Stockholm has a drastic shortage of hotel rooms for peak demand during these kind of events. It's not uncommon, I've seen prices go up to 6-8000SEK for scrappy hotels like the Sheraton. However, since hotel room availability outside of events is plentiful, prices are generally very low for a country where everything else packs a premium.

Upgraded myself to J from Boston to CPH. My first flight in J for a few years. I really used to enjoy SAS’ product but after flying Finnair, BA, Qatar this year, its already in need of an upgrade. Sat in 3H and you really realise how narrow the seat is, almost no room to move your legs in the cubby hole and when in lie flat mode, it was like lying on concrete. Pillow had got worse, no bedding lining, only a blanket and a TV resolution thats seen better days. Happy to have paid the upgrade fair but would not book a straight J ticket with SAS anymore, will soon be giving off Air India vibes with their product.

Assuming you weren't subbed on to an A321, the Vantage XL seats uses on its widebodies is fairly wide. The cubbyhole I agree isn't that great but vastly prefer it to the Super Diamond set up which is constricted by the top mounted traytable (same for Qsuite). I actually quite like SAS, but I fly l/h with them only once per year. If I was onboard monthly I'd think I'd strongly dislike them however...

Using Aerolopa as point of reference:

SAS Business
Forty Thompson Aero Vantage XL seats
The seats are 22" wide, convert to a 78" flat bed and equipped with a bi-fold tray table

Club World (A35K/777) - new seats
56 Club World Suites with sliding privacy screens
Converts to a 79" flat bed, 21" width between armrests

Club World (old)
Each seat converts to 72" flat bed, or 78" z-bed
Seat width: 20" between armrests. Approx 22" in bed mode

Qatar Business - Super Diamond
Business Class
Thirty-six Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seats
Row pitch: 50"
Seat width: 22"

Qatar - QSuite
Business Class
Forty-two Qsuites based on the Collins Aerospace platform, arranged with forward facing and rear facing seats at alternate rows. Each seat converts to a 79" fully flat bed, has a secure storage locker beneath the side cushion, and a sliding privacy screen
Seat width: 21.5"

Thanks for the references, I think i just got unlucky in 3H with the cubby hole, but that combined with a seat that felt like it had no padding at all, made for an uncomfortable attempt at sleep. Movie entertainment was adequate but nothing great was on a 21y old a330 plane. As i said, loved the product when it replaced its previous seat, just these J classes move at quick speed these days. Qatar will even be rollng out an upgrade to Q suites this year, so for me SAS plus plus an attempt at upgrade feels the way to go if its your own money otherwise J class with another airline on long haul.

SAS entertainment, which is the same across the classes, is awful. I think screens on 350/330 are the same but could be wrong.

Like you, I don't like the inflatable system, I think it is only Vantage and Vantage XL which has it, which unfortunately, are the two l/h seats SK uses. I much prefer the "normal" padded seats offered by most airlines.

Bid USD 580 on EWR to OSL flight from Go Light to Business

Offer was accepted.

Very pleasant flight with excellent crew and very decent food.

Bid USD 508 on EWR - CPH. (Minimum was 410). Bid accepted 6 hours before departure.

Booking class: Go Light -> Business.

surfmom, can you add from which to which class? Thanks.

edited. Thanks-

(Go Light -> Business)

YYZ - CPH Minimum bid was 650 Euro till T-60 days at which point it dropped to 240 Euro (Bidding from Plus to Biz). 321LR - 22 seat in Biz. Expert FLyer shows the following availabilty C8, D8, Z7, J5. What would be a decent bid (still over a month out)

Recently, if I have reason to believe that the bid will rise again (and the bids do fluctuate a lot right up until about a day before bid closing), I may put in a bit extra. I did occasionally just leave it and then see what happens. After all, if you're below the minimum bid, you can always increase it later if you want.

So in the case you are describing above, I might put in a bid of 300-400 Euros. The fact that I am EBD and get a booster benefit also influences the amount.

If it looks like business will be completely booked out, I actually try and flex my travel by a day +/- if the availability is better. Worst case, I just pay for the upgrade outright.

Thanks. Very Helpful. I dont have EB status so I'm considering what you suggested and just flexing +/- a day and pay for the upgrade.

Quick question as to when SK does approve/reject bids - I want to bid for an upgrade for only one way of my roundtrip an the A321, but am not particular as to which direction. Therefor if I put in the bid for both directions, will I risk that both legs are approved at the same time with a week between flights? Would the fact that PE is almost sold out and C is almost not booked at all on an A321 make any difference?

Thanks for any suggestions!

Greetings - Dirk

Each leg is treated separately. So it's possible to win the bid on one and lose it on the other.

The availability of seating only influences the minimum bid amount. Personally, I don't think there is any way to meaningfully predict availability based on what you see. Of course the more seats you see open, the better your chances. It can also be the case that it looks very open, online check in begins, and then seats fill up. Best advice is to check back regularly and as you get close to 1 or 2 days before departure you start to get a clearer signal.

There is no way that your return flight bid would be approved at the same time as your outbound. I believe the earliest that bids are approved is 36 hours prior to the flight (might be a little more or less, but no more than two days). So your first flight will be complete before you get any answer regarding a bid on your return flight. You can even wait until after you've made the first flight to enter your bid as long as you enter it more than 48 hours before the flight. You can also cancel or modify any bid up to 48 hours before the flight, so you can place your bid for both in advance, then decide after your first flight is complete if you want to keep the bid in the system for the return flight.