SAS Age-Based Price Discrimination

A Scandinavian Airlines plane at Copenhagen Airport
Scandinavian Airlines charges passengers aged 26 or over a LOT more! Photo: Matt Graham.

It’s not that uncommon for some airlines to offer discounts to children, or even to sell tickets at different prices based on a person’s location, the type of electronic device they’re using or if they’re travelling for work.

There are also plenty of examples of airlines charging different fares on domestic flights to residents and non-residents, as is the case with some Peruvian airlines.

But the airfares of one European airline can differ enormously, depending on whether you’re aged above or below 25 years old. In fact, on some flights, people aged 26 or over are paying five times more than passengers 25 or under!

I recently booked a flight with Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) from Copenhagen to Hamburg. I was quite shocked to find that the cheapest available one-way airfare for one adult on the flight I wanted was almost €700 (~AU$1,015)!

SAS airfares CPH-HAM
The flight I wanted was priced at €699 one-way!

This was more than I was prepared to pay for a short one-hour flight, so I ended up booking a seat using United MileagePlus miles instead. This cost me 6,500 United miles and just AU$32.70 in taxes – a much better deal.

United award itinerary CPH-HAM
I redeemed United miles instead for a seat on the same flight.

The flight ended up leaving two-thirds full, with plenty of empty seats in both Economy and “SAS Plus”, which is the designated premium cabin on SAS short-haul flights. So, I was perplexed at why the airfares were so expensive.

Admittedly, the flight I booked seemed to be unusually expensive – even for SAS. But if we look at the “low price calendar” on the SAS website which shows the lowest available airfares each day for the rest of this month, most adult airfares from Copenhagen to Hamburg on SAS seem to start from between €161.90 (~AU$235) and €443.63 (~AU$644). That’s still quite expensive for a 174-mile turboprop flight between two major cities.

The cheapest available one-way SAS airfares from CPH to HAM over the coming weeks.

Interestingly though, SAS also offers “Youth” fares for passengers aged 12-25 years old. You can easily change your search to look for Youth fares instead of the “adult” prices.

SAS offers special "Youth" fares
SAS offers special “Youth” fares.

It turns out that the Youth fares aren’t just a little bit cheaper. They are significantly cheaper on the dates they are available.

Low-price calendar showing SAS Youth fares available from CPH to HAM in April
Low-price calendar showing SAS Youth fares available from CPH to HAM in April.

As you can see, the special Youth fares aren’t available on every flight. But they are widely available if you book at least a week in advance, and they are a fraction of the price.

The availability of Adult and Youth fares on SAS is completely separate, with different fare classes used for each type. It is also possible, as was bizarrely the case on my flight, that the Adult fares are sold out in Economy but Youth fares are still available! (The €699 fare on my flight was an SAS Plus fare, which was the cheapest fare available to adult passengers at the time I booked. But Economy was not full, and Youth fares were still available for sale.)

The SAS Youth fares are only available in Economy Class (marketed as SAS Go), and not SAS Plus. It’s also worth noting that you cannot include Youth and adult fares on the same ticket; Youth fares must be booked separately.

Here’s an example of the SAS Youth fares available on a flight from Copenhagen to Hamburg on 17 April, starting from €67.19 (~AU$97):

SAS Youth fares from Copenhagen to Hamburg on 17 April 2022
SAS Youth fares from Copenhagen to Hamburg on 17 April 2022.

I’m unfortunately no longer under 25 years old, so the cheapest commercial airfare I would have access to on the same flight costs €309.63 (~AU$449):

SAS adult fares from Copenhagen to Hamburg on 17 April 2022
SAS adult fares from Copenhagen to Hamburg on 17 April 2022.

As you can see, there is an enormous price difference between the adult and youth prices. In this example, the adult fare is almost five times the price! This isn’t even the most extreme example, as the adult fares on the previous day’s flight start at €363.63 (~AU$528) while the Youth fare is still €67.19 (~AU$97).

This phenomena can be replicated on many other SAS routes and dates.

Of course, the discounted Youth fares are great for people under 25. I don’t begrudge that SAS wants to make flying more affordable for young people. But such extreme age-based price discrimination is not something I’ve seen from other airlines.

Luckily, should I need to book with SAS again, award availability is plentiful and the taxes are low when redeeming United miles or Air Canada Aeroplan points.

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum.

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.
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Dunno, I'm speculating, but based on my time living in Scandinavia I would say SAS probably faces strong competition from train travel for pax in that age group travelling around Europe.

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It's been a kind of tradition, well at least for many decades, for the Nordic countries to offer discounted youth fares. With high university or college attendance, a large percentage of the population under 25 are still students.

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My first flight, in 1972, was on a discounted student fare with KLM.
I had thought they'd become redundant since deregulation and the proliferation of LCCs.

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Dunno, I'm speculating, but based on my time living in Scandinavia I would say SAS probably faces strong competition from train travel for pax in that age group travelling around Europe.

And after what France has just done with their short-haul flight regulations, rail travel may become more popular.

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Back in the late 60's when I was under 21, I sometimes picked up a youth standby fare for £5 for BEA's flight from LHR to MAN on a BAC-111.

I thought this was great, and it was probably a good investment by BA, as I'm now a Gold with BAEC.

So I don't have any problem at all with airlines offering discounts to young people.

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So I don't have any problem at all with airlines offering discounts to young people.

As a parent, I don't have a problem with this either !

It would make family holidays more economical.

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Back in 1970 at 21yo, i took a Qantas youth based cheap fair to London with a 12 month stopover in South Africa. It was called the 'Pacesetter' fare and was significantly cheaper than regular fares at the time, about $399 IIRC. QF to JHB and SA to LHR.

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Finnair used to do dirt cheap domestic youth standby fares. You paid for your ticket at the counter in the airport and they gave you a standby boarding pass - you were allowed through to the gate area but had to wait until the end of boarding before you were allowed on.

Back in ~2002 I had a great day out flying HEL-VAA-KOK-HEL on ATR72s and DC9s.

The flights posted to QFF as full fare economy too.

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