SAS EuroBonus “Millionaire” Statistics: Fascinating & Surprising

SAS EuroBonus “Millionaire” Statistics: Fascinating & Surprising

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In 2024, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) transitioned from Star Alliance to SkyTeam. To celebrate this, the airline ran one of the most engaging promotions we’ve seen from an airline loyalty program in years. The company has now shared some statistics about participation in this promotion, and there are some details I find really interesting.

Basics of SAS’ EuroBonus million points SkyTeam promotion

To celebrate joining the SkyTeam alliance, SAS’ EuroBonus frequent flyer program offered a very cool promotion, giving members an incentive to fly on SkyTeam partner airlines. With this promotion, the more SkyTeam airlines members flew, the more bonus points they could earn. For travel between October 8 and December 31, 2024:

  • You could earn 10,000 SAS EuroBonus bonus points for flying five SkyTeam airlines
  • You could earn 100,000 SAS EuroBonus bonus points for flying 10 SkyTeam airlines
  • You could earn 1,000,000 SAS EuroBonus bonus points for flying 15 SkyTeam airlines

So by flying 15 different SkyTeam airlines, you could become a EuroBonus “millionaire.” I could be wrong, but I have to imagine that when the airline launched the promotion, it expected that maybe a handful of people would take advantage of the full offer, and that more than anything, it would generate some media buzz. However, that’s not how the promotion turned out…

SAS EuroBonus celebrated the transition to SkyTeam

SAS’ EuroBonus million points promotion in numbers

SAS has shared some statistics about participation in its promotion, now that it has concluded, as was first reported by LoyaltyLobby. So, how many people took advantage of this, where were they from, etc.? This is some incredible data:

  • 42,718 people registered for the promotion, and 6,886 (16%) of those people enrolled in the EuroBonus program after the campaign started
  • 900+ people successfully completed the promotion, and earned one million points; of those 900+ people, 722 (78%) enrolled in the program after the campaign started
  • 70% of the people who completed the challenge were male, while 30% were female
  • Most people were 30-39 years old, though the average age was 40 years old
  • The oldest person to complete the challenge was 73, and 12 people under the age of 18 completed the promotion, with the youngest person being four years old and from Japan
  • Of those who completed the promotion, 77% had no EuroBonus status, 8% had EuroBonus Silver status, 12% had EuroBonus Gold status, and 2% had EuroBonus Diamond status
  • The newest member who completed the promotion only enrolled in the EuroBonus program on December 16, 2024, while the longest standing member enrolled in the EuroBonus program on May 5, 1992
  • 85% of those who completed the promotion enrolled in the EuroBonus program in the past two years
  • The average person who completed the challenge visited four continents, 17 countries, and 23 airports, during the promotion period
  • All people who completed the promotion visited China at least once
  • 92% of flights completed for the promotion were in economy
  • Nine people visited six continents, while 22% of people visited at least five continents
SAS EuroBonus promotion details

So, where were the people who completed the challenge from, primarily? They came from 33 different countries, with the top 10 countries being the following (this is based on the addresses listed in their accounts):

  • 173 people (18%) were from the United States
  • 149 people (16%) were from Japan
  • 130 people (14%) were from South Korea
  • 112 people (12%) were from China
  • 67 people (7%) were from Sweden
  • 50 people (5%) were from Taiwan
  • 49 people (5%) were from Norway
  • 37 people (4%) were from the United Kingdom
  • 22 people (2%) were from Denmark
  • 22 people (2%) were from Germany
All successful members traveled through China

Reflecting on the amazing SAS EuroBonus promotion

First and foremost, huge kudos to SAS for offering such a fun promotion, and for actually fully honoring it, and for not cutting off registration early. I have to imagine that participation in this promotion ended up being way higher than expected, and this is a not-insignificant expense for the airline.

Members ended up earning at least 900 million points with this promotion. If you were to value those at one cent each, that would be like nine million dollars. Admittedly the carrier’s cost for those miles is probably a bit lower, but still, this cost at least several million bucks to offer.

