Flight Review: SAS A320neo Economy Class, ARN-OSL

Introduction: Late Summer in Scandinavia
Flight Review: American Airlines B737-800 First Class, MEM-DFW
Flight Review: Finnair A350-900 Business Class, DFW-HEL
Flight Review: Finnair E190 Business Class, HEL-CPH
Lodging Review: Fairfield by Marriott Copenhagen Nordhavn
Our Time in Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Best Western Hotel Hebron, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Next House, Copenhagen
Lodging Review: Story Hotel Studio Malmö
Our Time in Malmö and Ystad, Sweden
Lodging Review: IKEA Hotell, Älmhult, Sweden
Our Time in Älmhult, Sweden and High-Speed Train to Stockholm
Lodging Review: Motel L Älvsjö, Stockholm
Our Time in Stockholm
Flight Review: SAS A320neo Economy Class, ARN-OSL
Lodging Review: Comfort Hotel Grand Central, Oslo
Our Time in Oslo
Lounge Review: SAS Lounge, Oslo airport
Flight Review: Lufthansa A320-200 Business Class, OSL-FRA
Flight Review: Lufthansa 787-9 Business Class, FRA-MSP
Flight Review: Delta B737-800 First Class, MSP-MEM

Why I Booked This Flight

We needed to get from Stockholm to Oslo and while we could have taken the train, it’s just a one-hour flight and was quite cheap in economy.

How I Booked This Flight

We each bought our own tickets for just $77.70 via the SAS website. After we booked our tickets SAS left the Star Alliance and joined SkyTeam so we added our Delta or Flying Blue numbers later. I tried to add my Flying Blue number at the kiosk but it would not accept it. When I returned home I submitted the request via the Flying Blue website. I had to wait until the trip had been complete for 7 days before my flight could get credited.

Getting to the airport

From the hotel we took the metro (pink line) to the Stockholm City stop then walked through the tunnels to Stockholm Central Station and followed the signs to the Arlanda Express, which is the fastest. You can save money and take the 970 train to the airport and it’s a lot cheaper and also non-stop. We also learned the Arlanda Express is cheaper if you buy 1 ticket for multiple people.

We left the hotel about 6:30 AM for our 9:25 AM flight for a few reasons:
1) We’d not traveled this route before and wanted to allow for times when we made a wrong turn
2) We wanted to be able to handle any delays with the trains
3) We had no idea how busy the airport would be nor how long it would take to get through security and to our gate

It was a good thing we’d built in a buffer! When we got to the Älvsjö metro station we went to the correct platform and the train arrived pretty much on time but once we boarded, the train remained at the station for a good 10-15 minutes before it finally started moving. Our theory, based on other trips on the metro, was that there was still a train ahead of us on our track.

When we reached Stockholm City we were able to navigate to Stockholm Central and the Arlanda Express platform pretty easily thanks to the signage. You’ll know you’re in the right place when you see the big yellow trains. You may purchase Arlanda Express tickets inside the ticket office area on the platform. There are lots of kiosks that are easy enough to use (that’s what we did) as well as employees who can assist as needed. The train runs every 10-20 minutes, depending on the time of day (more frequently during rush hour).

Arlanda Express at Stockholm Central (photo attribution: AleWi, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons)

We did not have to wait long and were soon on our way to the airport. Since the expectation is that most folks will have larger luggage, there’s plenty of storage space right at the carriage entry as well as luggage racks near the seats. Once you’ve stored your luggage there a couple of steps down to the seating area so if you are mobility-challenged you’ll want to be aware of this and plan accordingly.

At the airport

Once we arrived (ours was the second of two airport stops) we disembarked and came up into the ticket lobby. We quickly located the area for SAS as it’s a quite large area since this is one of their hubs. Three of us were able to use the kiosks and print our bag tag and get our boarding passes. This is also where I tried and failed to enter my Flying Blue number. But one member of our group could not get the kiosk to work for her so she had to stand in the customer service line. Even the SAS rep had issues with her ticket but soon enough we were all ready to go through security. Since we had no special priority it took 15 minutes to get through the lines and get ourselves reassembled. We cleared security exactly one hour ahead of our flight. All the more reason I was glad we’d allowed extra time especially after having to navigate the Duty Free section on our way to Concourse E.

Since we were in economy we did not have lounge access so we just stayed in the gate area. Three of us had not paid to select our seats so none of us were seated together but since the flight was just an hour it was no big deal.

Boarding

Once boarding began those of us in economy were directed two different ways: those in rows 1-17 boarded from the front of the plane as normal, while those of us in rows 18+ had to go down stairs, outside, and up the stairs into the jet from door 2L. When I’d checked in online the day prior my seat was listed as 30D. However when I printed my boarding pass at the airport I saw it was now 29D. I’m glad it was moved because once I boarded I found that row 29 was the very last row! At least I had an aisle seat.

Boarding was completed at 9:21 AM and we pushed back 7 minutes later.

SK 483 (ARN-OSL)
Airbus 320neo
Seat 29D (Economy Class)
Depart: 09:25 AM (actual 09:28 AM)
Arrive: 10:25 AM (actual 10:21 AM)

In-Flight

The aircraft was filling up by the time I boarded so I don’t have any photos of the plane itself of my own. But I borrowed these photos from the sites credited on each photo. The seats have no IFE but each one does have a USB-A port.

SAS Seatback including USB-A port (photo attribution: OneMileAtATime.com)

The seats have a pitch of 30″ on most rows with an extra 3-4″ on the exit rows, which are rows 11-12.

SAS A320neo seats – these are SAS Plus but are identical to SAS Go seats (photo attribution: OneMileAtATime.com)

In economy (aka SAS GO) only coffee and tea are complimentary. Yes, that’s right, there’s a charge for water. I decided I could last a whole hour without something to drink. Here was the menu:

The crew was quite friendly and managed a drink service for economy and a meal service for SAS-Plus, the intra-Europe business class which basically consists of the same seat as economy but with an empty middle seat.

Arrival

We touched down at 10:18 AM and were at the gate just 3 minutes later, which was 4 minutes ahead of schedule.

In the end

For a quick 1-hour flight for less than $80, this was definitely the way to go. Sure we spent longer getting to the airport than actually flying but it was still better than spending the whole day on the train.