This sucks. Do they really think we were doing all these short-haul upgrades for the product? What's the benefit for SK from flying almost empty PLUS cabins on many routes?

I essentially requalified already, so I do not need any upgrades for the next 6+ months. I hope something reasonable stabilizes until then.

The thread title should be changed to "SK ditches plusgrade" :)

It may well be that SK operating this at home, means the system is much less sophisticated, and either it will become very inflexible, or it will be easier to game :) Keep the reports coming.

We need a moderator to do that.... I already updated the wiki.

Excellent, this has somehow worked. Now we need someone to confirm that indeed upgrades paid with points do not earn points. This was actually often the claim in the past, but they still did ...

I did an upgrade via the new SAS upgrade system. I received miles for the original booking class and did not receive any bonus/extra miles related to the upgrade.

Edit: I saw this in the T&C's : "4.11. If you are a EuroBonus member, you will earn EuroBonus Basic points on your purchase of Upgrade if you have paid for your Upgrade using credit card. The number of points earned is based on destination and upgraded travel class. If you have paid for your Upgrade using EuroBonus points, no additional EuroBonus points will be earned for you purchase of Upgrade. Note that this is in addition to the points that you will earn for the original ticket according to your original booking class"

I really believe that this change, together with removing +2 free baggages on Plus Smart fares, removing free carry-on, etc. are just making SAS a cheapo airline but with premium prices. Wouldn't be surprised if next they remove free drinks for Diamonds or they take away youth tickets. And no, they cannot compete with FR or W6 because their cost structure cannot compete with low costs. Things have been pretty much changing for the worse for some years, but feels like Anko is just speeding up the cheapening process. Sad to see...

SK seems to want to pocket more of the upgrade revenue and make the upgrade revenue more profitable for it. Whether this change ends up delivering on that will be easier to claim than to determine since a secular recovery in the industry/market covers up even sub-optimal approaches to doing business.

I think SK will be on a further cost-cutting drive that further erodes the value I get out of its products; however, other than the reduction in mileage-earning power from the upgrades, this isn't going to impact me as much as some of the other things that SK may do to reduce its costs of providing service to customers.

For me as a Diamond there wont be any advantage to upgrade anymore with SAS, perhaps for some its still a good value proportion, but not for me.

If they remove the free drinks for Diamonds that will remove any desire to fly with them 🤣🤣

I will miss the plusgrade as the extra poibts made me spend my money and points for otherwise useless upgrades but now theres really very little advantage to book SAS over other Star alliance flights 🤷‍♂️

I see value of upgrades for long haul but this is a segment of travel that has almost disappeared for me after COVID. I expect that it will come back super slowly. On short haul? bleh. It looks I should deplete my points on flight awards.

Do tickets-for-points (not awards) still earn? This might be a way to funnel some points into status, as before OT/PlusGrade times.

Nope. Nothing...

Not exactly sure what you mean with “tickets for points”. But if you use points to buy a revenue ticket with points/miles rather than an award, then you will earn points and status on that ticket, as it comes from revenue buckets. But the amount of points required will be much higher.

I meant what Koru Flyer suggests - so it still seems to work. I realize revenue tickets for points are more expensive, but this is not concerning me. Award flights are not really that attractive for me. They just mean more flying. It is like a pie being a prize in a pie-eating competition. I want to use points on something useful, for instance re-qualifying faster, with less flying.

my data point is that SK flights bought using SAS points and credited to UA were awarded Mike’s in accordance with the ticketed fare class.

Sorry - I was answering about award tickets. Points for revenue tickets are way too expensive in my world so I didn't even think about that. In my experience the only place where points give you a good return are on upgrades. This may change now that SAS has "enhanced" our point experience...

Fully agree, they are expensive. The only reason I used them was it was the only way I could use some points before they expired. Which was for a GOT/CPH (!) flight where SK managed to loose the bags so the whole episode was far more hassle and time consuming than the train. So a very expensive and wasteful exercise.