SAS exerts its premium chops in still-solid A330 business class

Having for several years missed out on my typical December trip to Stockholm to visit my friends at Flightradar24, I was excited to not just return again but to do so during the pleasant warmer months. In the past, I have always opted for the SAS nonstop to Stockholm from Newark Liberty, but with the airline starting up service from New York JFK, it gave me an opportunity to try something new.

To be clear, SAS does not offer a nonstop flight to Stockholm from JFK so I booked a one-stop with a leisurely layover in Copenhagen, in an effort to avoid the chaos of Newark. I booked SAS Plus premium economy in the hopes of scoring an upgrade to business class, and that’s exactly what happened.

I’ve had pretty solid luck utilizing the Plusgrade upgrade platform for SAS flights, as long as the minimum bid amount is in my ballpark. Since my last trip with SAS the airline has integrated the Plusgrade platform directly into its own iOS app, making it a very seamless experience. I received the upgrade confirmation shortly before the check-in window opened, allowing me to select a new seat during the check-in process. SAS doesn’t allow passengers to change seats between initial booking and check-in, so I had to be quick to secure my desired seat once that window opened.

SAS calls Terminal 1 its home at JFK, and will move into the New Terminal One once it opens in 2026. Business class passengers have access to the Air France lounge, a significant upgrade from the airline’s own cramped lounge at Newark. Air France’s current lounge isn’t much, but it’s far better than what SAS is able to deliver in its own space.

Boarding of the Airbus A330-300 began and finished early, an impressive feat in the overcrowded and often chaotic terminal. While the aircraft and interior product is roughly a decade old, SAS has done an impressive job keeping the cabin and seats in excellent shape. The surfaces were quite clean.

That said, my seat cushion felt a bit floppier than I think it was supposed to.

The seat design is a far cry from modern suites and mini-suites and offers little in the way of privacy, but it’s still an acceptable lie-flat, all-aisle-access product.

We enjoyed a spectacular takeoff and climb out of JFK, with really top notch views. Even Long Island looked good!

The cabin crew performed a great dinner service after takeoff, striking an excellent balance between quality and speed.

I appreciated how the various plated options were laid out on the cart and, once a selection was made, the dish was placed on my tray table.

This is an elevated experience over simply receiving a single tray containing all items of the meal at once.

The meal quality was slightly above average, but you get what you get when flying out of JFK.

Blackberry cheesecake and fresh fruit were presented for dessert.

SAS has historically disappointed me with its lackluster entertainment options, and while the situation has improved there is still room for more content. I’m not sure why SAS offered an entire channel on the home screen dedicated to Clint Eastwood films, with no fewer than 20 movies in this category, but it was at least nice to see SAS paying attention to content curation, even if it wasn’t what I was interested in.

Some other classic films were offered, and I watched the excellent North by Northwest for the first time, on this a Safran Passenger Innovations RAVE seatback display.

Inflight Wi-Fi is still offered free-of-charge to business class passengers, a perk that used to extend to premium economy but no longer does.

The airline’s A330s are connected using Viasat’s legacy Inmarsat GX system, which delivered a very mediocre experience. Download speeds peaked at 3 Mbps, and the ping times seemed extreme. Even for a geostationary satellite system this is an awful latency performance. SAS has committed to move its entire fleet to Starlink starting later this year.

I went all these years without knowing that SAS’s A330-300s have a window in one of the lavs!A thoughtful breakfast arrived before landing.

Connecting in Copenhagen was a trivial affair, taking just a few minutes to walk from the arrival gate to the lounge.

Since our arrival was early in the morning the SAS Lounge was still quite empty but quickly started to fill up. I was able to snag a shower room without a wait and mostly just sat around for a couple of hours. SAS plans to debut a new flagship lounge in Copenhagen, but not until 2027.

My connecting flight to Stockholm was as straightforward as possible.

SAS does not currently offer blocked middle seats up front, but will transition back to a proper EuroBiz offering with blocked middles later this year.

For now, the only real differentiator on board was a slightly elevated snack service that I declined after grazing in the lounge. It will be great to have a proper premium experience on short-haul SAS flights again.

SAS is clearly improving its experience after bottoming out in the years it battled Norwegian on long-haul operations, and in the face of the COVID downturn.

Whether the service improvements observed on this trip were long planned by SAS or a result of Air France-KLM’s new ownership stake and the airline’s move to SkyTeam, I can’t say. But it’s nice to see SAS showing off its premium chops in ways it hasn’t done in many years.