Returning from our holiday trip to Europe, we flew SAS on an A350 from Copenhagen to Chicago and encountered the most drawn-out meal service I’ve experienced in years, perhapsever. Add to that the failure to load our pre-orders, headphones that did not work, and a tepid selection of movies, and I’d call this a disappointing flight.
The Marathon Meal Service On My SAS A350-900 Business Class Flight
We took off at 2:3o pm local time from Copenhagen, with a nine-hour journey to Chicago.
At 3:20 pm, tablecloths were laid.
At 3:32 pm, beverages were delivered, along with warm cashews. I had cold-pressed apple juice and sparkling water.
At 4:07 pm, a choice of bread was offered. I always look for rye bread out of Copenhagen and also had some sourdough, both delicious.
At 4:17 pm, a choice of appetizer was offered (I had snow crab and salmon terrine with potato in mussel emulsion, dill and trout roe).
At 4:52 pm, a dinner was served. I chose beef short rib with adobo sauce, crushed potato with lime, green beans, and grilled tomato, a great choice.
At 5:20 pm, the dessert cart rolled down the aisle and I had some cheese, fruit, and an ice cream bar. I requested coffee and at 5:43 pm my cappuccino was served, thus completing the meal service three hours after we took off.
Three hours to complete meal service, even on a daytime nine-hour flight, is too much. It has been years since I’ve seen meal service dragged out like this and it felt far too drawn out. Certainly, there must be a happy medium between rushing everything on one tray and leaving an hour between courses.
I’m thankful the internet worked fairly well on the flight, because I spent a chunk of the flight working. I also enjoyed a nice nap.
People complain that SAS never changes its meal service onboard and that is quite true for its intercontinental flights (though SAS promises refreshed menus later this year), but I always enjoy the food on SAS…this flight was no different, though my pre-orders were not loaded, which was annoying since wife and son wanted fish (not one of the three regular menu items). The pre-arrival sandwich (grilled chicken with pickled rhubarb, black pepper, sweet and sour cream cheese on Danish rye bread) was delicious.
There were other deficiencies on this flight. My headphone jack did not work, so I was unable to watch anything on the flight (not that there was anything worth watching). SAS has one of the worst IFE selections in the industry.
However, it was a beautiful day for flying and the views coming into Chicago were especially beautiful:
The crew was also charming, which I always appreciate.
I do enjoy flying SAS, fondly dating back almost 20 years, but I also recognize that in terms of IFE, bedding, and amenity kit, it offers a below-average product. It was also annoying that my IFE system was essentially inoperative. There is very specific room for improvement, but I did enjoy the flight and was thankful to fly my family in business class once again.
On social media, political hacks claim Scandinavians are the happiest people on earth. Therefore, service could become even worse and they would still be happy! Political hacks on social media also say that they have a very high tax rate and are happy, therefore, high taxes are good. And so bad service can also be justified! Ha!
When they have bad service, it’s good if the airline goes under. Serves them right.
Its not the high taxes that make them happy, its the returns they get on those taxes which makes them happy.
Also Matthew never said the service was bad, just that it was slow.
Nazi Germany had a 92% wealth tax on Jews. The return was fantastic! All that free money and only a few people were affected! Same logic as Aaron’s.
You don’t see the difference between income-based taxes versus race-based taxes?
Wow, that was a low route to take. Then again, I shouldn’t be surprised that you went there. It is who you are.
Derek cool down with your red koolaid nobody mentioned politics or tax.
Wow…looks they are giving KLM a run on drawn out meal services on long haul flights.
Granted, this flight might have been a one-off, and KLM has improved somewhat on the time it takes to serve meals…
At least the food was delicious.
Beautiful sunset photos. The last almost appears to be a sundog with the arches. Lovely. Three hours is a very long service ( I’ve had a five course restaurant tasting menu served in less time).
And why does Denmark own Greenland and France St Barts and New Caledonia among others. Many others.
We choose selective outrage. But yes Matthew how long it took for the Danes to bring you dinner is more important than some third rate country thinking they should control strategic areas of the Arcti. Who knows if Trump is going about it the right way. But he is not wrong. A rinky dink military like Denmark should not be the protector of Greenland.
It’s not ours to take!
Greenland does not have a military value to Denmark, but it does to the US as being on the primary path for Russian missiles to most of the US. That’s why Denmark lets the US do pretty much what it wants with defense structures on Greenland, even after we lost a nuclear bomb on Greenland. But that doesn’t mean the people of Greenland want to be part of the US, and ultimately, it should be up to them.
David should get F’d with his views on invading another country.
So the a$$#0le with the biggest military should just kill who they want and take what they want? Your president-for-life Putin agrees with you on the subject. Civilized countries do not. If people felt as you do 80 years back we’d all be speaking German these days, at least those of us that didn’t get exterminated.
