End of the 'Introductory Phase'?
 

Received an ominous email from Expedia yesterday warning me that SAS had withdrawn catering in Economy on short haul routes, but it said no more than that.

Am now sat in the LHR lounge waiting for the flight to CPH, travelling M (boo). SAS lounge staff confirmed that not even water or coffee will be available for free. Can anyone tell me if this has now happened intra-scandinavia as I am going to Sundsvall next week.

Am now off to stock up from the lounge ... ;)

They haven't had catering in P-class for a year on intra-European flights.... Nothing new there....

For the uninitiated, P-class means "Punishment Class" - the back section of the plane for those not on full fare economy tickets. The LHR routes have been like this for some time now along with most SAS routes within Europe. You get absolutely nothing for free.

I would guess that means for intra-Scandinavian flights, as mentioned free catering in economy was abolished a year ago on European flights.

For international intra-Scandinavian flights (like CPH-ARN/CPH) reviously you used to get free beverages (soft drinks, beer and wine) free of charge, but that was removed in August.
Now everything is for sale although they had an "introduction period" where coffee and tea was free, probably that "introduction phase" is now over... :(

Not having flown SAS so far but about to on those PVG-tickets: Will the front cabin (booked in C) receive something on OSL-CPH?

Greetings - Dirk

There is no front cabin.
It is a one-class only flight where everything is for sale.

The only thing special about the first 5 rows are that you need to hold a C-class ticket or be a EBG-member to request those seats. Nothing else is different.

Sorry everyone, my mistake, didn't know catering went so long ago out of LHR. Goes to show how long it is since I've been in COW! Made me chuckle on the way out though. Business three quarters fully. Hardly anyone in Economy Flex, and a full economy cabin. Never seen such an imbalance before.

If you want a lot of room then Y is the place to be. I don't think they have a lot of regulars buying the tickets "by default" so it has turned into a spillover area for M, hence, anyone unlucky enough only to get the Y,S,B fares end up getting some additional service. As a result M is packed long before...

I'm travelling the LHR - OSL quite often and have to say I'm 'gobsmacked' about the announcement they make for the C class service. It takes about five minutes and includes the wording "free beverage of choice" about 15 times.

Then there is a short silence and they 'proudly present' the remaining service which is: Sandwiches and drinks for purchase!!!

I've been lucky a couple of times and op up'ed a few times to flex (free drinks ^ ) but there are never more than a dozen or so guys up front enjoying this.

I once asked for a glass of water in M and got a no!!!

I understand the monetary issue, but please SAS. With this attidue you will end up as Lufthansa North very shortly...

Complimentary Coffee, tea, water still in place on ARN-CPH today...
It is actually "enhanced" as you now may buy e.g. a sanwich, before they had nothing except for drinks even for $$$.

IMHO they should do complimentary coffee, tea and water on all flights/classes and I bet they would sell more sandwiches in P than now.

Come on, even FlyMe has complimentary coffee...

I though that was what the OP meant when he wrote the "introductory phase is over".
I haven't flown ARN-CPH during the last month so I don't know what the current status is, but free coffee and tea is only a temporary thing and will be charged for in the future.
When I travelled ARN-CPH last time, a month ago, I asked the FA for how long the "introductory phase" would last, she said she didn't know but guessed for about another month.

So enjoy it as long as it lasts...

What I don't understand is why they don't team up with some coffee producer, serve it for free in a way and in a cup that both looks presentable (I was about to say classy, but I can't use that word when referring to P-class) and presents both companies (SK and "Coffee X") in a non-intrusive way. They could have one co-sponsor for SE, DK and NO or separate sponsors to cater for the separate airlines' home markets.

It feels so cheap when they won't even even treat you to a cup of coffee!

Or what we discussed when we had lunch last week: I would love to sponsor coffee onboard on all SK flights for a day for marketing! I'm sure many companies would too if you could get it announced and a brochure with the coffee. Much better than a stupid ad in Scanorama.

But then again, SK is making a huge profit when they sell freeze dried coffee for 20 kroner! (except the old BU 737 which has excellent coffee from Friele)

Also, intra Scandinavian still has free coffee, tea, water and breakfast till 0930

This might not be something you could talk about with EB. But you have contact on SAS CS, don't ya Tommy? Maybe we could collect namnes and prupose this for her! Maybe it's worth to try it, but chanses for success are really small, but we need to show that we're not happy!

A Day sponsor is also an really good idea, maybe big companies will do that in a month instead of the campaign SAAB has on SAS Sverige.

This is only an idea...