In February, I set off “across the pond” for the second time this year to visit London with my friend Hanna. We all know that flying to Europe isn’t cheap, so when it was time to look for flights, I tried to find the best flight for the best price.
In this case, it meant selecting Chicago as my origin because that’s always cheaper than flying from Kansas City, where I live. Using Southwest points to fly from KC to a larger city is one trick we use pretty frequently to get cheaper flights. And when I found a round-trip flight from Chicago to London — with a layover in Copenhagen — on SAS Airlines, it was a price I couldn’t pass up: just $400.
It was my first time ever flying with SAS Airlines, and it wasn’t an airline I knew much about. So if you’re thinking about taking a trip with them, here’s my review of SAS Airlines.
Booking Your SAS Airlines Tickets
SAS Airlines, or Scandinavian Airlines, is an airline based in Scandinavia (duh) with its major hub in Copenhagen, Denmark. Hence the reason why I had to connect in Copenhagen, which meant I flew past London and then had to backtrack.
I used my Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card to book my flight with SAS Airlines. However, I originally found the flight while I was browsing Google Flights or Skyscanner, some of my favorite flight-comparison tools. When I saw the price, the next step was for me to log in to my Chase account and search their travel booking tool for the same flight, to see if it was the same price.
If it’s the same price (which it was), then I book it there — you get 5x points on any travel you book through Chase’s booking tool. I was also able to use 2,000 of my points in my account to bring the price down by $25, meaning my flight was only $375 round-trip.
Of course, you can also book through their website or your favorite travel-booking app.
One major benefit of SAS Airlines was that, even with the cheapest flight option (SAS Go Smart), a personal item and carry-on bag is included. Which means there are no surprises when it comes to cost.
Logistics
Having flown from Chicago to a variety of international destinations — Spain, Iceland, and Thailand just to name a few — I was surprised this was my first time actually flying out of the “international” terminal, T5. It was definitely the worst terminal I’ve experienced at O’Hare?? It seemed like an afterthought with lots of long, empty hallways that made you feel like you were somewhere you weren’t supposed to be. There was also nowhere to really get food. Not a fan.
However, that doesn’t apply if you’re flying out of any of SAS Airlines’ other U.S.-based origins. Here are the routes they serve as of June 2023:
- Boston-Logan (BOS) — Copenhagen (CPH)
- Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) — Copenhagen
- Los Angeles (LAX) — Copenhagen
- Miami (MIA) — Copenhagen
- Newark (EWR) — Copenhagen
- San Francisco (SFO) — Copenhagen
- Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) — Copenhagen
- Miami — Oslo (OSL)
- Newark — Oslo
- Chicago-O’Hare — Stockholm (ARN)
- Miami — Stockholm
- Newark — Stockholm
Wherever you’re going, wherever you’re coming from, I would highly recommend downloading the SAS Airlines app. It’s one of the most useful airline apps I’ve ever used! Not only could I select my seat easily and view the seat map up until departure, but it also had the coolest feature that showed how far along we were in the boarding process.
Boarding was pretty quick and easy. They boarded based on the row you’re sitting in. Another reason it was so efficient was the fact that the flight wasn’t very full. I guess not a lot of people are traveling to Scandinavia in February, which is fair. We did have to wait quite a while before departure because of the sudden snowstorm that hit Chicago right when we were boarding. The plane had to be de-iced twice before takeoff.
Security
“Oh shit. I’m in the international terminal and went in a TSA pre line.” — Me texting Matt, 7:30pm
“Omg. I’m through. I swear Chicago didn’t used to have it.” — Me texting Matt again, despite the fact he had not yet responded, 7:32pm
“THAT WAS AMAZING!!” — Triple text, 7:33pm
“Zero line whatsoever. Like not a single person.” — Shameless quadruple text, 7:33pm
Can you tell I was psyched to get to use my TSA Pre-Check for an international flight? That’s not typical, especially for flying to Europe. (Why was I so happy? Mostly because when you pack for 2 weeks in just a backpack, your stuff is very carefully arranged, and disturbing it before you’ve even started your trip is a huge pain.)
And the fact that there was no line? That was just good luck. Thank you, weird terminal in Chicago.
Experience
As soon as I saw that we had finished boarding, I knew I was going to love my SAS Airlines experience.
The travel gods continued to smile on me that day, because my little row of three seats on the left side of the plane was empty except for me! Which meant that I could lay down across the three seats and try to actually sleep.
On the way home, the flight was somehow even more empty?! By moving back one row, I ensured that I didn’t have to see a single other person during the flight. I had my section to myself, the middle section of three seats was empty, and the far right section of three seats was also empty. PERFECT. Couldn’t think of a better way to spend a 10-hour flight.
Overall, I had a great experience with SAS Airlines! While we were sitting and waiting to be de-iced before takeoff, they came through with a full-sized bottle of water for everyone. Not long after we took off, they started serving dinner. It was… very Scandinavian. (Like the side dish that was potato salad with a slice of deli ham on top of it.??) So it wasn’t necessarily my favorite airplane meal, but I’m not in the business of choosing my flights based on the food they serve.
Even with having a layover in the Copenhagen airport on my way to London, it was long enough for me to grab a snack and some coffee, but not so long that I felt like I was going to drop dead from exhaustion just waiting for my next flight. SAS Airlines flies in and out of Terminal 2 at London-Heathrow.
Value
Scandinavia isn’t known for being a very budget-friendly destination. The tiny cappuccino I got in the airport in Copenhagen was like $7 which made me hate myself a little bit both times I did it (on the way there and back). But SAS Airlines is certainly capable of offering great deals on flights.
It’s usually pretty easy to find direct flights from the U.S. to London. Last year, when we wanted to go to Dublin to visit our friends Sarah and Kelan, we knew it would likely be cheaper and more direct to find a flight from the U.S. to London and then fly from there to Dublin.
So I was a little surprised to find out that, in the case of this trip, flying Chicago to Copenhagen to London with SAS Airlines was the cheapest option. Despite the longer flight, and despite the layover in Copenhagen, I would absolutely do it again! A round-trip flight to Europe for $400? That’s a rare opportunity that you can’t pass up. The moral of the story: Don’t be afraid to fly SAS Airlines if you find a great deal!
There you have it — my review of SAS Airlines. Have you ever flown with them, or are you thinking about it? Let me know in the comments.
–Cathy
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Buyers Beware! I have a flight book on SAS and need to reschedule or change. Online won’t allow me to do either and tell me to call their number. Three days now on hold over 2 hours one day, 3 hours next day and no answer today. I would use another carrier if you need a flight, especially if you may change. No help online, no help with their chat. Completely frustrated and this is the poorest customer service I’ve experienced.