You had 35 minutes between the starter and main and 28 minutes from main to dessert. This is not “leaving an hour between courses.” Not top restaurant standards, but reasonable time to digest on a long day flight.
Waiting 20 minutes for cappuccino with dessert is a bit much, though it’s not a typical dessert drink for Europeans, more of a breakfast drink. And you’re flying a European airline departing Europe.
I recently flew SAS on the same route, not business class, of course. Although our food choices were much more modest, we still didn’t get what we preordered. And yes, the selection of movies were the worst I have ever seen. Other than that – the crew was very pleasant and the pilot was fantastic.
Oh my God!! You had to actually WAIT for food?!?!
Has anybody yet contacted the Human Rights Tribunal at The Hague???
Matthew, you’re a sad, effete, spoiled p*ssy. You disgust me
You call me spoiled yet worship your orange spoiled turd? Pathetic.
Orange spoiled turd? Grow up
Matthew is completely correct on the pathetic part but you may be right about needing to rephrase the “tiny orange turd” part to something more accurate: Cowardly man-baby, wannabe-dictator-but-too-dumb, inept, senile, rapacious, childish idiot who hates everything good about America is more specific.
Really,REALLY not a nice comment to call our President that// DO you have TDS too???? along with Christian and Tiny Orange… all of your comments are pathetic… anyone is better than sleepy joe but I guess all of you think not.. The brainwashing of America….
You get that orange D
So many strangely timed flights for eating, this was already a “lupper” flight, I wouldn’t personally mind having the main course closer to 5pm than 4pm. One of those where you’re of course not wrong, but this one feels like a bank error in your favor.
I’ll be flying SAS in December this year or next when I win the Nobel Prize in Medicine, so it’s nice to read about the fine meals they serve. Their business class serves finer fare than I’ve ever had at home. So thank-you for being so picky with them. It’s nice to know that my economic betters keep the staff on their toes.
The apple must they serve is top notch. So good.
I don’t have a problem with the slow pace. When I was a kid, my family flew BOS-LA.X or BOS-SFO depending on my grandparents’ place of residence. The meal service on United was five courses, all served individually, and it probably took two hours of a 5 to 6 hour flight. After the meal was concluded, a movie was shown (no choice) after which there was NO second meal service. Miracle of miracles, nobody died.
Matthew, I know you have young children, which probably factors into this review. For the record, you are my favorite blogger, because you’re always the most deliberative, and logical reviewer.
The contrails of that AA jetliner are impressive.
All’s well that ends well!
Flew CPH-ORD a week ago in business and had the exact same experience. I didn’t time the service, but I did get through the movie F1 which clocks in at 2 hours and 35 minutes which I did not start will after takeoff and finished before dessert.
Speaking of movies, very lackluster library to choose from and I also had issues with the headphones.
Big plus, gate M14 which was used for both out- and in-bound flights. Outbound can board right from the Delta SkyClub. Returning to M14, a few short walks and escalator rides and you are right into the Immigration Hall. Big plus now that terminal 5 has some very long walks.
Can’t say that I would seek out SAS for future Europe trips. However, when you find a $617 R/T ORD/ZRH – MXP/ORD in Premium Economy difficult to say no. Throw in a schedule change that resulted in an upgrade to business, and it was a win overall.
Nice.
I respectfully suggest you knock off the whining, Matthew. You and your family had to wait a while between courses on a 9-hour flight in business class? So what? Did you have an appointment? Someplace else to go during the flight? And oh, woe, the movie selection was unacceptable. I know it’s your job to review flights, lounges, but sheesh, this one is a real stretch.
On the other hand, it’s probably a success because the comments veered off to Trump and Nazis. Always good for some clicks.
I think the meal service took far too long, but you should really read what I wrote…as in the last paragraph. I still love SAS and found this to be an excellent flight…
I did read what you wrote. Every word. See above comment for verification.
It’s usually 2.5-3.5 in J on longhaul AF any route I’ve done lately. Granted I usually put myself in last row of mini cabin.
FAs are usually accommodating if I’m working to put food to the side of my work area but there’s not express or later service if I need to sleep for a few hrs at takeoff to adjust to destination time zone.
The selected meals not being loaded should be a Department of Transportaton complaint.
Or maybe a lawsuit? 😛 😉
What an utterly self-indulgent diatribe, the fact that the author kept a detailed log of each element of the in-flight service says a lot more about him than it does about the performance of SAS.
Can you imagine being seated next to this crashing dullard at a dinner party?
I love how I am accused of being a shill for SAS one day and an unreasonable critic the next!
Am on an SK A350 now from SFO to CPH and I counted the number of movies on offer -140 – that is far from “one of the worst IFE” out there. I can think of quite a few other carriers with worse or more limited selections.
What carriers are you thinking of?
UA, DL, AA, VS, AF, BA, IB, OS, SN, TK all offer far better selections. SK comes close to EI as the worst among European carriers, with KL only slightly better.