Here’s what stands out to me most about the statistics:

  • It’s pretty incredible that someone registered for SAS EuroBonus on December 16, 2024, and completed the promotion, given that travel had to be completed by December 31, 2024
  • It’s interesting how this promotion was so popular with people who weren’t otherwise engaged in the program, and with people who don’t even live in SAS’ core markets; Sweden and Norway only had the fifth and seventh highest participation, respectively
  • For South Korea and Japan, I’m curious if there was one person who was planning trips for a bunch of people, or if nearly everyone completed the offer independently
  • I can’t help but wonder if some people may have actually just been mileage run “mules,” and were paid a certain amount to take the flights, with the person managing the process keeping the miles

In retrospect, I can’t help but wonder if SAS EuroBonus executives would offer this promotion again, or if they learned some lessons and wouldn’t. On the one hand, it generated a lot of publicity, which is great. On the other hand, will this actually lead to an increase in long term business?

The way I see it, SAS EuroBonus just isn’t a very compelling frequent flyer program, so even for those who earn a million points, I can’t imagine they’ll necessarily be that much more engaged in the program, aside from redeeming the points they’ve already earned.

This promotion did get a lot of press, so does that get the airline anything? I’m not sure, especially since the promotion was all about flying SkyTeam partners anyway. Perhaps the goal was in part to get those who are loyal to other SkyTeam airlines to be aware that SAS has now joined the alliance, and consider flying with the airline?

This certainly generated some publicity!

Bottom line

The SAS EuroBonus million points promotion is now over, and the program has revealed some details about participation. 900+ people successfully completed the promotion, and we know exactly where they’re from. Kudos to SAS for offering this promotion, and for even sharing statistics about participation! I wish more programs shared information like that, because I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds this to be incredibly interesting.

What do you make of these SAS EuroBonus million points promotion statistics?

Conversations (64)
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  1. Jeanne Sirkin Guest

    My son is still waiting for credit on two qualifying flights he took. We know several other people who are waiting for credit. So, I think the 900 people who have been credited with the million mile completion is a low number compared to those who are waiting for SAS and partner airlines to clear up mistakes. It wouldn’t surprise me if this number doubled.

    Like others have said, SAS keeps saying “don’t worry”, but we do.

  2. Sherylin Jordan Guest

    Still waiting for SAS to credit my 15th flight—numerous calls and emails and yes a claim, yet still waiting. Most frustrating part is that SAS’ site showed this flight as an upcoming flight for me, but once I took the flight (Vietnam Airlines, Flt 0502, 12/17/24, R fare), I was unsuccessful in getting it credited. SAS keeps telling me don’t worry, it will get added, but w/just 11 days left I’m beginning to wonder. Any...

    Still waiting for SAS to credit my 15th flight—numerous calls and emails and yes a claim, yet still waiting. Most frustrating part is that SAS’ site showed this flight as an upcoming flight for me, but once I took the flight (Vietnam Airlines, Flt 0502, 12/17/24, R fare), I was unsuccessful in getting it credited. SAS keeps telling me don’t worry, it will get added, but w/just 11 days left I’m beginning to wonder. Any suggestions/assistance would be greatly appreciated

  3. Mor Guest

    Hey Ben,so a couple of friends & i completed this challenge on December 14th, it’s now close to 2 months later we still haven’t received the million miles,looking online, I’m seeing numerous people are having similar issues especially regarding retroclaiming Vietnam airlines, we’ve reached out to sas many times via email,chat,phone & social media ,response has overwhelmingly been terrible with generally no one responding or a seemingly automated response…Too add insult to the injury sas...

    Hey Ben,so a couple of friends & i completed this challenge on December 14th, it’s now close to 2 months later we still haven’t received the million miles,looking online, I’m seeing numerous people are having similar issues especially regarding retroclaiming Vietnam airlines, we’ve reached out to sas many times via email,chat,phone & social media ,response has overwhelmingly been terrible with generally no one responding or a seemingly automated response…Too add insult to the injury sas has credited 900 people with the miles( seemingly every blogger/influencer has received there’s) and put a “celebrity video” announcing the winners…is there any recourse or action you can recommend for us to do? We have fulfilled our side of the bargain & flown the 15 airlines in the correct fare classes..now it’s sas turn to fulfill there end.

  4. Mosa Guest

    Hey Matthew,so a couple of friends & i completed this challenge on December 14th, it’s now close to 2 months later we still haven’t received the million miles,looking online, I’m seeing numerous people are having similar issues especially regarding retroclaiming Vietnam airlines, we’ve reached out to sas many times via email,chat,phone & social media ,response has overwhelmingly been terrible with generally no one responding or a seemingly automated response…Too add insult to the injury sas...

