19th Freddies
 

Well, I gave a good value vote for the 50% point bargains which I like. Apart from that I´m afraid EB will not return to the top league this year but rather stick with the infamous 2006 result. :(

I guess this will still help to keep ranking low:
-25% earnings (is that still around!)
-No upgrade vouchers or the like for EBGs who earn over the top mileage
-Zero recognition by crew for EBG.
-General lack of extra mileage opportunities.
-Too few partners (and partners doesn´t know they are partners)

Totally agree - and you can add a coupl of others, e.g.
- zero EBG recognition at most SAS stations (priority boarding, op-ups, etc)
- reward availability is at an all time low
- VERY expensive rewards (*A)

And then another one, we FT's have met on two occasions with EB - first time in October 05 and latest in September 06. A lot of promises - but very little action. I am not impressed by EB.

I don't think they will make it this year either.

I think the list of SK_RSJ is pretty accurate, but what annoys me the most is the lack of recognition pretty much everywhere.
At ARN for example they sometimes have boarding by sections starting with the rear of the aircraft and leaving business class passengers and elites (who probably sit at the very front of economy) at the gate until last.
In North America or Asia that would have been completely unacceptable, on SAS that's standard procedure.
One time that happened I actually walked up to the counter and asked nicely if I could board since I was EBG sitting in Y flex, the gate agent seemed very annoyed by this and made a big deal about how he was making a one-time exception just for me (even though he didn't really want to).
So much for rewarding loyalty...

Same thing onboard, I don't think I have ever noticed any kind of recognition.
Every time I'm onboard in economy and buy something I'm hoping they would show a little bit of appreciation and tell me the cup of coffee is on the house or at least offer some water for free if I buy a bottle of wine, or whatever, just something!!
It's not that I want more than I've paid for (well sure I do, but you get the point), it's more that they are so completely indifferent to my presence there.
The FAs couldn't care less if this is my first ever flight with SAS or my 500th flight, there is no distinction and they simply don't bother anyway.
Basically anything would make the experience nicer!!

The single point that continues to amaze me - in a negative way I should say - when travelling SAS on European flights (in addition to 20NOK for a glass of water, 25% earning on lower fares, no recognition for top tier, lack of confirmed upgrades etc) is the boarding process.

On most airlines they would board by class (FC/BC + top tier FFs first), then by row.

On international flights outside Europe SAS seems to be boarding by class + status - why they can't do this on domestic/international flights is a mystery to me.

All true, but SAS promised huge changes by this summer... But I am sceptical..

I would say that SAS has the worst FFP right now and the only reason I keep my EBG is to get in to the RCC here in the US. And that's not a good reason to be an elite member of a FFP

SAS didn't get a single vote from me this year either. UAMP and SPG got all my votes :)

Yes, they promised, but NOTHING has happend! :mad: I will do TRd - EWR, TRD - BCN, TRD - BKK, TRD - CDG and TRD - Nice the next two months - all in SK, but I dont except very much. Seems they dont care about FF - we are just nothing! Now it is just one thing that works OK - the Lounge Access! Maybee I switch program???

I would like to recommend SAS to follow Dell's method when they sell ticket online.

First, offer absolute cheapest fare available for the flight/day.
Then show customer "If you pay 800 SEK more, you will get 100% EB points. you can also upgrade to Economy Extra for 2500 SEK each way and get 150% EB points." etc.

Another advise which can help CAs onboard is, offer prepaid coupons for food/drink.
eg. Give 10% discount for prepaid coupons.(or extra EB points work also fine.) It will be less hassle and waiting time when you buy food/drink onboard.

But, I think all these things are too much for SAS IT.:p

PS. 100% EB points for W class helps improving their position in Freddie Award.;)

They have one in the old booking engine, I use that all the time!
Really bad that they dont have in the new one :td:

https://ibp2.scandinavian.net/ibp/pl...splayView.aspx ^

We have on two seperate occasions raised the above with SAS EB. A lot of talking - no action.

I hope nobody is holding their breath while waiting the changes. Why would SAS change anything? They have the best FF program already (for them). It is very cost efficient as it doesn't provide any benefits for the customers and also customers are very loyal, nobody is changing their FF program. There isn't any reason to enhance EB.

The best thing, which SAS has is that their customers are extremely loyal ... they can do whatever they like and people will still continue flying with them. Few passengers will leave but it isn't that much.

I've given up on expecting much from the EB programme. The lounge access is the only feature that they deliver on.

Others have mentioned no recognition and that's true. I have it even worse than many of you. Most of my flights are on OV (which does not have its own FFP) and there is even less recognition. OV only runs their own check-in at TLL and none of the check-in agents seem to mention or understand the EB levels. At all the other check-ins, those are contracted out to companies like Aviance, so they certainly don't know or care about recognition.

One of the worst experiences was when I was flying OV LGW-TLL and they were using a wet-leased aircraft, which the check-in at LGW didn't know about. I was placed in row 6, which on an OV aircraft is usually Y-, but on this aircraft it was Y+ (same equipment as OV, just the divider was in a different place). Another gentleman was in the same situation (booked in Y-, seated in Y+), and the flight attendant asked us to move to an empty row in the back. He protested by pulling out his "Taeva" card (Estonian Air's 5% discount card for customers), so I pulled out my EBG. You can guess that we both ended up in the back row, of course :mad: It's not like the row we were in was taken anyway -- we had reserved seats in row 6.

Well, enough of my ranting. I envy those of you who have a choice like to use LH or JK FFPs. My only choice on OV flights is SK's programme since OV isn't a *A member. I wish SK would just buy OV and BT and merge them into SK. They already own a chunk of both of them.

Justin

This is a problem. I for one fly about 40-50k intercontinental miles a year, which might not be much. Flying out of BGO I am located right in SAS' home market. However, with their current FFP I wouldn't even consider SAS unless I really have to (like, for domestic flights, where earnings are prohibited by law anyway).

I currently fly KL for most all international travels, and I'm not going to state the grass is so much greaner on the KLM side, but quite simple - it's easier for me to maintain my status with KLM than with SAS, and it usually comes at a cheaper price (I usually check availability with both airlines just out of curiosity. Rarely have I been able to find that SAS beats KLM pricewise on the distances flown - like my very frequent BGO-MCO).

Also, no doubt about it - when you have achieved elite status with KLM, the bonus miles earned for each flight are higher than with SAS (like, the 50% extra on FB Gold).

Now, I know I can always call up my regular TA and show her a price I've got from klm.com and she will see if she can match the price on SAS metal. But it just doesn't make sense to go through all of this hassle with the very few benefits SAS has to offer as a FF, especially when those price-matched tickets might very well turn out to be 25% earnings.

I'd like to add: I've been flying back and forth from Norway to the US since 1990, usually with SAS, all the way through 2003. Up until then I was very satisfied with their service, but after flying with other carriers I found that SAS was nothing exceptional.

Bottom line is: I do think that SAS provide decent in-flight service (although I fail to understand why they care about limiting inexpensive alcololic beverages on intercontinental flights, make them look cheap), but they don't provide me with the right incentives to make the move from their competitor in my part of the world, which just happens to be KLM.

And as a side note: What's up with the Economy Extra offerings? When I think of three class service, I think of first class, business class and economy. It just doesn't fit:)