CPH-Flyer

I guess it is more a matter of how desperate an alliance is to cover a certain market. Oneworld took an LCC in, though one can argue that legacy carriers in Europe and the US have long since reduced their service levels to LCC levels. At least in Y.

nussle

I am baffled why they do it, SAS will absolutely not be able to compete with a LCC like wizz or ryan and neither should they try.

I flew ryan once, I wont fly it again but I do understand they are cheap and thats fine, there is a place for Mcdonalds in the market too. But, when I fly a full service carrier and pay full service fees I expect full service. I forgive ryan and and wizz for being miserable cause the ticket was like five pounds but when SAS charges me eight times that I expect some difference otherwise for my own piece of mind I will take ryan who at least I can justify and explain why they are crap.

Never been in Ejypt or India air...cannot compare.

nacho

What about ANA and EVA? These are great airlines too. It's a shame Virgin decides to go to Sky Team instead of *A. *A can really use an UK based airline as a member.

GUWonder

Unfortunately, very true. SAS was sort of ahead of the curve for legacy majors in dropping to low LCC levels of in-flight service in economy class. And SAS did this even more so on short/mid-haul flights than on long-haul flights. In some ways SAS has done it across the board. The elimination of contract lounges for SAS business class passengers really was like a shot over the bow to signal what kind of airline SAS was (and remains) intent upon being.

view

Virgin would probably not be very welcome by United at their fortress international hub at LHR. Besides Virgin offers little new to Star, except mostly some direct London-Caribbean routes.
Star alliance today has better UK coverage than BA, as BA is very London centric.

nussle

I was just thinking, if I want to gain access to those lounges but only SK metal is available can I not find a code share flying exactly the same route on the same metal but with LH (for example) on the boarding pass...does that work to access such lounges?

I know I am still gunna get the same everything else including that really terrible lunch box but if you get access to the lounge before the flight you dont want that terrible lunch box anyway.

CPH-Flyer

With an interest bearing debt in excess of 20 billion USD, and the bankers' influence on operational decisions growing, the greatness of ANA is probably past its peak. But relatively speaking, they are still doing pretty well.

Both ANA and EVA operate in a home market where the pricing is completely different than what you see in Europe. A good priced ANA Y ticket from Japan to Europe and back again is around 1500 euros, a flexible business class ticket starts at around 7000 euros. With a home market like that you can afford to be great.

Of course they sell at a different price ex Europe, but I am sure yield management sends more seats to the ex Japan side.

CPH-Flyer

Metal counts, the boarding pass will say SK once you are checked in.

GUWonder

When it comes to contract lounges, it is typically the operating carrier that enters into the contract lounge arrangements and decides for whom to pick up the costs for contract lounge entry. Flying on a code-share is a less reliable workaround than flying a different carrier which is less of a Scrooge.

AlicorporateUK

Slightly OT but I flew out of Pristina (LOT) recently and, as I waited for my coffee at the attended bar just next to the lounge entrance, a young lady with a man came in, she handed the boarding pass and told the chap at reception that she was "SAS Gold", only to be told that they would not accept SAS Gold cards. I initially thought that SAS was operating out of Pristina and that, needless to say, they wouldn't have any arrangement set-up for the contract lounge, however a swift look at the departure screen showed no SAS services; I eventually saw the couple on my flight to Warsaw and wondered why she/they had been denied access. The young lady wouldn't have it and started arguing with the lounge attendant (who was also "in charge" of my coffee, reason why I was standing there), quoting Star Alliance rules etc., eventually she ended up paying, which was pure madness as the lounge in question hasn't got any food (apart from a few pre-packed sandwiches from the nearby shop and a couple of croissants which had seen better days...) nor alcohol (well, okay, Heineken...). That aside, I was flying business and was pleasantly surprised that LOT had arrangements in place, ditto here at my local airport (Sarajevo).

G

GUWonder

As a function of LO*G status, did LO*Gs in LO economy class get lounge access at that Pristina airport as a function of LO*G status for those LO departures?

AlicorporateUK

No idea as I was flying business and only had to present my boarding pass, I wonder whether LOT has only got arrangements for the access of business class passengers or if indeed the lounge attendant simply got it all wrong (as the SAS Gold card holder pursued the argument further by making mention of Star Alliance rules amongst other things, the chap kept looking at a laminate A4 sheet presumably stating access criteria and even made a couple of phone calls, eventually consulting a lady which, judging from her lanyard, was a member of the airport staff). It goes without saying that paying 50 Euros for accessing a mediocre lounge roughly an hour before the flight was by all means quite an expensive "date", I wonder if she did it with the intention of charging it back to SAS (or LOT)... For the records, the lounge/airport in question was not listed on the LOT website (reason also why I was pleasantly surprised).

G

the810

The Pristina case sounds weird. In principle, contract lounge access is indeed based on the operating carrier, i.e. you only get access to a lounge contracted by the airline you're flying with. However, once a lounge is contracted, it is accessible to all *G members, even if they come from an FFP of airline that doesn't contract that lounge. I have accessed lounges not contracted by SK with my EBG status many times, including at outstations where SK does fly (e.g. PRG where I won't get access when flying SK but I did get access when flying LO), without any problem.

But then again, as mentioned above, LO's website doesn't mention that they contract a lounge in Pristina in the first place, so I wonder what went on.

AlicorporateUK

Indeed no mention and same goes for Sarajevo. Largely OT but I've just tried with Split (another summer-only route) and Star Alliance Gold is duly listed (I've also tried Dubrovnik, ditto):



G

nacho

Both JAL and ANA are in trouble.

Wow! So the Y flight we flew with ANA NRT to DUS was a good UA redemption. Their service was just superb and as *G they gave us exit row at the gate and I can get my roasted green tea anytime I wanted. The tonkatsu rice was just so delicious. Since I'm so used to Scandinavian services, ANA would have to drop a lot before they can be on-par with Western airlines

CX used to be great and the ticket prices weren't even that extreme, and it's so sad to see it sink. BR is great, especially the *G treatment is amazing.