So, as many of you, I am undertaking the 15 a/c run. So far AM, DL, RO & KL. I might be just unlucky, but so far the overall experience was exceedingly poor. From marginal IT, to old shabby planes, poor performance and, most annoying, poor alliance integration.

I've been flying *A exclusively for 15 years, perhaps been spoiled. This does not seem lime a good trade for SK so far.

*A was great, SkyTeam are pretty meh, although I thoroughly enjoyed the AF lounge in CDG recently, the Moet it doth floweth.

I guess it depends on where you live, where you fly and where you want to fly for your leisure. *A was perfect for me, LH and TK especially.

ST is very underwhelming, add in the byzantine nature of Lounge access and Fast Track and it's not a patch on *A.

SAS and Other SkyTeam Airlines

Hey Anko wanted SAS to join his home alliance... thats what happens when you hire a CEO from outside the alliance.

Hah - if only Carsten & Co would have opened their wallets, SAS would still be in Star. Obviously the Ch.11 and AFKL investment brought about the switch, though I have no doubt Anko has close ties to his former employers. Even back since 2012 LH has had the chance to invest in SAS, but decided not to.

Anko learned the Ch11 at Avianca and how to undo any contracts. AFKL was actively looking for a partner.

Anko ultimately preferred an average mother to a rich stepmother. And when you look at how SK has been treated in the past 20 years, I can't blame him.

Yeah, it's hard to blame him for the decision. We can still be unhappy with the service of the outcome

I would be fascinated to know more about how SK felt they were mistreated in *A and to have the other side's perspective as well.

My impression has always been that yes, UA and LH were trying to protect their markets and boxed SK out. But if I zoom out and were to rank the *A partners in tiers, it has always felt like UA, LH, SQ, NH and TG were considered in the first tier of *A and the others were in a second tier. And it always felt like in *A, SAS wanted first tier treatment for second-tier behaviour. I have said it before, but amongst the other airlines in *A, SK always felt like that person at the group dinner who orders lobster and champagne, and then is surprised to find that the rest of the party isn't willing to split the check and wants to pay for what they consume.

First-tier *A airlines aim to offer an elevated experience (do they always succeed? no, of course not). If I were one of the *A airlines executives, I also would have struggled to understand what SK could bring to the joint venture to deliver a consistent experience with what the others in the first tier were offering . SAS has no first class offering, no business offering in Europe (they decided to confuse the market with "Plus"), the TATL and TPAC business flight don't really stand out amongst other airline's business class offerings, no premium lounge (e.g. Polaris, LH FCL, Thai Royal Orchid, ANA FC, etc), and until recently, a stunning inability/unwillingness to really invest despite the endless iterations of "SAS Forward" that only focused on cutting not just down to the bone - but into the bone.

Maybe given all of that, *A airlines could only see their flaws and not their potential. Good for SK that AFKLM, VC firms, and the Danish government did.

But I agree with the sentiment that SK has now found an alliance that is a better fit for their financial position and allows them to tailor alliance benefits according to what they are willing/able to pay. And it makes sense for them to join the joint venture in Sky Team because it's all upside for all parties involved. LH could have swooped in to rescue SK a few times over the last 20 years. It would be interesting to understand directly from them why they chose not to.

Overall, I am still very "meh" about ST. There are pockets of goodness such as AF business long haul and La Premi�re, AFKLM lounges, Delta One lounges, and mileage redemption offers from AFKLM within FB at what seem reasonable mileage prices and availability. I very much miss *A award flight availability.

SAS was limping along since the late 2000s and cut whatever cost they could find. KL started direct flights to secondary markets in Norway, similar to LH in Sweden and Denmark. By the time the pandemic came along SAS had very little to offer to a suitor: the longhaul network didn’t really have anything unique and others had already divided up their home markets. What repulsed most suitors was/is the grip the unions had over SAS. AY, AZ and TP cleaned up the legacy contracts, LO & SK had not.

The unions are the primary reason why the Swedish economy isn't growing and people are mindbogglingly naive about it. At least SAS tried things like SAS Connect which made both an improvement to the union situation and general service onboard but they need to take this much further. Effectively they need to operate without any Danish, Norwegian or Swedish crew members.

Lounge access for EBG flying on AFKL is still not properly implemented in contract lounges. Computer said no at PRG this morning, luckily the agent applied a brain, asked me for the card and confirmed the entry. This is beyond frustrating at this point, it's been over 3 months and they can't get it right. We're not talking about some random SkyTeam member but an airline that bought a share in SK with the explicit goal of winning over its customer base from *A.

Edit: I should also note that once again my paper BP doesn't show the status (even though it does correctly show SkyPriority and group 2 boarding). Mobile BP shows STE+ properly. Based on my interactions with various check-in agents, it seems that the status isn't shown in at least some of their interfaces either.

One thing, I always wanted to mention:

the red signage �SkyPriority� does not get well together with SK�s blue on those check-in and Boarding screens.Terrible Color combination. Looks like a cheesy MySpace website from the late 90s.

Interesting, I was just thinking how it reminds me of the flag of Liechtenstein, which is one of my favourite flags in Europe Different strokes for different folks!

Hi regarding free seat selection on KLM and AirFrance flights when attaching EBG number. Is there way to get extra legroom/front seats free of charge shortly before departure, when online check-in opens?

No, that benefit is reserved for AFKL frequent flyers. You can always ask at the SkyPriority check-in counter, though, in case there are any seats left.