Our flight was scheduled for 14:05 and we boarded at about 13:30. Contrary to grumpy check in lady’s statement, our seats were changed so that we could sit together – in seats 10 G and K. These seats are located in the smallest business class cabin at above the wings of the plane (you can see the setup of the plane on the Lufthansa site ). The Airbus A340-600 has been the longest plane in the world until recently when the new Boeing 747-8 took that title. Anyway, the Lufthansa flight LH713 had a three class configuration with 8 first class, 48 business class in a 2-2-2 configuration and the rest being economy class.

When we sat down we noticed that a bottle of water had already been handed out together with a blanket, headset were already attached and we had also gotten a small toiletry bag with a toothbrush, socks, eye shades, ear plugs and some lip balm – the toiletry bag and water was “hidden” in a small compartment on the side and behind the seat so I wonder if everyone actually noticed it. After a looong while we were offered a glass of champagne (they had different bottles during the service so I’m not sure it was champagne) but the plane was still parked at the gate. After a while the captain announced that they had to take out some luggage, that there were flight restrictions over China etc. (it was not easy to understand as we could hardly hear what he was saying) and it would cause a delay. I pushed down the call button immediately to get some more champagne but I would have died of thirst if I had to wait for that response. I think I had the call button on for 30-40 minutes and no one came to check on me once – at all. You might say that they were busy with flight preparations but as I said we were supposed to take off at 14:05 and we finally left the ground at 17:40! So in the end I had to just grab a flight attendant that was just walking past or actually go to the galley to ask for service. I walked in once and two flight attendants were casually chatting away. When I asked for some champagne and maybe some peanuts they all of a sudden seemed to think that it was a good idea so they started offering peanuts to all the business class passengers. After a while they did walk around to serve us a small snack while we were waiting but the standard response when asking for a drink was “Just wait a second and my colleague will come past to serve it”.

After takeoff they could finally start with the regular service and a menu was handed out. It was rather grand but my wife was like “I’m not sure I understand the menu” and I had to agree. It was not very clear what we would get, what decisions we had to make etc. But when they started serving the food we got some explanation. There were three starters to choose from and I went for the fresh garden greens with Gruyere cheese. The salad was quite good but there was actually not that much salad but more cheese – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But this was served on a tray with salt/pepper, tooth picks etc and before the main course they actually removed this tray and hence they removed the stuff that you might want to use for dinner (or after) e.g. the salt/pepper and toothpicks.

The dinner option was braised chicken, sea bass on asparagus risotto or bibimpap (a traditional Korean rice dish). I went for the chicken and my wife went for the sea bass but when it was served it was easy to see that my lactose intolerant wife could not eat the sea bass dish. I like the Italian cuisine and I love my risotto and to call this dish sea bass on asparagus risotto is an insult to Italian cuisine…no, actually an insult to Italy and everyone that loves Italian food! The sea bass itself was OK but what was supposed to be risotto were just a few rice grains swimming around in a creamy soup.

My wife was not that that impressed by the chicken on linguine either. It was presented as “Tomato basil olive sauce” but she said the chicken was dry and the sauce was merely a few splatters of tomato puree. So could the dessert make up for this rather bad start? On the menu we had the option of chocolate terrine or cheese or fruit salad – when the FA came to me I asked for the chocolate and she was like “Oh, you got the last one” like I had won a prize. But I can assure you…I did not feel like I had hit the jackpot. I don’t know who came up with the idea of combining chocolate cake with terrine as this was not very good – a chocolate “cake” that seemed to have been overdosed on gelatin and with not a lot of taste.

