SAS ATR-72 Economy Class Review

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) is a Star Alliance member operating short-haul and long-haul flights from its hubs in Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo.

I recently flew with SAS on a short regional flight from Copenhagen to Hamburg in Economy Class, which Scandinavian Airlines markets as “SAS Go” on its European flights. You can read about this flight below.

As a matter of interest, SAS also offers a premium cabin on its short-haul flights which is marketed as “SAS Plus”. Often, the price difference between SAS Go and SAS Plus is not that high, but the latter is more of a premium economy product than business class. While SAS Plus comes with access to priority queues and lounges at the airport, as well as a snack & drink on board, there is no difference in the seating on board the plane. The middle seats are not even kept vacant in SAS Plus, as is usually the case in intra-Europe Business Class.

For someone with Star Alliance Gold status, the main additional benefits of SAS Plus seem to be the on-board snack, more frequent flyer points and a seat at the front of the plane. (Or, in the case of the ATR 72, a seat at the back of the plane!)

Flight Details

Flight number	SK651
Route	Copenhagen (CPH) to Hamburg (HAM)
Aircraft type	ATR-72-600
Class of travel	Economy (SAS Go)
Seat number	7F
On-time performance	We arrived 5 minutes behind schedule
Star rating

The route

Flight Cost

When I booked this flight around a week before departure, the lowest available one-way airfare was a staggering €599 (just over AU$1,000)! However, cheaper SAS Youth fares were available to passengers aged 25 or under.

I ultimately booked an Economy Class seat for 6,500 United MileagePlus miles and $32.70.

Airport Experience

Checking in at Copenhagen Airport was easy. There were plenty of self-service kiosks and staffed check-in counters available.

SAS offers a security fast-track lane for SAS Plus/Business passengers and Gold members of its own Eurobonus frequent flyer program. Unfortunately, my Star Alliance Gold status (via United) didn’t make the cut and I waited around half an hour to clear security through the regular line. It was a very busy Thursday afternoon at Copenhagen Airport!

I visited the SAS Lounge in the Schengen Area before my flight, which I was able to access through my Star Alliance status. If you’re flying SAS Go and don’t have Eurobonus or Star Alliance Gold status, you could also pre-purchase lounge access online for around ~AU$40.

It’s a nice space with a distinctly Scandinavian design.

The lounge is spread across two floors, but when I visited in late March 2022, most of the downstairs area was roped off. The upstairs area was quite full, with most tables occupied.

There was a self-service buffet with freshly baked bread, soups, salads, rice and chicken available. There were also plenty of drinks to choose from, including Denmark’s famous Carlsberg beer on tap.

One unique feature of this lounge was the two sleeping rooms with proper beds! Apparently, you can request the key for one of these rooms at the lounge reception if either are vacant.

One other thing I found unusual, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, was that masks were not mandatory at Copenhagen Airport during my visit last month. I barely saw anybody wearing one. Masks were required on board my flight, due to German laws, but they would no longer be required on internal flights within Scandinavia.

Boarding for SK651 to Hamburg began early and was extremely easy, with automated boarding gates. Most of the other passengers on board seemed to be businesspeople commuting back to Hamburg.

The Hard Product

This flight was operated by Xfly, but the plane was painted in SAS colours and the crew were wearing SAS uniforms.

The ATR-72-600 cabin is laid out in a 2-2 configuration. Interestingly, the SAS Plus passengers were all seated at the back of the cabin – this is likely because boarding on the ATR 72 is via the rear stairs.

The blue leather seats are more or less the same as you would find on any other ATR 72 aircraft. They reminded me of the seats on the old Virgin Australia ATR planes, which are comfortable enough for short flights but wouldn’t be ideal for anything longer than a couple of hours.

Annoyingly, SAS would only let me select a seat in advance for a €20 (~$30) fee. However, I was able to pick from the remaining seats for free when online check-in opened and selected 7F, a window seat. The flight was around two-thirds full but I had a free seat next to me.

The legroom was pretty standard.

There was no in-flight entertainment or wifi. This is not unusual for a regional flight on a turboprop aircraft, although it probably would be a good idea for SAS to remove the cards in the seat pockets explaining how to view the digital SAS in-flight magazine using the non-existent wifi. 😉

The Soft Product

We took off from Copenhagen on a lovely afternoon and initially flew towards Malmö, the Swedish city connected to Copenhagen by the famous Øresund Bridge which you can see appearing out of the water in the photo below.

There was a menu in the seat pocket with a list of snacks and drinks for sale:

As this was a short flight, none of these items were actually offered. Instead, the cabin crew offered a choice of complimentary hot tea or coffee.

Soon enough, we were landing in Hamburg. Although the SAS Plus passengers were the first to disembark, everyone was put onto a single bus which took us to the terminal – so there was no real time saving in sitting at the back after all.