    Hey Matthew,so a couple of friends & i completed this challenge on December 14th, it’s now close to 2 months later we still haven’t received the million miles,looking online, I’m seeing numerous people are having similar issues especially regarding retroclaiming Vietnam airlines, we’ve reached out to sas many times via email,chat,phone & social media ,response has overwhelmingly been terrible with generally no one responding or a seemingly automated response…Too add insult to the injury sas has credited 900 people with the miles( seemingly every blogger/influencer has received there’s) and put a “celebrity video” announcing the winners…is there any recourse or action you can recommend for us to do? We have fulfilled our side of the bargain & flown the 15 airlines in the correct fare classes..now it’s sas turn to fulfill there end.

  5. Andreas Guest

    P.S. Ben, seeing the comments you might want to ask the SAS media team about a statement concerning the massive ongoing problems and how that allows them to publish final numbers….

  6. Andreas Guest

    Same here. Flew 15, credited 14, spent days in hot.ines by now. This post is a bit of a slap in the face. By SAS, not by OMAAT.
    How can you be fully aware of disappointing and stressing out hundreds of people that spent tons of cash and time with a collapsing logistics, and then give out press statements like this? Astonishing….

  7. Brian Guest

    I completed the challenge on December 12. I flew on 17 Skyteam airlines. To date i have been credited only 12. I have requested credit numerous times online including sending copies of my tickets and boarding passes. In some cases it took them more than a month to open the email and then said they were turning it over to Eurobonus dept. I also had numerous calls to the “customer service dept.” No one knows...

    I completed the challenge on December 12. I flew on 17 Skyteam airlines. To date i have been credited only 12. I have requested credit numerous times online including sending copies of my tickets and boarding passes. In some cases it took them more than a month to open the email and then said they were turning it over to Eurobonus dept. I also had numerous calls to the “customer service dept.” No one knows anything and couldn't help.
    Its a disgrace. Im a business person and i know how you handle situations like this. You draft people from other depts., give overtime and/or subcontract the work to other airlines or temporary contractors.
    If this is the level of management ability in SAS then AF/KLM must be regretting their purchase

  8. Stephen Guest

    They also tested that all the partner airlines can capture a SAS EB # and send the data to SAS.

    Nice but of real life testing there.

  9. koh Guest

    Many Japanese people are interested in mileage, and ANA in Japan has a status called SFC, which can be obtained once and maintained for an annual credit card fee of about $60 each year, and JAL has a system similar to ANA called JGC, and Delta status is also a Gold Medallion status with a credit card that has an annual fee of about $180, and you become a Gold Medallion in the first year...

    Many Japanese people are interested in mileage, and ANA in Japan has a status called SFC, which can be obtained once and maintained for an annual credit card fee of about $60 each year, and JAL has a system similar to ANA called JGC, and Delta status is also a Gold Medallion status with a credit card that has an annual fee of about $180, and you become a Gold Medallion in the first year and after that you have to spend $10,000 to become a Gold Medallion, so many people have status. Also, the Japanese have a culture of telling people about routes that are good value for mileage for a fee, and for this reason many Japanese people find the blog "one mile at a time" very useful

  10. Joe Guest

    Surprised at the number that did it!

  11. Ed S. Guest

    Using the experiences of the guys at FrequentMiler, 900+ completed participations equates to about 3 million USD in gross revenue. I can only guess at the profit margin (comments, please), but if the IATA figure of $7 per seat is applied to their average 23 flights, that's somewhere around $150,000 net profit from the 900+ participants. How that compares to the challenges. marketing budget?
    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  12. Nunzio Guest

    Completed challenge on 04th December but still missing just one Airline Tarom with a flight took on 6th November!!!
    Confirm altough a bit tough jumping on 3/4 planes a day for 4/5 consecutive days and depriving sleep time, was adventure of life and cant wait get confirmation of this last flight and receive the Million Miles.
    Apart sone award tickets for repositioning, i was under 3000 usd to fly all 15 Sky Team...