Let us talk about the configuration and seat for a bit. Lufthansa is a big company and they have lots of different planes and they also have different options for seats. I think there is at least three different first class seats at the moment and they have finally came to realize that they have to introduce a proper lie flat business class seat to be able to compete with other major airlines. This plane had a pretty standard Lufthansa business class seat for long-haul flights if I’m not mistaken which means that you have a more or less flat seat but in a 160-170 degrees configuration. For me this means that you can get a better sleep than in an economy seat but I keep on sliding down so in my case it is better to turn the seat into a deep reclining seat but this depends on your preference of course. I think what bothers me the most about the seat is that there is nowhere to put “stuff”. There was a narrow compartment behind the seat where the water bottle and toiletry bag was placed but apart from that there is nowhere to place stuff like camera, the holder for my glasses, iPad etc. At least there was a small place for a glass of champagne There is also a power outlet if you need to top up your iPad or laptop! In addition to this there was a 15”(?) screen that popped up from the seat (we were on the first row before the next section) and the in flight entertainment is not bad but a problem with the StarAlliance deal is that it seems like all the airlines show more or less the same movies.

We were seated in the business class section in the back and there are only 12 seats there and the next section is economy. I’m not sure how this is supposed to work but it seemed like most of the economy passengers were using the toilets in the business class sections – and as the flight attendants didn’t seem to give instructions, the economy passengers were walking around in the business class section. In fact, I had to go back to the economy section to go to the toilet as this was available while people from economy were lining up for the business class toilet! This is not a very impressive setup! Maybe Lufthansa should consider informing people where toilets are located. The toilets in economy on the A340-600 are kinda cool as they are located on the lower floor of the plane. It is not like I mind sharing my toilet with economy passengers but the whole idea of flying business is to get better service, have a better seat, get a quieter environment etc. Having people from economy led to a lot of traffic through our business class section. Even SAS (Scandinavian) are able to handle this issue!

Before landing it was time for a new meal and as the previous serving had not been a great success, we were looking forward to tasting the Cajun chicken breast with some caprese salad. But when the flight attendant came she asked me if I would care for some Korean braised sea bream with rice. I asked what the alternatives were and then she said that they didn’t have more of the Cajun chicken. Wouldn’t it be better to just say this to start with? Well, she served the fish with a smile and assured me that it was delicious. The fish was not bad but it was not the meal that I wanted!

As we took off several hours after planned schedule, we arrived late in Frankfurt. We were lucky to get out of the plane early and got to a Lufthansa service center to get information about what would happen next as we just missed our connecting flight. For some reason we had been rebooked to go to Copenhagen the next morning – which is great if you live in Copenhagen but our final destination was Stavanger in Norway. But they fixed this by booking us into a hotel (where we got up at 4 am due to a fire alarm) and sending us to Norway via Aberdeen the next day.

Conclusion
I know I sound like a spoiled brat when I describe the service on board. I mean…I should be thankful for flying business instead of economy right? But I have had the privilege and pleasure of flying first class on a number of airlines and business class on e.g. Scandinavian (SAS), Turkish, AirCanada, Emirates, Thai Airways so I feel like have something to compare it to.  When flying for work I have looked into flying with Lufthansa several times but the prices has normally be substantially higher compared to  e.g. Scandinavian (and sometimes more or less on par with Singapore Airlines). If I can save 30% by flying Scandinavian compared to Lufthansa I would do so as the seat on Lufthansa is not any better, the service is certainly not any better, the facilities is not any better etc. And if I had the option of flying Singapore Airlines with their new business class or flying this Lufthansa business class…let there be no doubt about it: I would pick Singapore Airlines any day! While Singapore can offer an amazing seat, perfect service, option of selection food before you flight etc. Lufthansa could only provide a tired business class seat with a crew that didn’t seem too interested in it’s passengers. Maybe the business class is too big for the crew to handle as service was slow, they ran out of food, when I tried to call for service no one checked on me etc. I know that this seems like a harsh conclusion – but I have to admit that I am disappointed by the Lufthansa business class.

