Is it a seats problem?
 

With an upcoming BKK-CPH trip, and having encountered a cancellation on that route in recent weeks, I have been monitoring SK973/972 on the flight status page for a while.

What this reveals is that SK973 is very often late - usually an hour or so, but sometimes much more than that - leaving CPH. Obviously SK972 is rather less prone to delay as it sits on the ground in BKK for 11 hours prior to its' return leg.

Does anyone know what is causing the problem at the CPH end? I'm sure I read somewhere that the new C class seats were malfunctioning quite a lot. Is it a seats thing?

Something seems to be going on for sure. A colleague did CPH-SEA a week ago and for that flight they switched aircraft in the last minute to an old-config A340. I thought all of them were converted at this time but apparently not. He was indeed very disappointed as he intentionally booked C on that route instead of ARN-ORD to be guaranteed to try the new seats... :td:

I think SAS is risking customer sat here as they've advertised the new seats extensively with promises on specific routes they would be operational on. Those promises are falling short every now and then as it seems.

The only routes that are "promised" to have the new seats to date are Bangkok, Shanghai and Tokyo. From the SK homepage:

The implementation of the new seats (flat beds) is now successfully completed on all SAS flights to and from Bangkok, Shanghai and Tokyo. We are proud to be able to offer an even more comfortable flying experience to our long haul passengers. However due to late deliveries of certain equipment we have been forced to slow down the implementation process. Therefore we cannot guarantee that the new seats will be available on flights to and from Beijing until later on this year. USA routes will be equipped with the new seats during the winter 2006 – 2007.