    Completed challenge on 04th December but still missing just one Airline Tarom with a flight took on 6th November!!!
    Confirm altough a bit tough jumping on 3/4 planes a day for 4/5 consecutive days and depriving sleep time, was adventure of life and cant wait get confirmation of this last flight and receive the Million Miles.
    Apart sone award tickets for repositioning, i was under 3000 usd to fly all 15 Sky Team members including 8 nights in hotel and transfers. On Kenya flight from Canton to Bangkok met about 20/30 guys there for challenge most South Koreans and Chinese, a smart couple from China took chance to celebrate Honeymoon linking challenge!

  13. Tom A Guest

    My 15th flight still hasn’t even been credited yet

  14. Jesse13927 Member

    Japan has a really mature mileage culture. There are tons of blogs just like this one, only written in Japanese.

    Keep in mind, Skyteam doesn't even have an airline in Japan, so imagine the numbers if there were one here.

  15. WeAreLeeds Guest

    I live in Sweden and I’m Lifetime SAS Gold. I didn’t even register for this. Unless you want to travel to the USA SkyTeam is pretty useless. I travel within Europe (including the UK) and also to Australia. Star Alliance was perfect for me. SkyTeam airlines offer me easy access to very few destinations that I go to.

    1. Throwawayname Guest

      I think Skyteam is better than *A in both Africa and S. America, but *A obviously is the world's best alliance.

    2. E39 Gold

      How is Kenyan airways better that Ethiopian and SAA?

    3. Throwawayname Guest

      I do love Ethiopian, but don't forget that AF have a huge African network which can get you to a lot of places without the need for a transcontinental connection- ADD-DSS takes an unbelievable ten hours (it does include a stop at BKO but that's only an hour)!

      SA have shrunk a lot, they don't go anywhere north of ACC, and even regionally they're very weak - they don't fly to PNR and LAD...

      I do love Ethiopian, but don't forget that AF have a huge African network which can get you to a lot of places without the need for a transcontinental connection- ADD-DSS takes an unbelievable ten hours (it does include a stop at BKO but that's only an hour)!

      SA have shrunk a lot, they don't go anywhere north of ACC, and even regionally they're very weak - they don't fly to PNR and LAD despite the oil money, they've got nothing to Lesotho or Botswana, they've handed Maputo to a LAM codeshare...

  16. Anko VDV Guest

    Kim un Ill Jong did 54 x 15 flights in 3 days...all hail to the gret leader !!

  17. GOKI Guest

    I'm a Korean participant in the SAS Challenge, and the reason there are so many Korean participants is because some travel YouTubers have been promoting it heavily.

  18. Oh? Guest

    Probably I was the DEC16th participant. I found the membership mail from SAS. I started hearing and researching on the probability and viable routes and time for getting the miles point from around 10pm in Korea time, stayed all night planning, and hopped on the flight bound for Shanghai for 8:55am Dec 17th in the morning. The applicable last flight i bought was on 28th for a bit of buffer for a contingency, and got the Millionaire mail on 10th of January, 2025z

  19. michael Guest

    I know Matt did this with his son and wrote about it in realtime (food poisoning in all) - and I wondered about the data... specifically who had the time+money+energy to negotiate the logistics = and what their stories are

    I recall thinking - a lot of people either have too much time on their hands, too much money... but both AND the energy to organize the logistics..... reminded me of the movie from years ago...."its a mad mad mad world".... which indeed, it is

    1. Throwawayname Guest

      Having 'too much' time is just a projection. I only needed two weeks for the entire thing. I don't have to show up in an office every morning, and, as long as there's not some massive crisis, I can take a couple of weeks off work whenever I fancy.

      The logistics would be a nightmare for someone starting from scratch, but I was familiar with most airports and route networks in question, so it wasn't...

      Having 'too much' time is just a projection. I only needed two weeks for the entire thing. I don't have to show up in an office every morning, and, as long as there's not some massive crisis, I can take a couple of weeks off work whenever I fancy.

      The logistics would be a nightmare for someone starting from scratch, but I was familiar with most airports and route networks in question, so it wasn't an issue for me.

      The cost was wasn't much, if at all, higher than paying for a couple of nights in a standard room at one of the luxury hotels featured in this blog... and there was a good return on that investment.

  20. frrp Diamond

    I dont think they ever really expected anyone other than bloggers to do it which is why it had such a tight end date.

    The biggest problem is that skyteam is such a mess and relying on them being able to credit flights to other alliance members - especially a new one - was so high risk given the small margin of error.

    I'd like to know the stats on the number of people...

    I dont think they ever really expected anyone other than bloggers to do it which is why it had such a tight end date.

