Review: SAS Business Class Airbus A350-900 (CPH-MIA)

I flew this plane and cabin from ORD to CPH and mostly agree with your assessment. What is striking in your report is the stark difference between CPH airport, and the concrete, third world dump that is MIA airport.

Did you cheer?

I have found something similar. For the most part, US international arrival areas are, how shall I put this, 'austere': bare metal and concrete, unadorned in any way. In most other countries (although my travels have taken me to few recently), they seem to have made an effort with the decor, and have displays and the like that reflect the country or the city. Auckland did it pretty well. The marginal cost of thoughtful design isn't that much, perhaps try it some time.

The cutbacks to the meal don't seem too extreme, it seems like they don't serve a salad with the appetizer anymore and no fruits with desert.

The big difference with the meal service compared to pre-Corona times seems to be in the presentation. It was nice to see the choices for the appetizer and main meal displayed in front of you on the cart. And I did like how the pre-arrival meal could be customized before you as well.

Ah well, at least the quantity still seems to be good.

That top pic of CPH airport. I love that wood flooring. If I ever need to re-lay a hardwood floor it's going down like that.

I flew it with a load of 3/40 business class pax (including myself) back in June 2021, no pre departure drink but everything else was exactly the same for the service. Crew were bemused that they outnumbered us, given that this was shortly after Denmark started accepting vaccinated travelers without a COVID test I guess word hadn’t gotten out yet!

I see my building in your approach-to-Miami photo!

SK is tied with OS as my favorite Star Alliance business class across the Atlantic. I think OS has slightly better food but prefer the SK cabins and hard product.

This seems to be a watered-down COVID service. SK used to have nice printed menus with Scandinavian artwork and an amazing selection of drinks (including all kinds of unique spirits and Mikkeller microbrews). They also used to serve all the courses by cart so that you could see the entrees before making your choice. Hopefully they'll return to that standard of service as it was unique and a definite differentiator.

The food looks like a joke tbh, especcially the second "meal". And the cheese roll also functions as second meal in economy - and I found it disgusting.

Great report Ben.
Can you please list your top transatlantic airlines in business Class?
For me it was LH but sadly no more.

I flew this product last summer and prefer the reverse herringbone KLM/AF seat. The foot rest is closer and I can put my feet up when seated upright. The foot rest on SAS is smaller and I couldn’t reach it when seated upright. It’s very low so the sleeping position is also lower than KLM. Feels like the seat slides forward and down vs just forward on KLM.

The sparkling wine ordered with the Italian wine has the suspicious appearance of water.

I enjoyed reading this review very much.
Thank you Ben!

Fantastic trip report as usual!

@Mike C - you haven't been to YYZ lately, have you? ;p

Thanks for the trip report! But my conclusion is that I have no interest to fly SAS in the near future. The food was subpar and one tray service really was unacceptable, especially given Covid-19 restrictions are mostly all lifted in Scandinavian countries. For a day time flight, the meal should be served in courses. The quantity was also lacking. The mid-flight snack was basically the same cheese roll offered at SAS Buy on board programs in Europe. The pre-arrival snack is just a joke.

I agree with you that that seats looked good. Free WIFI is always good. But the whole business class experience looked weak. The SAS lounge was bad even pre-Covid-19 and the food looked weak. I am glad that you introduce us to the other lounge though. I will skip SAS lounge if I fly non-Schengen in the future from Copenhagen.

Thanks again for starting the trip report series again. Unfortunately I will skip SAS on long haul flights until things are improved.

...or HNL

Definitely SIA FRA-JFK. Polaris? KLM?

I recognized that you guys are not anymore showing the "information block" with all flight details = flight no., day/date, hour of departure/arrival, duration, etc. - especially the duration I always found a nice detail. Any reason for not mentioning that anymore? (e.g. see your other review July, 19th 2016)

Not sure if others are having the same problem, but the last few instalments of this trip report (Copenhagen hotel review, two lounge reviews, flight review) are not showing up on the OMAAT homepage for me.

The OMAAT homepage is also having an issue that it has had in the past, whereby going to onemileatatime.com does not load the latest posts-- only a browser refresh does that. Google Chrome on Windows 10/11. Thanks.

SIA has my vote too. Problem is if you travel beyond FRA you have to buy separate txt. Polaris has a nice hard product. Service and catering is nothing to remember. Haven’t flown KLM for ages. Perhaps emirates to Athens is a smart choice?

@Ben, the menu is usually on the IFE. And I have usually had the cabin crew bringing their tablet to show the selections.

Great report. Looks like an excellent experience and a very professional crew. I have two upcoming longhaul flights on SAS - looking forward to them!

Super interesting review - thank you.
I really feel like I need to add, that the service you experienced is the very reduced Covid-version of the normal service.
SAS normally has beautiful menu cards, with art designed for the individual routes and seasons. Normally the food is also served in a much more appealing restaurant style service, where no trays are used, the fresh salads will be mixed in front of you, and there is a well-stocked dessert-trolley as well. SAS also normally mixes cocktails, served in specially designed glassware.

I recommend to read some of the pre-Covid reviews, which will give a more precise picture of the service level that SAS will return to soon, in a post-pandemic world

Thanks for the Miami descent pictures! I vacationed there in December and really enjoyed it, so it's nice to reminisce.

I am Swedish and lived in the US for 7 years until this fall so have flown SAS Biz quite a bit. I believe the lack of menus is a COVID-hangover, but usually there is an option on the IFE system to check it (in case anyone is travelling with them in the future)

Since I’ve lived & worked my whole life in these third world dumps, I can assure you MIA is better than those, and better than many large US gateways (JFK, ORD, PHL, etc) or European (LHR, MXP) . It also depends on which airline you fly, since the first (AA) and last terminals are modern. And none can beat it for location convenience.

No US airport can even compare with the world’s best, and I’ve never seen an airport with the gorgeous parquet flooring shown in CPH photo.

Many thanks for writing this report - particularly about the seating arrangement (quick change to my booking & seat selection needed). I have not flown SAS for many years, but will again in June 2022, from CPH to LAX, and will try to remember to give an update on here how it went.

Thank you for your review. I'm flying out of ORD to CPH late afternoon. I think I will upgrade to business class after reading what you said.

I flew CPH to LAX and return in June/July 2022. Agree with the assessment of this report and would recommend using SAS for all the reasons mentioned by Ben. One downside is, if you have a connecting flight and you do not hold a passport from the Schengen area, and wish to use the lounge during the layover, you must pass through passport control just to use the lounge. SAS needs to have a lounge on the international side of the terminal.

Unlimited Wi-Fi is free for premium economy (SAS plus) passengers as well. I flew LAX-CPH-- and then on to ARN and TLL-- Aug 2022. Excellent service, nice food, leg rests, amenities look much the same as your biz class photos, minus the headphones (we got ear bud headsets), and no socks. Still no menu to speak of. By the way, SAS has been offering premium economy from their U.S. hubs to most of their E.U. destinations for $500-700 RT! Such a deal. I've purchased several RTs for Aug-Dec. Now that's a great sale.

For my semi-annual 10+ hour RT flights CPH-SFO I'd like plenty of classical music. There were a few choices of 10-20 minutes each. It wouldn't take much to add a significant number of hours.

I find it appalling that food is served in J with plastic covers on. Really!

Generally the food look below par.
Was it champagne or sparkling wine?

Normally SAS had a selection of no-name alcohol for drinks - had that disappeared too?