Farfetch'd in Hong Kong with Scandinavian Airlines in Y?
Nov 20, 2016, 5:02 am
#1
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: The Baltic Sea
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Farfetch'd in Hong Kong with Scandinavian Airlines in Y?
There are not a lot of trip reports about Scandinavian Airlines Long Haul flights, so I thought I give you a short review about my return trip from Hong Kong to Stockholm even though I flew in Y.
This trip was realized thanks to the 70 year anniversary of SAS, the joint national airline of the Kingdoms of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Eurobonus, the frequent flyer program of SAS, joined in the celebrations by offering award trips for huge savings to different parts of Europe and beyond. Before the offer, I had sat on points enough for a trip to anywhere in Europe that SAS flies. Now I suddenly had enough points for several trips in SAS Plus, the current premium SAS short haul product, or one long haul trip in SAS Plus, which for long hauls is the intermediate product.
Though a long weekend in Southern Europe initially seemed tempting, I was also considering a long haul trip to either Washington DC, Peking or Hong Kong. In the end, Hong Kong won because of the superior local weather in November, the fact a visa was not needed and the fact that I actually have never been to China.
Then came the hard decision of which flight class to choose. As this was a reward trip, no upgrading was available. I wanted to bring my wife along, but I did not have enough points for two tickets in Y, yet alone Y+. Then I suddenly remembered that my daughter sat on a couple of thousand points that she probably never would be able to use. SAS allows for point transfers between members, so a few clicks and dollars later I had enough points for the trip for us both in Y. (My daughter was also duly compensated.)
The flight to Hong Kong from Stockholm Arlanda SK 963 leaves at 13:50 and arrives the next day, local time 7:10 am. In the winter, there is a devastating 7 hour time difference, so the flight actually arrives just after midnight CET. This is not bad if you are able to check in early at your hotel in Hong Kong. Actually, I was additionally able to sleep for about four hours on the plane. Age brings its benefits.
After a few days in warm and sunny Hong Kong and also Macau, it was time to fly home. But as a Pokemon-Go player, the second-last night I remembered that there is a certain type of Pokemon that only ”lives” in Asia. Our hotel was in a residential area, and each night there was a Pokestop concentration nearby. As Pokemon-Go requires an online connection, I was not however able to utilize that for very long as the roaming tariffs are something like 12 USD per Megabyte (about 100 times what they are in Scandinavia!). So I set up two Pokestops close to our hotel where I had free Wifi and was finally able to catch this:
The last morning we took the first A11 bus to the airport, with well enough time for the flight departure at 9:10 am. The now familiar Airbus 330-300 awaited us with separate airbridges for C and Y/Y+.
In contrast to its shorthaul fleet, SAS runs a modern, neat and comfortable long haul operation and I really liked the new Airbuses with comfortable seats even in Y and just sufficient legroom for even someone over 6 feet.
Unfortunately, the IFE is lacking, especially regarding the music selection.
A lot of talk shows, but only a compilation of music from ”various artists”, not even specifying which tunes and which artists! This would normally not have been a problem, but unfortunately I had decided not to bring with me my laptop, ipad or even private phone, so I was totally dependent on the flight offering. I hate most current action movies, dislike embedded violence, car chasing and superheros, so I settled for the drama on offer and watched ”The Big Splash” and the Swedish ”Call Girl”. Surprisingly, both contained a lot of full nudity and sex scenes (not shown here) which obviously meant that the films had not been censored for airplane use.
I don't have any pictures of the lunch, which featured chicken with potatoes, a salad, a warm bun with both butter and cream cheese and Tiramisu as dessert, but the meal was just fine. SAS gives you one (1) soft drink during the main meal and there is a water bottle in your seat pocket. Additionally, coffee and tea is free. But all alcoholic drinks are chargeable as well as are non-alcoholic drinks outside of meal times. E.g. A Gin & Tonic is about 10 USD. So for me this was a ”dry” flight.
I did ask for a glass of apple juice outside of the meal times, however, and the F/A did not want any money for it.
Just when I was getting hungry again, SAS offered a mid-flight snack which consisted of a tomato-mozzarella sandwich with coffee or tea. I don't like mozzarella. But I was hungry, so this was a welcome gesture.
About 90 mins before landing, SAS offered a second, light meal which consisted of a simple shrimp salad, juice, a bun and a small Toblerone chocolate for dessert:
The shrimp were fresh and delicious, but I still feel it is taking a risk to serve a shrimp salad on a flight.
Talking about risks, the flight map at this point showed a radical diversion directly to the South Pole and for a moment I was afraid the A330 really has a will of its own. Luckily, this was of course just a glitch in the flight map system and we landed at Arlanda safe and sound.
Hope you enjoyed this short report and/or maybe can take some advantage of the information given!
This trip was realized thanks to the 70 year anniversary of SAS, the joint national airline of the Kingdoms of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Eurobonus, the frequent flyer program of SAS, joined in the celebrations by offering award trips for huge savings to different parts of Europe and beyond. Before the offer, I had sat on points enough for a trip to anywhere in Europe that SAS flies. Now I suddenly had enough points for several trips in SAS Plus, the current premium SAS short haul product, or one long haul trip in SAS Plus, which for long hauls is the intermediate product.
