New: SAS Go and SAS Plus, no more eco and biz
 

SAS Go - SAS Plus

We are now simplifying our tickets' system for our flight in Europe. We are removing the old ticket classes and replacing them with two new simple ones: SAS GO and SAS PLUS. With SAS GO you will get many advantages and with SAS PLUS you will get even more. Welcome onboard! SAS GO and SAS PLUS will be introduced June 9th and will be bookable from June 1st. Read more about:

http://www.flysas.com/en/fi/SAS-Global/go-plus/

Interesting to see how Plus will fit in "eco only" company travel policies :D

OTOH I think the underlying booking classes will be upheld, just as was the case with AY, when they moved to a "simple" system - otherwise, how the heck credit SK flights to other FFPs.

Also - will they have only two prices from now on?

I doubt that they would have only two prices. There will still be plenty booking classes, IMHO

So all we have here is SAS trying to reinvent themselves for the 3rd ( or is it the 4th ) time in 11 years as regards this .

(A little of my backstory )
Back in 2002 My work was taking me a lot in Scandinavia and very quickly I was a EBG. They then started changing things , reduction in soft product , reduction in earning of domestic miles in NO and SE ( yes this was not their fault directly but had a massive impact in my travel choices ) so, I re aligned my allegiances.. within years I had dropped to EB silver to EB basic , and with all my points spent that was the end of that...

I was one of those frequent flyers whose travel was paid by others but our input in who we travelled with was a contributing factor in who was chosen . Also my employers in those carriers only paid for the flight and luggage , not any meal extras ( coffee food ect..)

So for me if I have to buy a sandwich and a drink it was at MY cost... over a carrier who gives it for free, then who will i tell my employer to go with ...

They (SAS ) have in the last few years responded in a very detrimental way to the threat of LCC and unlike other carriers who have addressed the threat in a very different way.. ( BA , LH , KL ) for SAS has not..their strategy to become a LCC in Y , IMO, it has not paid off for them .

back to these changes New...

All I see is a frantic attempt to get rid of economy plus and merge it into Business with no doubt a slight increase in fares...

I cannot see how it will work by getting people to WANT to fly with a low service airline when Low cost airlines win hands down on those routes where they are in direct competition with LCC or other higher service carriers ( even including other Star alliance partners.)

I would like SAS to succede but cannot see with this present strategy how they will.

I remember how they used to be in the past and how truly great they were.

Now all this may be jaded with how bad my last 4 flights with SAS were after my experience today (MAN-ARN-VNO-CPH-MAN) but I have tried to keep my observations of their new strategy direction as objective as possible.

(sorry for my rant .. I did not expect it to be that long, but I had to get that off my chest !)

I am just wondering what is going to happen with our flights in early July (2 of us booked in I with miles) and early August with SK sectors and I am considering purchasing a ticket which would book into full Y to match that award for the remaining family pax.

In the earlier system, full Y would mean Economy Plus.

Now, it is up in the air apparently - does SAS themselves even know what booking classes will be allocated?

I could also simply choose LH and LX flights (which have full business and upgrade the Y pax), but that would delay our itinerary a bit...

Anyone have any ideas on this?

I am guessing (but admit this is a guess...) that Y,B, and S will still be in effect Economy Extra classes. On intercontinental flights there will still be three classes - except now called "Go, Plus, and Business" so they at least need to keep some of these fare buckets.

https://www.flysas.com/en/cn/SAS-Glo...ntal/?vst=true.

It would make no sense to have a fare that books into "Plus" bucket on an intercontinental sector to be in a "Go" bucket on any intra-Europe connecting flight (though when were SAS restricted to doing things that make sense ...?)

Agreed - who really knows with SAS! :p

For reference, I just called SAS in DK (got a Norwegian rep) who stated that full Y would remain as Plus...

Still, this move to eliminate business sucks - as well as LH's move to use Germanwings domestically/on Euro routes...

It is about the right time I decided not to re-qualify for EBG. SAS has got odd business model that doesn't serve my needs. 15 straight years of EBG.

To me, it appears SAS is trying to be both an LCC and full-service carrier at the same time.

For example, often they offer free newspapers (full service airline) but then make passengers pay for a soft drink (LCC).

I can understand the airline industry faces challenges and want to reduce costs. That's fine, but they should at least be consistent.

I think UA does a fairly good job of the consistency side of things. You know that non-alcoholic beverages will be provided and are free. You know that the bag fee is $x for each bag, unless you have *A status in which case it's free. You know that if seats are available, you can do a paid upgrade to Eco+ or Business during OLCI directly on their site during the check-in process (no OptionTown needed). You know that if you have *A status, it will be printed clearly on your boarding pass ("Premier Access"), as will your boarding group.

I'm not defending UA's great service, in that I generally prefer other *A carriers on many international routes, but at least UA offers a consistent product and manages the (low) expectations that customers may have.

And AY does the exact opposite. :D

Read about my My farewell to the SAS intra European C class here.

I would rather see SAS focus on more (longhaul) destinations, airplanes and work on their customer service than this nonsense. There is no need to rework your ticket branding while there are more pressing matters to attend to.

This new style of service is very much like Braathens Best and Back, from what I understand that was a flop, I wonder what makes SAS think they can make it work?

The funny thing is that they still allow booking redemptions into C for late June - should I get some points back, as there won't be C by then?

That's what I was wondering also, as we have a US DM award booking which shows the revenue class (and sometimes even awards) available...

Why can't SAS do anything right?? :( :td: