Ahead of the full review of my SAS flight from Copenhagen to Los Angeles, I want to focus here on my experience ordering off the premium menu, which is essentially a way to enjoy a business class meal in economy class on a longhaul SAS flight.
Pre-Ordering Off Premium Menu On SAS
Here is how SAS describes its premium menu selection on long-haul flights:
Our premium menus are available when travelling between Scandinavia and Asia, Canada or the US. Each menu is served with a starter, a dessert and two drinks of your choice. Choose from four premium dishes of poultry, fish, vegetables or meat. The menus can be pre-ordered for the first meal served after departure. The meal served before landing is not affected.
It is not clear what kind of meal you will receive (for example, meat could be lamb or beef and fish could be halibut or salmon), but decided to order a fish meal for wife Heidi and a meat meal for myself. The process was easy enough on the SAS website (here). All I needed was my SAS record locator and a credit card.
Each meal showed 27EUR on the screen, but my credit card was charged in SEK.
It was too early to tell whether the 27EUR price was fair or not.
Onboard, the IFE system advertised this menu option, but you cannot order this onboard, it must be done at least 18 hours in advance of your flight.
Meal service began with a beverage service after we leveled off.
SAS offers economy class passengers one non-alcoholic drink with each meal…alcoholic beverages and additional drinks are available at extra cost.
But when you order off the premium menu, two drinks are free with your meal, including alcoholic beverages. My wife never drinks alcohol and I limit my alcohol, so we just ordered sparkling water (and one can of Froosh…no SAS flight would be complete without one).
I also appreciated that those who ordered a premium meal received a packet of cashews.
Next, meal trays were served…with pre-orders delivered first. Our meals came covered:
The tray included an appetizer, bread roll, crackers, cheese, dessert, a larger and sturdier coffee cup than from economy class, and a “real” drinking glass.
Looking around, it appeared we were the only ones that ordered these enhanced meals.
At this point, we still did not know what the meals would be. Unwrapping them, it was clear that the fish was salmon, but I was not clear what my dish was or what the accompaniments were.
The main courses were very good. In fact, they were extremely good, even though the presentation was lacking.
Heidi enjoys eating my meat and quite liked the smoked beef burnt ends…we ended up splitting our meals and both enjoyed a bit of BBQ beef and a bit of salmon. We were guessing, but loved the artichoke flavor around the salmon and the corn casserole with a hint of bleu cheese was delightful. The meat was served with what tasted like rhubarb and beets in a savory sauce…very satisfying.
I liked the business class cutlery.
The appetizer was a pork dish with the strong flavor of picked radish and the dessert was a light sponge cake with raspberry filling.
When we landed in Los Angeles, I grabbed a business class menu to see if we really were served the same meal as in business class and indeed we were:
Baked Najad salmon from the Fare Islands with creamy blue mussel and crayfish fricassee, Jerusalem artichoke soufflé, summer cabbage with tomato vinaigrette and seaweed-flavored Chantenay carrots from Søris.
Braised, smoked beef burnt ends with horseradish demi-glace, rhubarb compote, potato rösti, candy cane beets in raspberry vinegar, peas and beans with fresh herbs.
Even the appetizer was from the business class menu:
Air-dried coppa from Denmark with potatoes in organic smoked cheese, browned cauliflower purée, pickled radish and pressed cucumber.
The detailed menu description made me appreciate the menu even more – it would have been great to see this in advance.
For comparison purposes, this was the regular meal in economy class:
Was it worth the 27EUR? I think so. I would have LOVED to have seen it served on business class porcelain, but the food was seriously one of my best airline meals of the year (both the salmon and the beef).
If I do end up flying SAS economy class again, I will certainly pre-order a business class meal again.
CONCLUSION
My wife enjoyed delicious meals from business class in economy class on SAS thanks to the “premium menu” offer. You can order up to 18 hours before your flight. I would not hesitate to do it again. Finally, I wish my carriers would do this. It’s a great idea.
Nice review. I wonder what my PE options will be next month?
“Heidi enjoys eating my meat…”
*Slow clap* Well played, sir. Well played.
I came here to say that. heh.
You are both terrible people
And apparently so am I, as I can’t stop laughing
If that makes you chuckle, google this lost-in-translation fail “japan mcdonalds adult cream pie”
That said, I probably would enjoy the economy class meal more than the business class one. From what I read, Matt’s 27 euros paid about what the airlines pay their caterers for the business class meal. He also got 2 free additional drinks out of it. I haven’t (yet, I say with trepidation) encountered an airline being so stingy with drinks in economy class on long haul economy. Keeping folks hydrated should be good business sense.