If you are flying long haul on business class you are far better off by choosing Singapore airlines, Scandinavian, AirCanada etc. I do look forward to testing out the new Lufthansa business class (currently being installed on the new Boeing 747-8) – so Lufthansa: feel free to invite me back for a test of the new business class and I will make new flight review and hopefully it will be substantially better.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

This is a trip report from a trip to Dubai with Lufthansa. We bought these tickets when we came across a great Lufthansa offer a few months back and the price was just to good to turn down. We got the tickets for 2800 kroner (about 420 USD) per person for a round trip from Stavanger in Norway and that is almost half the price of what you normally see. We did go to Dubai in 2002 and you can read that trip report here. I’m also planning on making a new proper trip report…this trip report will focus on the flight to and from Dubai.

We started our trip on May 20th 2009 at the crack of dawn. We had LH3163 from  SVG to FRA at 06.35 amso we got to the airport about 1 hour before departure. But when we came into the terminal building we only found chaos. It turned out that the baggage belts were causing check in problems so the lines grew rapidly. We did check in at the self service machines but then we had to get in line for the baggage drop. The SAS lady could have pointed us to the business line at least as she saw that we both are Eurobonus gold card members but she didn’t. But we found the business line after waiting in line for a bit – not that it mattered that much as this line was not really moving at all. I didn’t think we got sufficient information and we only got to check in when our flight was starting to blink “Boarding”. It is really a miracle that the baggage made it on the flight. There should have been a system for checking in the passengers with the earliest flights but I guess it is easier said then done. We did make the plan and I hope that I’m forgiven by my fellow passengers as we had to cut the line at the security control.

Our flight from Stavanger to Frankfurt was with Eurowings in a Bae-146 and it took about 2 hours. The flying conditions were great and we got a great view to all the nice beaches outside Stavanger after take off.

The breakfast on board the flight was a small sandwich but as we were flying on economy and were seated all the way in the back we did not get the option between ham or cheese when the FA reached our row. But hey, a sandwich is better than nothing.

The weather was also great when we landed so once again we got a great view…this time to downtown Frankfurt a few minutes before landing.

As we had a few hours before our next flight, we decided to take a trip into Frankfurt to kill some time. Luckily it was easy to get out of the airport and we were out of the place in just a few minutes….we must have been lucky with our gate We found a place where I could store my backpack and from there we took a train into downtown Frankfurt for about 4€ each. The town looked pretty nice and I would like to go back to spend a weekend there.

At about noon we went to back to the airport and we went for the Sentator loung in the B section of the airport. I’m not that impressed with the lounges at Frankfurt – the lounge that we went to was very crowded and it was hard for us to find a seat and to start with we had to sit on bar stools. We did get a table eventually but there were not many good seats available. And I also think it is pretty lame that they don’t offer free WiFi in a business class lounge. The selection of food was not that impressive either but at least they had some hot dogs on the menu and a selection of beer and wine.

Finally it was time for boarind and we walked over to our gate and went on board in our 747-400 where I had seat 38C.

This Lufthansa plane did not have a personal TV screen in each seat so we were stuck with the old CRT TV hanging in the ceiling. I’m not too impressed by this of course but on a short flight like this it was not a problem. I think I had a larger personal TV screen when flying Emirates business class compared to the ones hanging in the ceiling of this 747 . I went to a Lufthansa presentation a few weeks back and they said they are working on introducing personal TV screens on all their long haul planes so I guess it will come eventually.

