nacho

A cheaper way is either you move to ZRH or your girlfriend moves to Denmark. If she can't stand Copenhagen (apparently some foreigners feel that way which I don't understand) then you can move both to the Swedish side of the bridge.

A bit OT but Mr and I went through this long distance relationship (DK-UK) for about 2 years or so (we were both students and I needed to finish my studies before moving in with him), and it was at the time before smart phone and wifi internet(late 90s). We saw each other every 6 weeks thanks to the long and frequent school holiday at British universities and the rest of the time will be writing letter and long distance call maybe once a month.

Scandinavian traveler

Which is essentially purchasing 400 Eurobonus points for 120 DKK as I always travel HBO. That's more expensive than purchasing the points directly from SAS at 200 DKK (or SEK/NOK if possible?) for 1.000 points. Status is a different topic, but is not relevant to me as EBS is easy to reach with 10 flights/EBG with 45 flights no matter the basic points obtained. Even my domestic youth flights gives 250 points each way at 270 DKK (average, 539 DKK return).

BA often offers flights from around 80-100 GBP/675-840 DKK return with 250-500 Avios (3-6 % required for a return trip) with no youth discount, whilst SAS charges 116 GBP/980 DKK return with 200 Eurobonus Points (0,6 % required for a return trip) with youth discount, both flights being 1 hours and 45 minutes and same type of aircraft. That's quite a difference and makes it very unattractive IMO. I would not be loyal to an airline at those earning rates, but would go for the cheapest option. Unfortunately, I have no choice in this case.

At 500 Eurobonus points those earning rates were similar to BA, but now it makes absolutely no sense. I'd rather go back to BAEC and collect miles for upgrades on my leisure travel then, especially as premium economy fares to the US west coast can often be had for less than 6.000 DKK return and be upgraded to Business with often good availability.

Quite OT indeed, but that is the plan in a few years - Zürich or London. She doesn't speak Danish, and it isn't the easiest language to learn. Not going to move out because of SAS' continuous devaluations though.

I suspect the 2 years is a typo as I recall most countries having smartphones and internet 2 years ago

AlicorporateUK

[OT tongue-in-cheek] At that point the relationship will likely collapse due to lack of excitement (for jumping on a plane every weekend, needless to say ) and indeed shortage of points [/OT]

G

Nick Art

Scandinavian traveler

I'm sure you are right. Read that a bit too quickly and got "2 years ago" rather than "2 years or so".

GUWonder

Scandinavian traveler

Exactly my point above. Eurobonus is supposed to make people loyal to SAS, but when the earnings are so low that it actually does not matter, people will vote with their money. The 200 Eurobonus points earned on a return trip would have a value of approx. 6,5 DKK when spent on a return redemption to ZRH. Factor in the taxes and give the need for redemption availability a value and that number drops even further. As stated I have no choice in this regard, but if DY or U2 started operating that route I wouldn't be on a SAS flight anytime soon. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen.

I don't think the devaluation will hurt SAS much though. I assume people flying on cheap economy tickets probably do not care that much about frequent flyer programs, but the (few) who cares and are not EBG will presumably no longer have a preference for SAS on longhaul flights when earnings are 350 points or whatever, whilst Norwegian beats them on price and provide newer and nicer aircraft, and an even better frequent flyer programme. For travelers in Plus or Business it makes no difference anyways, which is where SAS makes their money. People who care about frequent flyer programmes and fly on the cheapest longhaul economy tickets will probably be a small group and it won't make any noticable difference if they fly DY instead.

On a side note, Amex is not available in Denmark so that's not an option, but I try to spend as little time as possible in the airport anyway (unless I'm in J or F).

GUWonder

nacho

Danish is fast to learn if you are native German speaker - I had tons of German speaking classmates (German, Swiss and Austrian) who had very little trouble with the insane DP2 exam a long time ago (the one that gymnasium students couldn't even pass - it was about 15 years ago). You don't even need to speak Danish if you are working in larger companies (e.g. some large pharmaceutical companies). German grammar is difficult and it's a lot more complicated than Dansk, Svensk and Norsk - it was fun to see my German speaking classmates discussing how to phrase a sentence (someone needed to send a greeting card and they were talking about how to phrase it in a grammatically correct way) - I learned some German through Danish as a lot of words are similar and the number system is the same (units before the tens).

Back to the topic:
There are other options than SK/LX if you don't need to fly direct - I know it's a waste of time but if there's a FFP out there that counts legs to qualify it might be a nice option.

Sweden has SK AMEX but I don't think it's worth having one with your travel pattern. I totally agree with GUWonder - take the cheapest option and forget about the miles, and save up the rest of the $ for your house down payment later. The trend of FFPs nowadays is not base on how much you have flown but how much you spent to fly and SK is trying to achieve the same result by earning devaluation - SQ has done that 20+ years ago with their cheap Y fare.

SK2751

I did the first back of the envelope calculations:

- The idea of dropping loyalty and flying whatever gives Y+, fast track, and lounge on my connections is very appealing. It will also give me better schedule flexibility covering various departure hours. Priority pass could cover lounge on carriers that do not include it in Y+. The 400 EUR/yr pass is very good value for my travel pattern. For the price of 1-2 SK rotations in PLUS I get a lounge access for what I need. Yes, these lounges are simpler, but give me what I need from the lounge (place to sit and work, coffee, and snacks - I don't go to lounges to stock up; less food is healthier and less disturbing). The fast track access is unfortunately a culprit. It seems impossible to pay your way to CPH Express, and some of the other airports I frequent this is way to expensive (slightly higher yearly fee than PP, for half the uses of PP, as I can only use such program on one end of the trip). To this I add the relatively low prices of SK PLUS on my routes - buying a few weeks in advance, they are comparable to Y- on competition.

MM the other alternative, without going program free, is hopeless. I would barely qualify for FTL with the same budget it seems.

I will continue to watch the situation, but right now SK still seems to be the most economical way for me to get decent (efficient!) travel experience. It would cost me the same or a bit cheaper to maintain status on SK than flying alliance free, but gives me better benefits. I would have to start flying C on other carriers to outperform this, but that would be very expensive. So no thank you. If there just was a possibility of having something ilke priority pass for fast track on the airports I use (and possibly many more).

BCC

These changes are kind of crazy. I am Eurobonus Gold and have been for the past 7 years. My flight pattern is primarily between Stockholm & MIA, LAX & ORD. I take this route 5-6 times per year mostly booked in economy and plus. With the bidding upgrade for points, I usually quality for Gold Status 7 months into my qualification period. The new reduction in fare prices make for some really good deals back and forth to the USA but the points really SUCK and are a joke. At that price just list points earned as 0 instead of a slap in the face you offer. The non loyal, price conscious customer is the one who really benefits from this change. They don't care about points or status, they just want the best fare. The loyal SAS traveler now has to purchase more expensive tickets to keep their status or look for an alternative airline to gain status. With the tickets I have already purchased, I will qualify for Gold again for 2019-2020. After that, I may look around and try other airlines. I have Amex Platinum and Priority Pass so lounge access is covered. The main reason that I like Gold is to be able to prebook my seats for no charge and the ability to bring 3-4 checked bags back from the US each trip. I kind of understand why they are doing it but they are really slapping their loyal consistent customers in the face with those ........ points !! Way to go SAS - reward non loyal penny pinching customers and thanks for the BIG F U to us soon to be non loyal SAS travelers.

GUWonder

CPH-Flyer

That seems to me even more time consuming than the security lines of CPH..... But each to their own, time is of course spent at different junctures.

GUWonder

jerjeffr