    The biggest problem is that skyteam is such a mess and relying on them being able to credit flights to other alliance members - especially a new one - was so high risk given the small margin of error.

    I'd like to know the stats on the number of people who did it but are still missing 1 or 2 flights that either didnt get credited or which were in the wrong booking classes.

    1. Guest Guest

      Therr are LOTS of people still waiting for Vietnam Air to credit their trip for this promotion - I'm one of them. It is very frustrating to have qualified and still not get the reward 2 months later.

    2. Sherylin Jordan Guest

      I’m one of them 2-took VN flight on 12/17…still waiting for this to credit—only flight btwn me and the 1mill miles!

  21. Ken Haim Guest

    My wife and I also completed the challenge. We are still missing points from some flights. Their website is not working to claim points. We have called and emailed multiple times without any response. Extremely frustrating. Anybody have an inside connection? The author appears to have access to

  22. SASssy Outsider Guest

    90% are 'mileage mules' paid to take the flights. Not legit flyers.
    Mileage brokers wet dream. Expect SAS and Skyteam airlines to be hit a little harder on brokered tickets this QTR.

    1. Levi Diamond

      Given that partner availability isn't exactly something SkyTeam is known for, methinks the brokers might end up sitting on those miles for longer than they expected.

    2. Yid Guest

      I was literally dying to be one such "mule" unfortunately i couldn't find a sponser

  23. hk Guest

    Thanks for this very interesting post. I've seen lots of posts in Korea about this challenge. There were even paid consultants who arranges tickets and help claiming missing miles, etc. After hearing too many stories about it (in Korean), especially how many challengers were in KQ's CAN-BKK flight, 900+ is probably much lower number than I expected. But then there were so many Koreans, north and south combined.

    We often confuse NK and SK...

    Thanks for this very interesting post. I've seen lots of posts in Korea about this challenge. There were even paid consultants who arranges tickets and help claiming missing miles, etc. After hearing too many stories about it (in Korean), especially how many challengers were in KQ's CAN-BKK flight, 900+ is probably much lower number than I expected. But then there were so many Koreans, north and south combined.

    We often confuse NK and SK online, because NK often appear as Democratic something Korea and SK as Republic something Korea. Not sure how it appears in SAS website but this confusion has never flag anything as they all assume it's a mistake.

  24. Laurent Guest

    I don't know what games SAS/eurobonus is playing here...

    I know I have completed the challenge, all my flights haven't been credited though so either

    these statistics are incomplete thus totally useless
    or
    Eurobonus knows I won and hasn't informed me nor posted my 1000000 miles which means I am not able to book awards even though I should be...

  25. E39 Gold

    Can’t wait to see the program be further devaluated. Award tickets are hard enough to come by, especially when people wait up till 00:01 AM at night to book the moment tickets are released 330 days in advance.
    Can’t imagine how hard it will be with 900 eurobonus millionaires wanting to spend their miles

    1. Throwawayname Guest

      SAS awards can be tricky to find, however there's plenty of availability with partner airlines, and the programme does have a few sweet spots. I'm planning to recoup the cost with two business class trips to Africa then have another 800k to play with.

  26. WB Guest

    I did all of the flights in December for this promotion. I was 20 at the time (21 now). Over 21 days, I took 28 flights on 19 airlines (15 Skyteam + ITA Airways, Air Serbia, Etihad, and Cathay Pacific), went through 24 airports, cleared immigration in 14 countries, went outside the airport in 18 cities, stayed overnight in 15 cities, and spent more than one night in Cairo, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Ho Chi...

    I did all of the flights in December for this promotion. I was 20 at the time (21 now). Over 21 days, I took 28 flights on 19 airlines (15 Skyteam + ITA Airways, Air Serbia, Etihad, and Cathay Pacific), went through 24 airports, cleared immigration in 14 countries, went outside the airport in 18 cities, stayed overnight in 15 cities, and spent more than one night in Cairo, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Ho Chi Minh City.

    I originally started planning for this trip in late October, but some commitments meant I probably wouldn't be able to do it. However, they fell through in early December. So, I looked into this promotion again, and I was able to make an itinerary which was only 3% more expensive than the previous one (despite the flights being booked last minute). I registered with SAS EuroBonus on December 4th, and I started my itinerary on December 7th. In the end, I spent about $3K USD on the flights (all in Economy and paid with cash), and I spent about $5K all in for this adventure. I found some people who wanted some of the SAS miles in exchange for giving me some cash to help me fund this adventure (given that I'm a college student so I have limited income). In the end, I paid about $1,500 out of pocket on my own (which I had set aside anyway for an adventure over the holidays). This adventure gave me memories of a lifetime. I've been reading OMAAT for about 9 years now (since I was a pre-teen), and I had always wanted to do a trip like this. The bonus SAS miles are just the icing on the cake for me :)

    1. jetset Diamond

      Wow - impressively low cost for all that flying! Absolutely the right age to do things like this. The likelihood you'll want or be able to as you get older diminishes quickly (not for everyone but it's a risk) and it's a great story and experience. Hopefully you'll have a chance for some splurge trips in business class with the miles now.

    2. Throwawayname Guest

      This is the right ballpark cost, I have read about people who've done it for less. I spent just under €4.5k, but only because I wanted to bag all 17 eligible airlines to mitigate the risk of any anomalies (I got my million but still have two claims pending) and I'm too old to fly long-haul in Y so I bought an one-way from TUN to Asia on SV (similar to what Matthew got), didn't...

      This is the right ballpark cost, I have read about people who've done it for less. I spent just under €4.5k, but only because I wanted to bag all 17 eligible airlines to mitigate the risk of any anomalies (I got my million but still have two claims pending) and I'm too old to fly long-haul in Y so I bought an one-way from TUN to Asia on SV (similar to what Matthew got), didn't cross the Pacific, and used an upgrade voucher to fly VS premium economy from India to the USA. I also flew upfront on AR and AM domestic flights because the price difference with Y was negligible. The million points are worth €12k to me, so I managed a decent profit without suffering through the torture of long haul Y.

    3. Daniel from Finland Guest

      This sounds like quite an adventure! I would suggest to you and Ben to collaborate – make a small trip report series and publish here on OMAAT? It's a mileage run like no other!

      How did you cope with all the hassle in Cairo?

    4. WB Guest

      That collab idea sounds pretty good to me - what do you say @Ben? Send me an email if your interested!

      @Daniel from Finland - I went to Cairo about a year ago on a solo trip, so I knew what to expect. My family is also from Pakistan, and I grew up going there every once in a while to see family. As a result, I know how to cope and behave in such...

      That collab idea sounds pretty good to me - what do you say @Ben? Send me an email if your interested!

      @Daniel from Finland - I went to Cairo about a year ago on a solo trip, so I knew what to expect. My family is also from Pakistan, and I grew up going there every once in a while to see family. As a result, I know how to cope and behave in such crowds. I had also heard Cairo was quite bad so I was mentally prepared on my first trip there. On my first trip, I knew how to handle it. But my gosh, it is a hassle. Cairo is one of the worst I have ever seen in the world. They just never give up. The good thing is that apparently everyone over there thought I was Egyptian, so most people didn't bat an eye and backed off when I ignored them, until I started looking around at my environment to take it in. That's when strangers would come up to me and say "oh my gosh, I thought you were Egyptian". I guess my looks helped me have a better (or less-hassle-filled) experience :)

    5. bucktruck7 New Member

      I think what you did is phenomenally great. You will remember the joy and fun of this for the rest of your life. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

      and thanks to OMAT for posting this great story!

    6. Peer Gold

      Note that you are only allowed to book award flights for yourself and family members according to the terms and conditions of EuroBonus:

      "Unless we state otherwise, membership points, award trips and benefits can be used only by you personally or by your closest family"

      It should technically be possible to book for others, but they may close your account if you suddenly start booking flights for multiple other persons.

  27. beyounged Guest

    It is so depressing to see them already releasing statistics when they still cannot credit my VN flights. I have been sitting at 14/15 for 2 months now and now I feel so depressed that they have already forgotten about people like me. 10+ emails, 10+ phone calls and they cannot do a thing.
    2 Koreans I was with on the same flight got their miles, this was a joke and will always be a joke to me.

    1. Annoyed Guest

      I very much agree with “beyounged“ - it’s simply unacceptable that SAS publish statistics before they are done crediting and concluding those waiting in Eurobonus. All of us who completed this challenge in time in December and requested the miles in December did so according to the rules. SAS - we did our part, now you do yours. Enough with the delays and excuses, and stop pretending to give the challenge participants more time, when...