I find it strange that they don’t show more stuff on the TV by the way – I think they only showed some news, then there was a broad and “exciting” summary of a couple of soccer games in the German bundesliga and then the movie Mall Cop. Nikki went for the chicken and rice when dinner was served and I went for the beef stew and that was very nice.  LHis good when it comes to refilling the glasses and I enjoyed red wine together with the food and coffee and Baileys for the dessert. It is amazing to see that they drag along Warsteiner beer on glass bottle on board the flight – you don’t mess with good beer in Germany

The flight to Dubai (DXB) took only 6 hours and we landed in Dubai at about 11 PM. At the gate we were met by a lady in a bright yellow jacket holding a poster with Nikki’s name on it. This is a part of the Marhaba (http://www.marhabaservices.com/source/index.aspx) service and it is a meet & greet service to get the wife faster through some of the lines as she has to go through a bit extra due to her South African passport. We even got a small car to take us to passport control at the airport. The lady from the Marhaba service and the guy that took care of our baggage walked us all the way out to the taxis outside the airport. Great service

If you want to see some photos from Dubai feel free to check out my blog on  http://gardmobile.blogspot.com/search/label/Dubai The Dubai trip report will be posted on http://gardkarlsen.com eventually

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The trip back home started at the crack of dawn on May 25th. We were transported to the airport in the hotel limousin – a BMW 730i and it didn’t take us long as there was more or less no traffic this early in the morning. We checked in for LH639 and walked over to the StarAlliance lounge by gate 126 if I’m not mistaken. The lounge is more or less a joke as it is tiny, it has few seats and the only separation between First and Business is basically a wall. Nikki was joking that the only difference between First and Business class in the lounge was that First had access to cornflakes cereal But we did get some breakfast in the lounge as the had some tiny club sandwiches, some orange juice and a coffee machine.

Our flight was departing from gate 115 at o7.45 AM and this time it was an Airbus A340 – I was hoping that this would involve a personal TV screen but unfortunately not. We were seated on row 45 (second last row) and it was a 2-3-2 configuration. We were hoping to get two seats by ourselves on one of the sides of the plane but that seemed to be impossible – did we check in too late? Maybe I have two high hopes for what the Eurobonus gold card will fix for us

We got a small sandwich after takeoff and when they reached our row they were out of options and we got the vegetarian sandwich which was pretty horrible. Once again there were CRT screens in the ceiling and once again we got some news, more soccer news from the German bundesliga…and the great finale was the move Mall cop…I guess they felt it was so great that they had to show it both going there and back again. Well, I fell asleep during the movie both times so I still haven’t seen it

As we didn’t get our choice for breakfast, we were informed that we would be able to choose dinner. I went for the chicken and rice which was good. But once again they ran out of options and the FA had to spend time and energy explaining to the passengers that pasta was the only option. They used a loooong times to serve drinks before dinner by the way. There was only one trolley in each aisle in economy class and I think they used about 40 minutes. I also got the impression that this was to order what we wanted to drink for dinner but that was not the case.  Because after dinner was served they started serving drinks once again and once again it took “forever”. They actually started running out of time and my tray was basically removed while I was in the middle of dessert.

We landed in at about 11 AM and we had to go through passport control to enter into the Schengen area. Due to this we had to go through check in and security control and for the first time in my life I had to bring out my cameras to show that they were indeed cameras.

We only had a short stop in Munchen and we just made a short stop to the Senator lounge to see what it looked like. It was nice to see that they have a Senator cafe where they have more focus on food.

At 13.45 we went with LH973 to Frankfurt. At the gate it was possible to help ourselves with coffee and tea before boarding the plane We had an Airbus A320 and the flight to Frankfurt was only 50 minutes. Once again the weather was great and we got a nice view to the airport as we were airborne.

We did not have that much time in Frankfurt either but we waited in the Senator lounge in the A pier. This lounge actually looks better than the lounge in the B pier as it was bigger, better views, better choice of food etc I tried to take some pictures but I was informed by one of the staff that this was not allowed.

And finally it was time for the last leg – LH3096 took us back to Stavanger in Norway in a 737 in 1 hour and 45 minutes. We came in straight over downtown Stavanger and we got a great view to my city .

That’s basically it for this time – this trip was a great deal as it was only 2800 Norwegian kroner per person. The experience with Lufthansa was good but I look forward to personal TV screens and more choice of entertainment.

