Review: SAS Museum Oslo Airport

Review: SAS Museum Oslo Airport

9


After spending the night at the Park Inn by Radisson Oslo Airport, we decided to visit the SAS Museum before riding the train into the city. The museum is only open on Sundays and Tuesdays, so we couldn’t pass up the chance to check it out given that it aligned with our schedule.

The SAS Museum is located sort of directly across the runway from the main terminal. If you could just walk out across the tarmac, you’d be there in a jiffy.

But instead, you have to go the long way around which would make it about a 3-mile trek. My wife vetoed that so we took the bus from the airport terminal.

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Map of Oslo Airport and SAS Museum

We bought our bus tickets from a transit desk at the airport. At about $4 each way, the tickets aren’t cheap for what amounts to a less than 10-minute ride. The bus runs once or twice an hour, depending on the time of day, so you might have to wait a bit.

The SAS Museum has its own bus stop, but you still need to pay attention so you don’t miss it.

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SAS Museum Bus Stop

We pretty much had the place to ourselves. I think there might have been one other family there at the time.

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SAS Museum

There were two older guys working when we arrived. I assume they were retired SAS employees who volunteer at the museum and I would have loved to chat with them as I’m sure they had some great stories to tell. But alas, they didn’t speak much English. So we smiled, exchanged pleasantries, and headed on in.

The museum itself is a fantastic collection of SAS memorabilia. It seems that every square foot of wall space is covered with some sort of photo, poster, or other artifact from SAS’s long history.

The first exhibit you come to is a mock-up of a plane.

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SAS Museum Plane

All the seats are first class.

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SAS Museum

The cockpit of the mock-up includes a flight simulator which was staffed by one of the volunteers. He seemed to enjoy helping the kids get the plane in the air and then turning them loose to fly around Bergen, Norway.

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SAS Museum Flight Simulator

We sort of left the kids to fly the plane and used our time to see the rest of the museum while occasionally coming back to check on them. There is display case after display case of memorabilia, pretty much everything you can imagine from SAS’s history.

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SAS Museum

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SAS Museum

One of my favorite parts of the museum was the exhibit covering the early polar routes. I had never really thought about it, but it makes sense that SAS would have played a significant role in the development of these fascinating routes over the top of the world.

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SAS Museum Polar Route Memorabilia

Note the 4-person survival sleeping bag. I wonder if you got to pick your bag mates?

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SAS Museum Polar Route Survival Gear

The main exhibit space has a loft at one end. A collection of SAS advertising posters lines the ramp to the upper level.

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SAS Museum Advertising Posters

The balcony gives a birds-eye view of the main floor.

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SAS Museum Main Floor

The balcony has the collection of flight attendant uniforms as well as an early check-in kiosk.

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SAS Museum Check-In Kiosk

My kids loved all the model planes.

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SAS Museum Model Planes

Especially the ones with the cutaway sections where you could see the passengers inside.

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SAS Museum Planes With Cutaway View

SAS stopped flying the Queen of the Skies in 1987. The United 747 will soon be but a memory itself.

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SAS Museum Scandinavian 747

SAS was a founding member of Star Alliance, a fact of which they are quite proud, so many of the other Star Alliance airlines are also represented. I was happy to see the United tulip instead of the globe.

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SAS Museum United Tulip Livery

By this point our kids were mostly done flying crashing the simulator but were ready to check out the kids area. Among other activities, it had one of the Lego airplanes. As it should.

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SAS Museum Kids Area

There are different versions of vintage seats to try while you’re waiting for the kids.

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SAS Museum Parents Waiting Area

And then it was nearly closing time so we made our way to the door. On the way out, I noticed what I thought might be a Star Gold lounge and started to pull out my United Premium 1K card to gain entry. But then I realized it was the museum cafe, which was closed. I’m not sure when or if it’s open.

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SAS Museum Cafe

We then headed outside to catch the bus back to the terminal and from there the NSB train into the city.

Tips For visiting The SAS Museum

The hours are very limited. The SAS museum is open noon to 4 PM on Sunday and 10 AM to 3 PM on Tuesday.

We took bus 855 from and to the airport. The stop is directly in front of the museum. If you’re arriving by car, there is a huge parking lot across the street. It also seems like it would be possible to walk from the airport. I don’t think all of the roads have sidewalks, but they were quiet enough that you could probably walk on the side or in the grass beside the road.

I don’t recall any food being served at the museum, despite the presence of the cafe, so bring your own snacks.

A lot of the exhibits are only in Norwegian, but with the kids, I don’t really have enough time to read everything anyway.

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Travis and his family at the SAS Museum

SAS Museum Oslo Airport Bottom Line

The SAS Museum is a must for fans of SAS, Star Alliance, or the history of polar exploration.

It’s only open for a few hours on each of two days per week, and takes a bit of effort to get to, but it’s well worth it if you have a long layover at the Oslo Airport and can make it fit your schedule.

Conversations (9)
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  1. chuck maki Guest

    I was in Turkey for 2 years in the late 1950s. I have a 45 rpm record which shows an SAS Caravelle with the Caravelle Samba :) The aircraft shown is SE-210-01
    I would like the museum to have this.
    Please send me an email about this.
    Thanks,
    CM

  2. Amanda New Member

    This is one of my favorite report series yet- you and your wife should consider a family travel vlog or at least continue these family style reports. I love them!

  3. BG Guest

    The museum also has a viewing tower of the airport, which is close to the western runway. The viewing tower is always open, not just during museum hours.

    I enjoyed the museum, and they were selling coffee and waffles when I was there. The staff are all volunteers and the museum's income is based on donations and sale of SAS merchandise. The airline donates surplus in-flight magazines, which are free for the taking.

  4. Nick Guest

    I had no idea! I'll have to throw this on my to visit list. I've always wanted to go to the Delta Museum in Atlanta too.

  5. TheRealBabushka Guest

    Good review Travis. Thanks!

  6. TD Guest

    If you arrive on a day the SAS museum is closed, you can email the museum director in advance (at the SAS museum website) and he will open it for you, even for one person, for 1-2 hours. Very cool.

  7. Lisa Campbell Member

    Yes, Flight Path Museum at LAX - check it out!
    http://flightpathmuseum.com/

    For fellow geeks, go visit the Boeing tour in Everett if you're ever up there. The worst thing about that one is that you can't bring anything like a cell phone or camera to the actual production line part of the tour, but they have a museum area where you can take pics.

  8. Donald Guest

    There's a museum at LAX? Now that's something I've got to check out.

    Fun report. Too bad no one spoke English, but the flight simulator is worth the trip alone. .

  9. Garrett Guest

    How fun :) There's a museum on the south side of LAX too... I've always meant to find it and check it out--just never have.

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The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

chuck maki Guest

I was in Turkey for 2 years in the late 1950s. I have a 45 rpm record which shows an SAS Caravelle with the Caravelle Samba :) The aircraft shown is SE-210-01 I would like the museum to have this. Please send me an email about this. Thanks, CM

0
Amanda New Member

This is one of my favorite report series yet- you and your wife should consider a family travel vlog or at least continue these family style reports. I love them!

0
BG Guest

The museum also has a viewing tower of the airport, which is close to the western runway. The viewing tower is always open, not just during museum hours. I enjoyed the museum, and they were selling coffee and waffles when I was there. The staff are all volunteers and the museum's income is based on donations and sale of SAS merchandise. The airline donates surplus in-flight magazines, which are free for the taking.

0
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