GUWonder

This -- that is, the credit to the operating carrier's FFP accounts being slower to post than the credit to the partner airlines' FFP account -- has happened with a bunch of programs for me, and is nothing new in my experience with SK and various other carriers and programs.

I'm considering going for SK EBD, but I really don't have much use going for any SK status level at this point.

What would SK think of someone asking it to have an SK FFP account shut down just so they can open a new one right after that?

Gnopps

Some years ago I had an experience that made me think crediting has a random variable to it, to keep us from getting our points :-) I was flying with a friend HEL-AF-CDG-AF-JFK-DL-ATL and we were both crediting to the same program (OK). At the time I was working in the industry and had made the reservation for us both myself in Amadeus. So all variables were the same for my friend and myself, except that I had a gold card and he was a basic member. For me all flights credited automatically while my friends had all segments credited automatically except CDG-JFK.

Given that almost all variables were the same and automatic crediting worked for him otherwise and for me for the same flight I started to suspect some randomising to leave out points... :-)

GUWonder

I've seen some accounts credited with miles for flights that were flown by others, so maybe there are some offsets that explain some of the "missing miles".

I'm assuming FFP crediting mistakes generally just happen due to normal human imperfection, IT programming and related-process limitations rather than there being an unscrupulous corporate desire by the FFP to reduce the expenses of the FFP partner's operating carrier (by not crediting a flight to the FFP). And complaint handling for missing miles is also not entirely free of costs for the FFP; nor is it free of costs for the operating carrier whose flight segment hasn't credited properly.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is even some financial "self-harm" done by some of the FFP owners/operators because the "receiving" FFP's IT side ran an interrupted batch process and/or ran a correction batch process (for an interrupted batch process) and thus makes mistakes that way too.

FlyingMoose

It is certainly not something new for SK. I've often had mixed SK/LH or SK/LX itineraries post the StarAlliance partner's points to my EB account much faster, sometimes days faster than the SK flights.

GUWonder

So with the return of SAS flights to/from Sundsvall in September, SAS is now back to providing service to all the Swedish airports it served just prior to the pandemic start?

GUWonder

The pandemic era period of very easily landing SAS TATL business class award space using partner airline miles has become history.

nacho

Of course! What do you expect? Now that the EU is opened to the US and vice versa pretty soon. It's more like Endemic now.

vanillabean

I sense a certain optimism in the air vouching for an interesting rest of the year. How are your plans for Christmas shopping? “Holiday sales could shatter last year’s record season, nation’s largest retail trade group says”, the Chicago Sun-Times writes.

And now other roadbocks are soon passed by. Halloween, the new Thanksgiving. And the time change. Still seven hours between Scandinavia and here in the comfort of my midwest family. We’ll have to wait another week, but you’re at it this weekend.

Saturday night you set the alarm for three o’clock and go to bed. It wakes up the whole house at the appointed time, you are all bewildered, bathed in sweat from a nightmare of miles expiring or something like that, you set the time to two and go back to sleep, only to be woken up again one hour later!

I hear there are plans in EU to keep the entire year at summer time a.k.a. daylight saving time. I appreciate that because the darkest morning is in California already behind us. The winter will catch up only three quarters of an hour in the morning.

nacho

Not celebrating Christmas anymore - got fed up about 15 years ago. We were away every Christmas since except last year - the Danish PM told us to stay home so we avoided the family Christmas saga at my in-laws last year. This year we won't be in DK thanks to SAS friends and family offer

I hate the time change thing, it's something for stone age people without lights and alarm clock. My Japanese classmate asked a questions many years ago because he was confused about the time change, he said what if there's a train supposed to leave at 2am on the day the time change? I guess DSB ought to be smart enough not to have 2am departures this Sunday My mother-in-law couldn't sleep the first 7 days after the time change, so she has issue twice a year. The EU had a referendum on that but it's split which member state wants what, so I think they are not going to do anything for a while (there are a lot more urgent matters they need to attend to at the moment).

CPH-Flyer

Interesting rumours from the new CEO

https://www.routesonline.com/news/29...rica-markets-/

oliver2002

NO/DK/SE gets their Vit D in Thailand... it will be hard to break those habits... just like the Dutch and French like to go to the Caribe in Winter.

GUWonder

The guy from Avianca thinking about Latin America and the islands around the Americas? “I am shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here.”

It may work if the destination package deals and all-inclusive arrangements are priced more aggressively than is the case with Thailand. [Not easy to do; more Americans, Canadians, Brazilians and Mexicans have way more money than Scandinavians and head there at the good times; and Thailand has better plant/infrastructure footprint (and hospitality service culture) than the Americas.] But there’s still a Thailand halo effect in Scandinavia, even as it’s not what it used to be. [For an interesting window into part of this, it has been informative in a way to see what went on with the marketing of international vacation property/home sales in Scandinavian countries. ]

The Covid-19 restrictions may have also left some Scandinavian tongues with a bit of a sour taste for owning accommodations in Thailand, including those accommodations that were primarily vacation rental properties.

CPH-Flyer

Based on this article, there were a few people in the 2019 winter season trying to go beyond the usual Thai beaches.

https://simpleflying.com/sas-latin-america-flights/

GUWonder

Even over a decade ago — back when Sweden had probably 10-12% fewer people than now — over 45k Swedes would visit Thailand in a time period that is far less than a year. [That was the number Sweden was looking at for just when the 2004 tsunami nailed Thailand.] That said, it seems like the proportion of people in Sweden who have ever visited Thailand is much lower now than it was 3, 5, 10, and 15 years ago. But other than perhaps Spain, I can’t think of any popular warm weather destination for Swedes that has ever hosted the same proportion of Swedes as Thailand covered previously.

FlyingMoose

I would applaud LATAM routes. What happened to their prepandemic plans for JNB?

Properly serving MIA instead of letting competitors do that would be a great start, especially since SK already codeshares with AA?