When I came to Stavanger airport on February 20th 2009 at about 4 PM there were long lines of people waiting to check in. But thanks to my SAS Eurobonus goldcard I went to the business check in counter and this line was very short so after 5 minutes I was check in. I also asked the lady behind the check in counter if you could enter a request in the system to upgrade from my current Economy Extra ticket to business class ticket using my frequent flyer points. It did not seem like she knew what she was doing as she had to ask a colleague of her for everything.

Then I had to line up for security check…there is no fast track at Stavanger airport but even if the line was long it didn’t take to get through. The international section of Stavanger airport is not what I would call exciting – there is only a bar, a duty free shop and a small café. But I used the time to take some photos with my new Canon IXUS camera and as I had my laptop with me (known as Bjarne the 5th) I could also get online. The first leg of the trip was with SK1879 to Copenhagen (CPH) and it is a flight that only takes a bit over an hour. The flight is a SAS flight but it is operated by Atlantic Airways.
I had an isle seat and I was happy there was a seat free between me and the guy by the window as the seats are not that wide on the BAe 146. It was also good to have some distance to the guy as he had a nasty cough. By the way, I see that Atlantic Airways have posted an explanation on the sound that you get after take off : http://www.atlantic.fo/Default.aspx?pageid=4431. As I was in business class I got a cold meal: it was egg, some sort of ham on top of dark bread and a fruit trifle for dessert. Not too bad when you keep in mind that it is a short trip. I also enjoyed a small bottle of red wine and some Baileys in my coffee on the flight.

When I landed in Copenhagen I went straight for the SAS lounge. Once again I asked if it was possible to upgrade to business by using my frequent flyer points and after a bit of work on the PC the woman said “I have now posted a request for an upgrade” – based on this I’m not sure that the person that checked me in in Stavanger got it right. I had a couple of hours of waiting in Copenhagen but they had several types of cheese that I enjoyed (they even had some Manchego cheese) together with a couple of different red wines.

The boarding on my next flight was not supposed to start until 10 PM but already around 9 it seemed like the gate was open so I decided to head out there to see if I could fix the upgrade. When I came to the gate there were already lots of people there and the guy in front of me wanted to upgrade his group of 4 from Economy to Economy Extra but he was told that Economy Extra was full. Due to this he went for upgrade to Business for all 4 and I thought “Oh no, there goes my chances for the upgrade”. But when I came to the counter there were still seats left in business and after 20.000 points were taken from my SAS Eurobonus account, I got a new boarding pass and got seat 4E.

After a few minutes waiting we could board the plane but it took a bit of time before take off as it was snowing in Copenhagen and the plane had to go for de-icing – I think it is the first time I have experienced this in Copenhagen. But at about 11.30 PM it was finally time for take off towards Bangkok. This was flight SK973 in a SAS Airbus A340. After take-off we got noise cancelling headset, slippers and the toiletry bag that contains stuff like ear plugs, eye mask, tooth brush, socks, shoe bag etc.

Dinner was served at 12.30 AM and the starter was a salad of chorizo, artichokes, mushroom, sun-dried tomatoes etc. For the main meal I had the option between the halibut or beef. I went for the beef but as usual it seems like it is hard to get this right on flights. For dessert there were two kinds of cheese with port wine on the side (what happened to the Sauterne that was mention in the menu?) and to round it of there were coffee with various liqueurs and some candy. At this point it was time to round it off so I brushed my teeth and got comfortable in the seat. The seat in business is a lie-flat bed but it is not 180 degrees and due to the inclination I always seem to slide down. Seems like the trick is to tighten the seat belt firmly to avoid the sliding. I’m not that impressed with the entertainment on the SAS flight. I did have my own (small) personal TV screen but the selection of new films was not that great and the games are pretty boring. Isn’t possible to buy and upgrade of the game package? I went to sleep at about 1.30 AM and slept relatively well until about 7. At 8 AM breakfast was served and I enjoyed Shrek on TV while I was eating

