Airline review: SAS A321 economy class, Copenhagen to Stockholm

SAS A321 economy class, Copenhagen to Stockholm
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01. Trip report introduction
02. Air Serbia A319 economy class, Stockholm to Belgrade
03. Air Serbia ATR72 economy class, Belgrade to Sarajevo
03. Air Serbia ATR72 economy class, Belgrade to Zagreb
04. Croatia Airlines Dash 8 economy class, Zagreb to Sarajevo Zagreb
05. Sheraton Zagreb Hotel, Zagreb
06. Primeclass Lounge, Zagreb Airport
07. Croatia Airlines/Air Nostrum CRJ900 business class, Zagreb to Copenhagen
08. SAS A321 economy class, Copenhagen to Stockholm
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Copenhagen (CPH) to Stockholm (ARN)

Date: 2018-06-03
Flight number: SAS SK1420
Aircraft: Airbus A321
Registration: OY-KBK
Age of aircraft: 16 years
Duration of flight: 1:08 (gate to gate)
Seat: 33A (economy class)

Seat map with my seat (33A) in red. Courtesy of Seatguru.com

First of all, I need to say something about the airport in Copenhagen (CPH). It sucks. Seriously. In my previous post, I showed you a picture from the airport where there were construction works going on. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the "normal" areas that aren't getting rebuilt (although they should). There were loads of people at this airport (which isn't necessarily a problem if the airport is spread out), but it didn't feel like an airport at all. It felt like a shopping mall. Stores everywhere. Nary a window. Narrow passages between the stores, and no calm areas to escape from the stampeding crowds. I love airplanes. I like airports. I strongly dislike shopping malls. Therefore, I strongly dislike CPH. There, I got it out of my system. 

Let's continue with the trip report, and the second ever SAS review on the blog, after my hop from Vilnius in March.

Gate B3 for our flight to Stockholm

Here she is!

An A321 is huge when you've only flown small planes the entire weekend...

Boarding actually started a few minutes ahead of schedule, but for some reason it was slow, and we pushed back a few minutes late. The cabin was extremely warm, so I wasn't too happy that we were kind of quick to board. The air vents didn't really help until we were at cruising altitude. Oh well, at least there were air vents. I've come to realise that not all aircraft come with individual air vents, so you've got to appreciate the little things... I don't know what I'll do when I find myself on an aircraft without them, as I tend to get warm.

SAS is an abbreviation of "Scandinavian Airlines System"

Norwegian, Swedish and Danish "flags" on this aircraft (but the Norwegian government actually sold their shares recently)

Although it was a little too warm for my liking, the cabin was still very fresh and quite stylish. They must've redone this cabin quite recently, as it was nowhere near as old as the plane which at 16 years was only beaten on this trip by the 27 year old Air Serbia ATR 72 to Zagreb.

I like the new grey cabins of SAS - there was no way of telling that this aircraft was 16 years old

I think the different grey nuances are stylish

Decent seat pitch

Reading material

Seat detail

Taxiing took 12 minutes, although it felt like a lot more in the heat. Soon enough, we found ourselves first in line for the runway, and took off for some great views of Copenhagen and Øresund.

Taxiing towards the runway

Passing a couple of Widerøe aircraft

Great views of Øresund

And quite a good view of CPH as well, before we were in Swedish airspace

A good day for flying

As usual, SAS offer coffee and tea on their flights. Everything else is for purchase. Since I had already had coffee twice today, I went for the tea with a slice of lemon. "No sir, we don't have any lemon, as this is such a short flight"... It didn't make much sense to me. Why would the distance have anything to do with if they have lemon slices?

When life gives you lemons (but SAS don't) ;)

USB ports in every seat

Getting closer to ARN now

Cabin crew, seats for landing, please

An uneventful flight was coming to an end, and we landed on time on runway 01R, and were soon at the gate. We didn't make it to Sarajevo, but we still had quite a good trip. And the last flight was enjoyable in its way. It was a little too warm, but the cabin was fresh, and it was nice to fly an A321 after only flying smaller aircraft the whole weekend. (The aircraft on my next trip was considerably smaller again... Stay posted for that series!)

Touchdown! Welcome to Stockholm!

One last look at the cabin - thanks for this flight, OY-KBK!