The mini cans of soda are a joke in that a normal can of branded coke, wholesale, costs about 35 cents. A mini can doesn’t save anyone much and generates a lot of waste (not all of them will be recycled).
I notice international airlines in long haul are getting more stingy with drinks, sodas, water etc. the cans are getting smaller and the frequency is getting lesser. European carriers are mostly doing this coming from their hubs. Now even the bigger will nickel and dime you for a soda in economy.
One thing I love flying US carriers internationally is for their drinks options and how they’ll give you a full bottle and will freely give you drinks when you ask. Delta flight attendants literally will hand it to you at anytime. Hydration is so key when you’re in the air that long.
Agreed on that.
“Heidi enjoys eating my meat” there has to be a better way to phrase that.
ok – so I’m not the only one with a sick mind…..
What a nice idea. For most, the meat, fish, poultry ordering categories wouldn’t be an issue. But upon service they should at least give you the menu description. While a fun conversation topic with a companion of naming the food, traveling alone not so much.
“Heidi enjoys eating my meat”
Duuuuude reread what you type before posting it lol
It’s a double entendre. And to be fair, said meat was unidentified 🙂
Matthew has the meats.
You really think that wasn’t deliberate?
I really hope we wouldn’t use his wife for a cheap joke like that.
Ha Ha Ha “Heidi Enjoys Eating My Meat.” You’ve got a real keeper:)
I’ve done this as well. The only way this meal is worth the money is because of the two drinks that come with it. But annoyingly you need to take both drinks at the same time because the fligh attendants can’t be bothered to come back a second time. Without the booze, this meal is worth maybe 10 EUR at most (keeping in mind that you forfeit the original meal, so the 27 EUR is an addition to whatever that meal was worth(.
@ Matthew — It is amazing that you are thin. I’ve dropped 25 kilo, myself! 🙂
Dude: of course he’s thin after having his meat eaten all the time.
“SAS offers economy class passengers one non-alcoholic drink with each meal…alcoholic beverages and additional drinks are available at extra cost.”
If you order a Coke, do you at least get the entire can?
And if you want a second Coke (any time during the flight) you have to pay for it???
You get one can, but they are the mini cans. Yes, anything else you have to pay for until the pre-arrival service, when you can receive one more drink.
The meat looks more like beef than pork, no?
Yeah, Looks 100% like sliced roastbeef 🙂
Now I know what you got for your birthday surprise gift.
Hahahahahha
Pay no attention to Stuart’s comment. He is currently suffering from covid brain. : )
That’s not coppa in the picture, it’s roast beef! Coppa is fatty and thin sliced!
The way the meat is tearing shows quite clearly no pork has ever seen that sliced beef!
Wow!
I’m the USA your choices for your entrees would be plain pretzels , salted pretzels, pretzels with mustard powder on them, or pretzels with dried hot sauce on them. Dessert choices would be your choice of stale
hard oatmeal cookies, stale hard vanilla cookies, stale hard chocolate cookies, or stale hard artificially flavored strawberry cookies.
Your vegetable entree would be carrot/pea/celery powder covered potato chips/crisps.
I think you’ve also answered the question: How much cost does a nice meal add to a J ticket.
Aer Lingus stopped offering deluxe meals. About 10 years ago they were $20. I ordered one on Austrian. It was worth it because the regular meal is tiny.
For $27 (300 SEK) seems fair with the booze. Any dinner in Stockholm will cost that,, with out alcohol. However, sometimes 24 hours before your flight SAS will offer an upgrade to premium economy for $100.
Om man är guldmedlem tycker jag att SAS skall servera/bjuda på vin, drink till maten oavsett vilken klass man åker. Det gör TAP, Swiss, Turkish, Lufthansa mm.
For other readers, this is the English translation:
If you are a gold member, I think that SAS should serve/offer wine, a drink with the meal regardless of which class you fly. This is done by TAP, Swiss, Turkish, Lufthansa etc.
Fantastisch! Kann ich auch deinem meat fressen?
Frech!
Thanks for the review. I am flying SAS Go Pro to Thailand in November. I like the meals in SAS Plus so was thinking of maybe an upgrade but this is a lot cheaper alternative.
I hope you love the food as much as I did!