      I very much agree with “beyounged“ - it’s simply unacceptable that SAS publish statistics before they are done crediting and concluding those waiting in Eurobonus. All of us who completed this challenge in time in December and requested the miles in December did so according to the rules. SAS - we did our part, now you do yours. Enough with the delays and excuses, and stop pretending to give the challenge participants more time, when you clearly are extended yourself more time.
      Lucky - I would be suitable given you apparently got a press release from SAS - to reach out to SAS and ask them to comment on their continuous shortcomings and disrespect to all of us still waiting. And request they stop the shenanigans. If they are a serious business, the explain why they celebrate something they have not yet accomplished and how they believe that is ok for all of us waiting on them for the 3rd month strait.

    2. ARN_SEA New Member

      You can file a dispute with arn.se I would expect if SAS doesn't honor the 1 miljon miles. Just have your documentation, likely including fare class etc.

  28. LX_Flyer Member

    @Lucky Unrelated, but you should write an article taking a look at how Trump's proposed tariffs will affect A220 sales/deliveries.

  29. Jordan Guest

    I actually disagree that EB is uncompetitive (and not just because I invested £2k and 10 days into completing this challenge!).

    50k & no fees for Europe - US/ICN/NRT/BKK in SAS J?

    30k for KE J flights within North / Central / South Asia (including, for some reason, India?)

    Not to mention, US/CA/Mexico flights at 15k Y / 30k J.

    I think I’d much rather have 1m EB points than 1m with DL...

    I actually disagree that EB is uncompetitive (and not just because I invested £2k and 10 days into completing this challenge!).

    50k & no fees for Europe - US/ICN/NRT/BKK in SAS J?

    30k for KE J flights within North / Central / South Asia (including, for some reason, India?)

    Not to mention, US/CA/Mexico flights at 15k Y / 30k J.

    I think I’d much rather have 1m EB points than 1m with DL / UA. Too bad more airlines don’t leverage creative promotions like this to create new fans.

    1. E39 Gold

      As a long time EuroBonus Gold member: good luck trying to use the points!

      On some points it’s a usable program with zone pricing etc.
      But getting those tickets? Not easy at all.
      I know hundreds of people who sit up at night just to book the few award tickets that open up exactly 330 days in advance.

    2. Bubba Guest

      Sure, but you also need to factor in availability in J.

      ICN: No seats have been released yet.
      NRT: Difficult.
      BKK: Even harder to find.

      Return flights to Scandinavia are especially challenging to find. Also, there are no tickets without fees.

    3. Rasmus Guest

      Well good luck finding any available award seats for long haul flights that sre not in economy.

      If you are lucky you will find a one way award but would then have to pay a higher price for a one way paid ticket to get home again...

  30. Mike Sherman Guest

    I completed the 15 airlines but despite registering a missing flight request in December, I'm still showing only 14 airlines. Anyone have an email that I can use to communicate with SAS on this, as the links on the Eurobonus site are not helpful.

    1. Kilomiles Guest

      Submit a manual claim via their website or email them at [email protected]. They're very, very slow with the retroclaim process right now, so a fair bit of patience is necessary.

    2. Kh Guest

      This has not worked for us.

  31. Miguel_R New Member

    Nobody accidentally enters their address as North Korea. I’d bet those 54 people were just messing around or trolling. Wouldn’t surprise me if all of them are part of the cohort that signed up for the program after the promo started.

    1. Kim Guest

      Could be NK passport holders permanently resident in Japan… although travelling on a NK passport must be bureaucratically a pain for transitting various countries…

    2. Kilomiles Guest

      It's a bug. My South Korean address was registered as North Korea, and even after I changed it it would revert back to NK a few times.

    3. snic Diamond

      That makes a lot more sense than the idea that there are 54 North Koreans living outside of NK who are able to buy at least 15 air tickets, have the ability to use them all within a few months without visa issues, and have the knowledge, interest and ability to register for this promotion.

    4. Kim Guest

      Permanent NK residents in Japan are not real North Koreans but the ideological ones who have never lived there. They are a legacy of Koreans in Japan pre WW2. They may hold NK passports but for all intents and purposes, they are westernised and capable of being middle class and above earners.

      The point about NK passports and travel still stands. Schengen, US and many others are not providing visa free travel and it would...