Though a long weekend in Southern Europe initially seemed tempting, I was also considering a long haul trip to either Washington DC, Peking or Hong Kong. In the end, Hong Kong won because of the superior local weather in November, the fact a visa was not needed and the fact that I actually have never been to China.
Then came the hard decision of which flight class to choose. As this was a reward trip, no upgrading was available. I wanted to bring my wife along, but I did not have enough points for two tickets in Y, yet alone Y+. Then I suddenly remembered that my daughter sat on a couple of thousand points that she probably never would be able to use. SAS allows for point transfers between members, so a few clicks and dollars later I had enough points for the trip for us both in Y. (My daughter was also duly compensated.)
The flight to Hong Kong from Stockholm Arlanda SK 963 leaves at 13:50 and arrives the next day, local time 7:10 am. In the winter, there is a devastating 7 hour time difference, so the flight actually arrives just after midnight CET. This is not bad if you are able to check in early at your hotel in Hong Kong. Actually, I was additionally able to sleep for about four hours on the plane. Age brings its benefits.
After a few days in warm and sunny Hong Kong and also Macau, it was time to fly home. But as a Pokemon-Go player, the second-last night I remembered that there is a certain type of Pokemon that only ”lives” in Asia. Our hotel was in a residential area, and each night there was a Pokestop concentration nearby. As Pokemon-Go requires an online connection, I was not however able to utilize that for very long as the roaming tariffs are something like 12 USD per Megabyte (about 100 times what they are in Scandinavia!). So I set up two Pokestops close to our hotel where I had free Wifi and was finally able to catch this:
The last morning we took the first A11 bus to the airport, with well enough time for the flight departure at 9:10 am. The now familiar Airbus 330-300 awaited us with separate airbridges for C and Y/Y+.
In contrast to its shorthaul fleet, SAS runs a modern, neat and comfortable long haul operation and I really liked the new Airbuses with comfortable seats even in Y and just sufficient legroom for even someone over 6 feet.
Unfortunately, the IFE is lacking, especially regarding the music selection.
A lot of talk shows, but only a compilation of music from ”various artists”, not even specifying which tunes and which artists! This would normally not have been a problem, but unfortunately I had decided not to bring with me my laptop, ipad or even private phone, so I was totally dependent on the flight offering. I hate most current action movies, dislike embedded violence, car chasing and superheros, so I settled for the drama on offer and watched ”The Big Splash” and the Swedish ”Call Girl”. Surprisingly, both contained a lot of full nudity and sex scenes (not shown here) which obviously meant that the films had not been censored for airplane use.
I don't have any pictures of the lunch, which featured chicken with potatoes, a salad, a warm bun with both butter and cream cheese and Tiramisu as dessert, but the meal was just fine. SAS gives you one (1) soft drink during the main meal and there is a water bottle in your seat pocket. Additionally, coffee and tea is free. But all alcoholic drinks are chargeable as well as are non-alcoholic drinks outside of meal times. E.g. A Gin & Tonic is about 10 USD. So for me this was a ”dry” flight.
I did ask for a glass of apple juice outside of the meal times, however, and the F/A did not want any money for it.
Just when I was getting hungry again, SAS offered a mid-flight snack which consisted of a tomato-mozzarella sandwich with coffee or tea. I don't like mozzarella. But I was hungry, so this was a welcome gesture.
About 90 mins before landing, SAS offered a second, light meal which consisted of a simple shrimp salad, juice, a bun and a small Toblerone chocolate for dessert:
The shrimp were fresh and delicious, but I still feel it is taking a risk to serve a shrimp salad on a flight.
Talking about risks, the flight map at this point showed a radical diversion directly to the South Pole and for a moment I was afraid the A330 really has a will of its own. Luckily, this was of course just a glitch in the flight map system and we landed at Arlanda safe and sound.
Hope you enjoyed this short report and/or maybe can take some advantage of the information given!
Last edited by tsastor; Nov 20, 2016 at 7:39 am Reason: grammar
Nov 20, 2016, 6:37 pm
#2
Join Date: Aug 2010
Programs: TK Elite Plus, SAS EBG, QR Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,297
Nice report! Also did this flight in SAS GO a few months ago. Not too bad for a daytime flight. The outbound was in SAS Plus which wasn't too different from the standard Economy.
For future references, the cabin codes on SAS are C for Business, Y for Premium Economy, and M for Economy.
For future references, the cabin codes on SAS are C for Business, Y for Premium Economy, and M for Economy.
Nov 20, 2016, 10:35 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: The Baltic Sea
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Nice report! Also did this flight in SAS GO a few months ago. Not too bad for a daytime flight. The outbound was in SAS Plus which wasn't too different from the standard Economy.
For future references, the cabin codes on SAS are C for Business, Y for Premium Economy, and M for Economy.
For future references, the cabin codes on SAS are C for Business, Y for Premium Economy, and M for Economy.
Nov 21, 2016, 10:46 am
#5
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Y was quite full on the outbound and almost totally full on the inbound.
Nov 21, 2016, 11:38 pm
#6
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: DTW/MBS
Programs: UA 1K, HHonors Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Formerly Starbucks Gold
Posts: 3,525
Congrats on the Farfetche'd! I heard he is the rarest of the regional spawns. My last trip to Europe, I was not leaving until I finally got a Mr. Mime.
Nov 22, 2016, 9:55 am
#7
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