At about 09.30 AM or 3.30 PM local time, we landed on Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok. Once I got out of the plane there was a sweet Thai lady with a sign with my name on it and she escorted me to the Thai counter where I got my boarding pass for the next leg. I asked if I could use my Eurobonus points for upgraded but this was not possible. I only had an express stop in Bangkok and at 4 PM it was boarding time for TG417 and I had seat 32D in this Boeing 777-200. Thai Airways have a very colourful interior by the way – yellow, blue and dark pink chairs. But it is also matched by the colourful uniforms of the cabin attendants. All of a sudden it was time to food again and this time I had the option of fish or chicken. I went for the chicken with noodles and it was nice and tender and served really warm. Thai are pretty efficient when it comes to the serving (well, the plane was not full) and one example is how they serve drinks: the fill up glasses in advance with water, juice etc and put these on trays together with beer cans and then people just pick what they want when they guy walks around with the tray. The chocolate mousse was pretty good and there was also a tuna salad to start with. Not a bad meal for a flight that lasts less than 2 hours.

At about 8 PM I landed on Sepang airport outside KL. I was a bit nervous that my luggage wouldn’t make it due to my short stop in BKK but it made it. So I got my suite case, got on the KLIA Express train and I took a taxi from KL Sentral to my hotel (Traders) where I wrote this. As you can see from my cell phone blog I can’t complain about the view at least. When I went back after a week it was in SAS Economy class and you can read about that experience here.  A month after this I flew on Emirates airlines in business class and it was fun comparing that to the SAS business class. You can read about the experience with Emirates Airlines on this page. Get in touch if you have any questions.

After a week at work in KL it was time to start the trip back home – and I was just getting over the jet lag on the last day there I checked out early from the hotel but as I’m a regular at Traders hotel I was allowed to use their facilities throughout the day. But after a glass of wine during “happy hour” in the afternoon, it was time for me to get on the road. I took a taxi to KL Sentral and from there the KLIA Express train to the airport. If you are flying Emirates or Malaysia Airlines you can actually check in at the train station but as I had a Thai airways flight, I had to drag my suitcase on board the train. If you want to read more about KL feel free to check out my KL trip report.

I came to the airport at about 7.30 on February 27th and check in was fast. I asked if I could request an upgrade from Bangkok (BKK) to Copenhagen (CPH) but the lady behind the counter told me that I had to make this request in Bangkok. I went through immigration to check out, safety control and took the train out to the terminal to find a lounge.
I first stopped by the Singapore Airlines lounge as I have a Eurobonus Goldcard and Singapore Airlines is also a part of the StarAlliance. But it seems like this lounge is only if you are flying business with Singapore or have a Krisflyer goldcard. So I went over to the Thai lounge instead – right opposite of the Singapore lounge. The Thai lounge is OK but it is relatively small and the selection of food and drinks is limited. But at least I could sit down in a comfortable chair, get a cold drink and get online on the wifi. It didn’t seem like there was any wine on offer in the lounge by the way.

Short video from the lounge

I didn’t stay long in the lounge as I had to go to the gate at about 8.30 pm. My flight was TG418 and I was seated in 33B on this Boeing 777-200. The flight was actually quite full and I guess there are a few people that commute between KL and Bangkok and this was a Friday night. The flight itself was pretty boring…I was stuck in a middle seat so there was not much space to move around. The highlight of the flight was the meal of course. Some sort of Waldorf salad, chicken in a pepper sauce with rice and vegetables and a sweet rice dessert.

The flight was about 2 hours and we landed in Bangkok at about 10 pm. I first headed to the transfer desk to make a request for an upgrade on my SAS flight from Bangkok to Copenhagen. From there I went to the D section of the airport as the flight was leaving from D2 and as there is a Thai lounge there.The Thai lounge in the D section is huge and offers a combination of chairs, reclining chairs, room for meetings, work stations for getting online etc. There are also big TV screens in the lounge that shows news and there is a nice selection of snack and drinks. I have seen better food selection in other lounges but the Thai lounge is not bad at all.