      Permanent NK residents in Japan are not real North Koreans but the ideological ones who have never lived there. They are a legacy of Koreans in Japan pre WW2. They may hold NK passports but for all intents and purposes, they are westernised and capable of being middle class and above earners.

      The point about NK passports and travel still stands. Schengen, US and many others are not providing visa free travel and it would be a logistical nightmare with such a restrictive passport so maybe it was a bug on the website.

  32. neogucky Gold

    I mean with 1.000.000 Miles being worth roughly 10.000$ it should be quite easy to reach it with 15 flights and a bit of planning. That's 666$ budget per flight if you want to break even. Not sure if Bonusflights would have been counted, if so you could have a great return!

    1. Mighty Guest

      Has anyone calculated the cheapest possible routing in order to complete this challenge? Assuming a breakeven at $666 per flight, what is the potential net value in points earned?

    2. JB Guest

      I knew quite a few people who were able to do it for under $3K USD all in. They were all doing it like a mileage run though with back to back flights and limited overnights in hotels.

      Meanwhile, I wanted to make it an adventure and I spent some time in various cities. I also had a one-night stay in 12 countries, and more than one-night stay in 4 countries. In all, I...

      I knew quite a few people who were able to do it for under $3K USD all in. They were all doing it like a mileage run though with back to back flights and limited overnights in hotels.

      Meanwhile, I wanted to make it an adventure and I spent some time in various cities. I also had a one-night stay in 12 countries, and more than one-night stay in 4 countries. In all, I was on the road for 21 days and I spent about $5K USD all in ($3K on flights). I also did it in the end of December so flights were a bit more expensive due to the holidays.

    3. albert Guest

      The Frequent Miler blog team had three of them try to promo, they wrote a lot about spend, value, ect. I would look over there for some insight.

    4. Jack Guest

      A fair calculation would include hotel and meal expenses. As well as, the monetary value of work vacation days used (if applicable).

    5. Jordan Guest

      I spent c.£2k including hotels (and excl. meals), not even factoring in that I would have flown a few of the routes regardless, just not on SkyTeam. My benchmark for value is that 1m points = 10 round trip Europe - US/Asia SAS J tickets with 5 years to use them. Obviously, worth significantly more than £2k. YMMV of course

    6. Nikojas Guest

      That's a good deal. Nice! Just bear in mind the program may devalue the miles value over the next 5 years at some point or even multiple times.

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

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Kilomiles Guest

It's a bug. My South Korean address was registered as North Korea, and even after I changed it it would revert back to NK a few times.

6
WB Guest

I did all of the flights in December for this promotion. I was 20 at the time (21 now). Over 21 days, I took 28 flights on 19 airlines (15 Skyteam + ITA Airways, Air Serbia, Etihad, and Cathay Pacific), went through 24 airports, cleared immigration in 14 countries, went outside the airport in 18 cities, stayed overnight in 15 cities, and spent more than one night in Cairo, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Ho Chi Minh City. I originally started planning for this trip in late October, but some commitments meant I probably wouldn't be able to do it. However, they fell through in early December. So, I looked into this promotion again, and I was able to make an itinerary which was only 3% more expensive than the previous one (despite the flights being booked last minute). I registered with SAS EuroBonus on December 4th, and I started my itinerary on December 7th. In the end, I spent about $3K USD on the flights (all in Economy and paid with cash), and I spent about $5K all in for this adventure. I found some people who wanted some of the SAS miles in exchange for giving me some cash to help me fund this adventure (given that I'm a college student so I have limited income). In the end, I paid about $1,500 out of pocket on my own (which I had set aside anyway for an adventure over the holidays). This adventure gave me memories of a lifetime. I've been reading OMAAT for about 9 years now (since I was a pre-teen), and I had always wanted to do a trip like this. The bonus SAS miles are just the icing on the cake for me :)

5
JB Guest

I knew quite a few people who were able to do it for under $3K USD all in. They were all doing it like a mileage run though with back to back flights and limited overnights in hotels. Meanwhile, I wanted to make it an adventure and I spent some time in various cities. I also had a one-night stay in 12 countries, and more than one-night stay in 4 countries. In all, I was on the road for 21 days and I spent about $5K USD all in ($3K on flights). I also did it in the end of December so flights were a bit more expensive due to the holidays.

3
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