Any thoughts on the new conditions for (pure) SAS award tickets
Jan 25, 23, 10:10 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2023
Location: Stockholm
Programs: SK*Gold
Posts: 38
Any thoughts on the new conditions for (pure) SAS award tickets
As many may already have been aware of, SAS today announced that they are introducing penalty fees for changes/cancellations for (pure SAS) award tickets. Star alliance rewards appear to be unaffected so far. Any thoughts on whether this will improve availability?
Clipped from the bottom of https://www.flysas.com/us-en/eurobonus/ , expanding "New cancellation and rebooking fee on SAS Bonus tickets"
Clipped from the bottom of https://www.flysas.com/us-en/eurobonus/ , expanding "New cancellation and rebooking fee on SAS Bonus tickets"
2023-01-25 On February 1st 2023, we are introducing a penalty fee for cancellations and rebookings of SAS Bonus tickets. For all bookings made from that date onwards, a flat fee per passenger will be charged at the time of cancellation/rebooking, via Manage My Booking or Customer Service. 24-hour money back guarantee after booking remains unchanged.
1. WHY ARE WE INTRODUCING A PENALTY FEE?
The previous flexible policy on SAS Bonus tickets has resulted in high cancellation and rebooking rates, leading to low availability of these highly valued tickets. As there is a limited number of Bonus tickets available on each flight, this creates a problem when cancellation happens close to departure, a problem that has increased since the pandemic. For example, more than half of Bonus tickets on flights to/from North America either get cancelled or rebooked, and this figure is even higher in premium cabins.2. HOW MUCH IS THE PENALTY FEE?
- The penalty fee on Domestic and European flights is 25 EUR/250 SEK/250 NOK/175 DKK/25 USD/32 CAD per passenger
- The penalty fee on flights to/from Asia and North America is 75 EUR/750 SEK/750 NOK/525 DKK/75 USD/96 CAD per passenger
- The fee is not applicable to infants
3. UNTIL WHEN CAN I CHANGE MY SAS BONUS TICKET?
From February 1st, 2023, you will be able to cancel or rebook you SAS Bonus ticket until the time of departure.4. WHEN AND HOW WILL THE FEE BE CHARGED?
The penalty fee will be charged by payment card at the time cancellation/rebooking. All non-expired points will then be refunded to the original account, and taxes to the original form of payment. It is not possible to pay the fee with EuroBonus points. Note that the fee will be charged only on bookings made after February 1st, 2023.5. WHAT TYPE OF TICKETS ARE AFFECTED?
This change only affects SAS Bonus tickets. It does not affect regular tickets for points, Eurobonus Points + Cash bookings, and Star Alliance Award bookings. When mixing a SAS Bonus ticket with a regular ticket for points in the same reservation, the policy of the regular ticket for points will prevail.Last edited by nanneboy; Jan 25, 23 at 10:40 am Reason: Typo in title
Jan 25, 23, 4:58 pm
#4
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: CDG
Programs: SK *G, AF Silver, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 3,610
To be fair, SAS are guilty for that behaviour themselves to a certain extent, since they release such limited inventory and dates that people book whatever they can first and ask questions later. If 2-4 seats per flight were routinely released at regular intervals (such as 11 months in advance), it would be much less of a problem and they'd be able to get rid of what I presume is a huge COVID backlog of EB points faster.
Jan 26, 23, 12:47 am
#5
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: OSL
Programs: SK*Gold
Posts: 419
I think it makes sense to have some sort of penalty fee for cancelling an award ticket to prevent abuse, which I have been guilty of. I've sometimes booked two overlapping awards flights to the same destination to give myself more flexibility.
However, it's hard to have an opinion when I don't know how much the penalty will be. When I clicked for more info in the email I got, it lead to a link with the old award rules.
They also mentioned that price of single award tickets will go down. Right now they're at 60% of a return. So I guess that means they will go down to 50% which will be a big plus for me, especially with open jaw tickets.
However, it's hard to have an opinion when I don't know how much the penalty will be. When I clicked for more info in the email I got, it lead to a link with the old award rules.
They also mentioned that price of single award tickets will go down. Right now they're at 60% of a return. So I guess that means they will go down to 50% which will be a big plus for me, especially with open jaw tickets.
Jan 26, 23, 1:46 am
#6
Join Date: May 2008
Location: ARN
Posts: 3,452
Jan 26, 23, 4:30 am
#7
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: CPH
Programs: Eurobonus gold, Finnair silver
Posts: 37
Not an insane amount to charge for a change, especially compared to the change fees on revenue tickets. Perhaps a sign that SAS is starting to care about their offer to eurobonus members. Hopefully there aren't too many 'improvements' coming our way.
Jan 26, 23, 4:41 am
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: CPH
Programs: UAMP S, TK M&S E (*G), Marriott LTP, IHG P, SK EBG
Posts: 10,689
It's the minority of people who book tickets without thinking because you need to have the points available in order to book something. Most people would bank up enough to get a C award which means that they need hundreds of thousands of point to book one trip. It's not like they can go ahead and reserve 10 TATL C awards for example. Also if people don't have tens of AMEX 241 as they valid only for a year.
The policy seems like SK wants to get some revenue from EB and no one knows how much award seats SK will release from Feb 1 vs before. In theory they can introduce this fee plus cut down award availability by 50%.
The fee doesn't look that high but for Y redemption the cost is high compared to the ticket prices (considering the cheap TATL tickets SK is selling).
The policy seems like SK wants to get some revenue from EB and no one knows how much award seats SK will release from Feb 1 vs before. In theory they can introduce this fee plus cut down award availability by 50%.
The fee doesn't look that high but for Y redemption the cost is high compared to the ticket prices (considering the cheap TATL tickets SK is selling).
Jan 26, 23, 5:35 am
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2023
Location: Stockholm
Programs: SK*Gold
Posts: 38
I think it makes sense to have some sort of penalty fee for cancelling an award ticket to prevent abuse, which I have been guilty of. I've sometimes booked two overlapping awards flights to the same destination to give myself more flexibility.
However, it's hard to have an opinion when I don't know how much the penalty will be. When I clicked for more info in the email I got, it lead to a link with the old award rules.
They also mentioned that price of single award tickets will go down. Right now they're at 60% of a return. So I guess that means they will go down to 50% which will be a big plus for me, especially with open jaw tickets.
However, it's hard to have an opinion when I don't know how much the penalty will be. When I clicked for more info in the email I got, it lead to a link with the old award rules.
They also mentioned that price of single award tickets will go down. Right now they're at 60% of a return. So I guess that means they will go down to 50% which will be a big plus for me, especially with open jaw tickets.
2023-01-25 We are making it easier and cheaper for you to redeem your points on SAS Bonus trips! From February 1st 2023, you can now book one-way Bonus tickets for 50% of the return trip point price.
Jan 26, 23, 8:16 am
#11
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: OSL
Programs: SK*Gold
Posts: 419
