKN seems to be delayed with the new C retrofit and LN-RKF is in DUB for the new C retrofit, LN-RKM had some downtime in CPH on Jan 13, and LN-RKH is AOG in CPH since Jan 15.

My guess is either LN-RKH is seriously damaged and needs longer repair or LN-RKNs retrofit certification is taking longer than planned, which is not unusual when installing new seats and equipment.

Was playing around with Flightradar24 this evening and thought that something was up when I saw that CS-TQY touched down in CPH on a ferry flight from BRU as SK9227. Hopefully this will not last too long. I am on CPH-IAD later this month.

http://www.flightradar24.com/data/airplanes/cs-tqy/

Not a bad idea, though in this case the rebook on UA isn't that bad. It means I have a shorter connection and later departure, and still arrive at my final destination around the same time. Also looks like the UA flight is not full in the back, so I'll just stretch across 2-3 seats. For me, the travel time and connections is a factor, otherwise rebooking on another SK flight does seem like a good idea.

interesting cabin layout on that one: http://www.hifly.aero/en/a340/cs-tqy

Wonder how they figure out who in C gets in 'first' class, and who gets the 2-3-2 'business class' seats.

Otherwise looks like a pretty nice plane for Econ, no?

2-2-2 on a 343 is what we call 'business' not 'first', even with SK. 2-3-2 is eco plus. (Even Bjorn Kjos calls this premium economy on his dreamliner...) Given that apparently SK flies with a 60% empty C section nowadays anyway (apparently due to a lack of food for C?), they might just use 100% of the seats instead.

Maybe a few lucky pax can bet an upgrade to plus form the upgrade monkey, as there seem to be a few more seats there than on a regular SK plane. Of course they don't want to have miles or uTO upgrades here. ;)
Furthermore it looks like they indeed have enough seat pitch in Y, so that's decent. :)

Yes thats why I put the class names (listed on their website) in quotes. Yeah
, I would be pretty annoyed to be put in a middle seat with no aisle access there in Biz class!

Yeah, but otherwise a tad weird. What happens to the screen when the passenger in front of you reclines on "business"?

I'd take their so-called first class seats over the old C-seats on SK, though. It looks like you might be able to actually sleep without American OTC sleep aids there, even if not full flat.

Good to see that we're on the same page here! :)

I think Swiss has a areal First class in some of their A343's and that's 1-2-1. Quite a difference it makes.

The 'technical reasons' continued this weekend:

LN-RKH is still AOG in CPH and LN-RKN not done with the retrofit.

I doubt they still have that interior today: it flew around for DY after the 787 fiasco and more recently for SN to cover some gaps to Africa.

OY-KBM (343) is now with LHT in MLA:
http://www.flightradar24.com/data/fl...sk9135#54e0c84

Is that for repairs or retrofit? It flew back from Bejing just this Sunday? There is a concerning amount of aircraft out of rotation at the moment. Only a single A330 in service.