Flight Review: SAS Economy Class (A320neo with Starlink!)
Flight#: SK1586
From: Barcelona (BCN)
To: Copenhagen (CPH)
Flight time: 2h 45min
Aircraft: Airbus A320neo
So, I finally got to fly on SAS new A320neo. I technically was on a SAS flight last year, but the service turned out to be operated by Danish charter and ACMI provider Jettime, so the related flight review did not really cover the SAS experience.
This time, however, it was a SAS-operated flight through and through and on one of the airline’s most modern aircraft no less!
What’s more, this flight was also my Starlink baptism and, spoiler alert, the experience met all the expectations I had formed about reading so much about Elon Musk’s disruptive satellite-based internet service.
The flight were courtesy of SAS Airlines. All opinons are my own.
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A review of the SAS Economy Class Short-Haul Experience
Let’s start by the check -in process, which I completed via mobile app and was really smooth. The same can be said about the boarding, that is done by five different groups. By the way, extra points to the ground crew at Barcelona airport (not sure if it’s SAS or a partner company) for giving the boarding instructions also in Catalan language, which is a nice touch of consideration towards local passengers which unfortunately not airlines can claim to be doing.
When it comes to the cabin, SAS A320neo has technically two sections, business and economy, although the divide is very subtle. The only physical elements of differentiation are a couple of small side panels at the top section of the cabin and a small curtain. The seats looked pretty much the same, although the middle seat is kept empty on business class. Having said that, it is worth mentioning that SAS has been rolling back out its business class service, particularly when it comes to its “soft” elements, such as on the ground service and inflight meals.
The focus of this flight report, though, is SAS Economy Class, and, in this regard, the Scandinavian carrier has quite a few things going for it, particularly when compared to other airlines operating a bare-bones Economy class. Let’s see what these are:
The first one is seating. SAS offers a pretty good seat pitch, my knees were not touching the back of the seat in front at any time during the almost 3 hour flight. The seats, made by RECARO, have USB chargers, a small coat hanger on the side and a hard top literature pocket and another, net-like one at the bottom. It also reclines, which is increasingly a rarity in Europe!
And while I am not a big fan of cloth-upholstered seats (vs. leather ones), the all-dark-grey tones that SAS has chosen give is an interesting and rather unique touch when it comes to aesthetics.
Coffee, tea and water are offered complimentary. By the way, coffee was pretty good and the crew does a second pass offering refills, which is also good. If you wish to eat something alongside, then you need to pay for it. There is a menu in the literature pocket that you can order from.
To be honest, the selection is rather limited and it mostly consists of a few snacks, some sandwiches and small pizzas, but I guess this is fine tuned for the type of demand they get on short haul flights (did not see that many people ordering food, actually).
SAS digital content and trying Starlink for the first time
What SAS does really, really well is the digital experience, which has become kind of the most important element of the passenger journey.
This happens on two separate levels, one of them is, in fact, not new, since SAS has been offering some good quality content through its app already for some time. This includes some A-List international publications like the FT, as well as a selection of other magazines and newspapers in different languages.
By the way, SAS has also quite a few games and features which are particularly atuned to the tastes of aviation enthusiasts. In these snapshots you can see, for example, a game (with four levels, from beginner to expert!) to guess airport codes, another to collect stats about your travels and a live map featuring all airborne SAS aircraft.
SAS digital experience has, however, been turbocharged by the roll out of Starlink. The SpaceX-enabled service is truly a game-changer and once you try it, you can rapidly see why every airline is racing to get it onboard.
There was a plastic leaflet on each seat announcing that this particular aircraft was one of the first on SAS fleet to be fitted with Starlink connectivity and explaning how to use the new service.
Access is free for members of SAS Eurobonus loyalty program (you can sign up on the spot for free actually) and to subscribers of a Three mobile telephone plan (at the time of the flight, this applied only to users of the Danish and Swedish networks, not those in other countries where Three operates, though), since this international mobile phone operator sponsors the service.
Starlink is certainly way faster and seamless to use than any other inflight wifi service I have tried in the past. I put it to the test using different apps, websites and online services during the flight, including video streaming and it worked perfectly well. I even managed to do some work accessing corporate networks without a problem.
Anecdotally, the flight took place during one of the FIFA World Cup matches and the crew actively encouraged passengers to watch the game live y connecting to Starlink.
I also checked the speed using a speed check service, which you can see below (it got faster than this at times, actually). I don’t really have a good benchmark to compare with, but my personal experience is that it did its job perfectly.
Our take:
Overall pretty good, particularly when compared to the bare-bones economy class service offered by other European flag carriers on short haul. The availability of high-speed free broadband connectivity will almost certainly change may passenger behaviour dynamics inflight and how passengers get to perceive the overall experience, I think.
If planning a trip to Scandinavia, you may want to check also the following articles on our sister site Places of Charm:
