gnaget

A visitor is flying back IAD-CPH-ARN during the week when there is a 5 hour time difference in the first week of Nov. So SAS changed to a A321 on IAD-CPH and the connection time went to 40 min (just for that week, back to normal on Nov 6), so taking the 8 am flight to ARN became illegal. So the booking (in Plus) had a change of date and a 4+ hour layover in CPH because the next flight to ARN is at 11:30! This is for a weekday! I have no idea why they changed the date; Plus is not sold out on the original date albeit selling at $1500 one way on a r/t booking.

What's going on with CPH-ARN? Pilot shortage?

Then after the rebooking to a new day, a second email followed with a msg that the refund will be processed in 7 days....... It's as if SAS is losing the plot.

The obvious alternative is to fly DCA-EWR-ARN. This can be done with 1.5 or 2.5 hour connection time. I have not flown out of EWR on SAS since maybe the mid-2000s, before the UA-CO merger. So do you still need to exit landside and go thru security at EWR when you arrive on UA?

Is it even possible to reach SAS on the phone? From the US they have limited hours just like when they had ladies answering the phone in New Jersey. Why are they doing that when you are calling Latvia or wherever the staff is based these days? Can this be fixed by email or chat? With Finnair we found that they had a guy (I think in Bulgaria) who was quite efficient on chat.

gnaget

Ok, United has a shuttle and B67 looks like the finger where SAS used to operate from. Is this shuttle frequent?

https://www.newarkairport.com/at-air...ecting-flights

nacho

SAS has 0 customer service these days. They should have ticketing offices in places where they fly (apart from the main hubs) but they don't (please correct me if I am wrong).

You need to call them to rebook. Use Skype to call the Danish/Swedish number if you want to do it cheap or free.

Peter Snijder

From the United forum thread for EWR: “As of October 21, the shuttle bus does not service Terminal B. It only goes between Terminal A and C.
Unknown if or when it will return.”

view

Absolutely correct, it´s a mess. I was stranded in BGO due to a misconnect, and the outsourced people at SAS check-in could not help in any way, I needed to get on the phone and wait to receive new tickets by email. This is in Norway second busiest airport and a key SAS station, no ticket office or any kind of on-site support when the .... hits the fan, quite absurd.

tr3k

Shuttle from the UA gates (A, C) to the B gates is up and running. I've used it many times this year. It runs very often (no specific schedule, but I never had to wait more than 5 min). It's the same shuttle that goes C to A, so need to tell the attendants that you are going to the B gates (sometimes they will assign a separate bus, sometimes the same). As such, right now connections from UA to LH/SK/OS and others at the B gates are quick and fairly easy.

However note that at the B gates entry from the shuttle into the terminal entails walking up 2 flights of grimy service stairs, no elevator.

P.S. I went ahead and edited the Wiki in that thread - it was incorrect (and what year did October 21 even refer to?)

gnaget

Thanks. I guess the quote from the other person dates back to "peak corona" and Oct 21 is not for 2022? Our flight is after Oct 22, 2022. At ORD they stopped the bus from the UA terminal (1) to T5 (SAS) due to corona, and have not brought it back.

Would a 1.5 hour connection be ok? I should check on the reliability of the incoming UA flight from DCA.

p.s. I realize the problem with going from A330 to A321 for Plus on IAD-CPH. It is 56(?) seats to only 12 seats. But you can still buy a Plus ticket on the date that they changed from. So I guess it is full but they are happy to oversell Plus!

tr3k

If everything is on time - yes (and may even be enough for a very quick lounge peek, although the SK lounge at EWR is really really bad r/n, and not worth visiting). Shuttle wait + actual shuttle ride usually take no more than 15 min from C to B. May take a bit more time from A to B, as the shuttle goes to the C gates first, I believe.

nacho

It makes one wonder if there's any difference between SAS and a LCC.

the810

Of course there is. LCCs have ticket offices at outstations (contractors, but they can get stuff done in case of IROPs).

nacho

gnaget

More on this madness..... We rebooked a week earlier to Oct 26, which was the last day where you could connect IAD-CPH-ARN with a 9 am CPH-ARN and fly on a A330 IAD-CPH. The following week, where we were originally booked, the schedule is messed up (the IAD flight arrives 40 min before the 8 am CPH-ARN, so the connection is illegal and you have to wait 4+ hours in CPH) and they are operating the A321. Probably because the A321 is a tad slower.

But now a week later we get an email that the ticket is cancelled (think it said your flight is cancelled but it is not and there was no downgrade to A321 like the following week) and then they sent a voucher for the remaining value!

What's going on with SAS?

Another issue we had when trying to rebook is that they claimed it was impossible to rebook DCA-EWR/ORD-ARN, which has become preferable. The website showed that it is widely available with a dozen options. The booking class i B (Plus) and it is available on the website if I do a dummy reservation WAS-ARN-WAS. The Latvian (?) agent said some nonsense about the website not being updated.

Finally, are there any better contact options or will we always be routed to Latvia? There is no equivalent to the old "Business hotline" with a number in DK?

CPH-Flyer

You can call the Danish number, and if you have EB status key in your EB number and then pick to be served in Danish, in Danish daylight hours that usually gets you some decent staff. But there were quite strong conditions tied to be able to do that. If you pick English there is no knowing where you'll end up. I assume that same works for the Norwegian/Swedish numbers and local language options.

oliver2002

SAS doesn't codeshare with anyone on DCA-EWR, so the agents don't see any such option (they have to use SK flight numbers to reroute shedule changes). There is a SK 6756 (UA 353) that feeds IAD traffic to EWR in the afternoon, but its too late to catch the ARN flight 904

The stars align about three times a week in the new winter schedule for SK 926 to connect to SK 1416 & 1418 in CPH:


I would ask to be rebooked onto those. Booking class doesn't matter, if there is a seat in the originally booked cabin, they have to give it to you. (On SAS, not other carriers, as this is a long notice schedule change)

The trick is to contact SAS chat (only available on the SE/DK/NO website) and ask for help there: SAS Chat
The agents doing the chat seem to have a better grip on things.

oliver2002

Don't know if anyone will pick up, but calling SK in EWR directly used to be my last resort:



The info above is from 2016... so a lot may have changed.