This flight review will focus not on what took place inside the airplane, but on what I observed outside.
As a rule, I prefer window seats, but I don’t generally spend time gazing out of them. Instead, I choose window seats only to ensure proper lighting levels for my in-cabin meal shots.
But the views from an afternoon hub-to-hub SAS flight from Stockholm to Oslo proved captivating. In fact, I’d rate it as the most scenic flight I’ve ever flown.
SAS 495
Stockholm (ARN) – Oslo (OSL)
Thursday, August 10, 2016
Depart: 01:40 PM
Arrive: 02:35 PM
Duration: 0hr, 55min
Aircraft: 737-700
Seat: 1A (“Business” Class)
Before we get to the scenery, let’s get the flight details out of the way.
First, this sign before boarding:
Only in Scandinavia! Boarding began 20 minutes prior to departure and the flight was full, yet I’d say boarding took only 15 minutes.
When booking an award ticket, you can book into “business class” on SAS flights within Europe, but that is really a misnomer. Not even middle seats are blocked and the only difference in service between business (called “SAS Plus”) and economy class is complimentary buy-on-board food.
I will give SAS credit for nice BOB options–I enjoyed a cheese sandwich and cashews with smoothie and sparkling water. What else do you need for a flight of less than an hour?
Legroom is terrible in row one. Avoid it.
But the views made up for all of it. The 240-mile flight never seemed to climb above 15,000 feet. Here are some views during the flight:
The perfect weather helped, but I’ve never been on a flight with such great views.
This was an awesome flight. I love when you fly over lush greens and lakes. It makes you step back and live in awe of the beauty below. Thanks for sharing.
A couple more good ones for you we’ve taken lately. OSL-BGO, great views of the fjords and snowy mountains. SCL-MDZ, short flight but really amazing views of the Andes mountains.
I did Oslo to Bergen a few years back but it a 6am in the fall and the sun had not risen yet. Bummer.
I’ve done MDZ-SCL by bus in winter: beautiful indeed.
Great photos! Those views look spectacular. The best view I ever had was on a Vancouver to Calgary flight flying over mountains almost the whole way. The mountains when landing in Salzburg are also very beautiful.
I’ve driven from Vancouver to Calgary and I would rate that as the most beautiful drive of my life — I can only imagine how beautiful the flight is.
Munich to Geneva over the Alps is amazing.
One of these days, I’m going to do the AS Milk Run; having done an Alaska cruise once, I can only imagine how incredible the scenery of the glaciers and the coast would be from up high.
If ever you have a chance to fly in/out of New Castle (U.K.) airport, the views are also very nice. Lovely, green rolling hills and fields with white sheep dotting all of it. Very serene and peaceful.
Thank you again. That is why we love to travel and read travel blogs.To echo the comments above, another way cool option is to do the trains around Scandinavia. The trip between Copenhagen and Oslo by train is extremely unique and memorable, as they literally disassemble the train and insert it into a huge ferry to cross the North Sea Danish Strait (Skagerrak). It is a fun overnight trip.
Is there any European airline in which business class is not a joke? They are all terrible.
The reason business class in europe is “terrible” is that we have different demands depending on season and route. So most European carriers just use an entire cabin of economy, and depending on how many business class seats are needed the divider with the curtain is rolled to the correct row, and the business passengers get a blocked middle seat. Of course it is not as comfortable as having a proper business class seat but it is efficient, allowing airlines to be flexible, and not a big deal as most intra-european flights are up to 3 hours, and the longer routes e.g. to spanish/portugese coasts/islands are served as holiday destinations with mostly economy passengers.
You should fly over Florida. Being a Floridian I always fly over it and never get old of it.