Once again I didn’t have to wait that long as my flight was at 12.30 am. I had to go through security once again when going to gate D2 and once again the machine went off so I had to get frisked once again. I don’t really mind being felt up but it is kinda annoying when you have been through lots of these controls during a long trip. It didn’t take long before I reached D2 and I was of course hoping and keeping my fingers crossed to get an upgrade to business class by using my Eurobonus points…but I soon got the bad news: “Flight is full today”…meaning no upgrade. I got seat 23B on this SK972 to CPH in the Airbus A340 – this was an aisle seat in the 2 seat part of the 2-4-2 configuration.

It was the row right behind Economy Extra and I think this gave some extra legroom and that was of course nice (but then again I’m only like 177 cm/ 5” 10’). Before take off the air con was on and there was lots of “steam” as the cold and warm air met. But it was still very warm on the plane but as soon as the doors were closed it got a lot better. Luckily there was a bottle of water for each seat so that we could stay hydrated. The seat was a bit narrow (or maybe my ass is just getting wider ) and the placement of the hand control is a bit strange. Located on the inside of the seat rest made it hard to get it out and a bit hard to adjust things like channels and volume. The screen is on the tiny side if you ask me and you do not have video on demand in economy and hence you just have to find a movie that has just started. The games were the same boring games that I have tested in business class on SAS.

Take off was on schedule and at about 12.30 am we were on our way towards Denmark. After take off we got our headsets and dinner was soon ready. The meal that evening was chicken on pasta and fried vegetables on the side and there was a cream dessert to round it of. Note that you on SAS economy “only” get two alcohol beverages complimentary. Funny enough I was not sleepy so I started watching the Matrix, The Usual suspects etc. I also walked around in the plane a bit and I walked all the way to the back were a couple of the cabin crew were located andI got some water and candy from them. I found it to be considerably noisier in the back of the plane compared to at my seat over the wing. In the end I had to face my fears…I went back to my seat and tried to get some sleep. But it is not easy as the seats are not really comfortable for sleeping. The flight this time turned out to be quite a marathon flight as they had to slow down due to turbulence. Because of this the flight was 12 hours and 18 minutes!

After a night with lack of sleep and lots of acrobatic attempts to find a comfortable sleeping position, it was time for some breakfast at about 5 am Scandinavian time. The breakfast was very standard…a bun, some ham and cheese, some orange marmalade, orange juice and yogurt.

We landed at about 6.45 am and it was so nice to get out of the plane and walk around on “terra firma”.The sun was rising as we landed and it was beautiful. There was a bit of a stampede as there was a flight leaving for Oslo in just 30 minutes after our landing – but I managed to get through security control without any problems

I went to the SAS lounge to get some coffee, water and get online. It seems like they have gone over to Mac in the lounge now and I don’t mind that. But I think I have to find out how to type in the @ sign when using Mac because I had major problems with that

At 8.10 am it was time for my last leg with SK1870 with Atlantic Airways to Stavanger in Norway. It would have been great with a window seat on this flight as the weather was pretty good. But I was stuck in an aisle seat – well, I was passed out most of the time as I was getting really tired. I landed in Stavanger and as usual it was a bit of a shock…I left KL with like 33 degrees and came to 1 degree and light snow in Stavanger.

Conclusion
Despite of being a Eurobonus goldcard holder this is the first time I have flown SAS long haul in economy class. All in all I wouldn’t say it is any better or worse than other companies that I have used…it is always a bit hard to travel long flights like this in economy class as it is hard to sleep in the economy seat. I would have enjoyed seeing video on demand and I would also like to see more than two complimentary alcoholic drinks. I also like playing games on long flights as it is more interactive – I would like to see better games on the SAS flights.