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ATLANTA — Big things can happen when two international airlines, a major city, and the world’s busiest airport work together.
That’s the message presented on June 17 at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as the City of Atlanta, airline, and national government-level dignitaries gathered to celebrate the first nonstop SAS (SK) flight from Copenhagen (CPH) to Atlanta (ATL) and a return inaugural nonstop flight immediately following.
I was invited to fly the long transatlantic haul round-trip on behalf of Airways, and I jumped at the chance.
The bird I was flying was LN-RKS, an Airbus A330-300 delivered to SAS in September 2015 and named the 'Frithi of Viking'. Departure time was 19:40. Due to predicted favorable tailwinds, it would be a night flight of 8:40 duration, and we’d be in Copenhagen around 10:00 a.m. local time.
The Ceremony
Such an occasion does not come without ceremony, and the airline was going all out. Attending the pre-flight gate event were SAS President and CEO Anko van der Werff, Danish Ambassador to the United States Jesper Møller Sørensen, ATL General Manager Balram Bheodari, and City of Atlanta Chief Operating Officer LaChandra Burks.
The outgoing flight crew and other local and airport personnel were also gathered.
Guests, dignitaries, and passengers mingled and enjoyed refreshments while waiting for the aircraft to arrive from Copenhagen. And when the Airbus approached the gate, it was given a full water canon salute.
“On behalf of the 63,000 men and women who work here at the airport, we welcome the entire SAS team to Atlanta,” said Mr. Bheodari. “This is a great accomplishment for us. Our mission is to connect our communities to the world, and a flight like this is opening economic opportunities for the two countries.”
Ms. Burks added, “Denmark’s high-technology manufacturing and biotech industries will benefit from additional connectivity to the United States. Connecting the knowledge and skills of Atlanta and Denmark increases the economic opportunities for all.”
Atlanta is home to more than 70 consulates and trade offices, over 30 binational chambers, and more than 2,600 international companies. It also has the second-fastest-growing foreign-born population in the US.
Taking the podium, Mr. van der Werff said, “We are very proud, happy, and excited to be in Atlanta. We are here on a new adventure for the company. We are moving away from our long-standing partners in the Star Alliance and joining Sky Team on September 1. Flying into Atlanta will hopefully build a long-standing and fruitful relationship with Delta (DL)."
“Scandinavia has a really nice climate, so if you’re looking to get away from the heat, we’ll fly you somewhere you can cool down. And in winter, we guarantee great snow and ice and fantastic skiing.”
Ambassador Sørensen closed the remarks, saying, “I’m thrilled to be here for this milestone event and to have the opportunity to reflect on the significance of what this new route means for our shared history. This new connection is a testament to the hard work and dedication of so many people and organizations and shows that with a shared vision, distance is just a minor detail.”
Flight Time
Following an exchange of gifts, it was time to move on to the actual flight. As I was flying SAS Plus, I was in boarding priority group 2, following SAS business passengers and those with Eurobonus Diamond and Gold status and Star Alliance Gold.
There is no First Class on this flight. The ground staff took a measured approach to allowing passengers onto the jetway, thus preventing a backlog on the plane itself.
My seat was 25H on both the outgoing and inbound flights. That is a mid-wing window seat, giving me a great view of the wing but limited ability to see the ground. Provided on the seat was a set of amenities that included a blanket, pillow, bottle of water, shoe bag containing ear plugs, earphones for the IFE, a sleep mask, and a toothbrush and toothpaste.
The seat layout in the Plus cabin was 2-3-2, as opposed to 2-4-2 in economy. SAS Plus seats are comfortably padded and offer about six extra inches of pitch (38-inch pitch/71cm) compared to economy seats.
They are also slightly wider (18.3 inches/46.5 cm) than economy seats (17.3 inches/44 cm). There were eight rows in the Plus cabin, giving a total of 56 such seats.
Hot coffee and tea were served after dinner. And here is one thing that SAS could do to endear itself to the Atlanta customer base. We Southerners drink iced tea year-round. Even in the depths of 20 degrees in February, we drink iced tea – preferably sweet iced tea. On this 90-degree day in Atlanta, a glass of iced tea on the plane would have been really nice to have. If the airline wants to differentiate itself and hit home with this new market, simply having iced tea on all flights would be a big score with its customers.
There were four lavatories for both economy and SAS Plus. We could not use the facilities for the Business cabin, so we needed to walk out of our area and through one section of Economy to the lavatories. The fit was tight, but again, I’m a tall guy, and the small space was expected.
There were several empty seats on this inaugural outbound flight. Mr. van der Werff mentioned that the load factor was around 81% for today’s flight, about 91% for the following outbound flight, and 100% for the flight later in the week on which he was flying home.
I’m a fairly big guy, 6’ 4” and 225 lbs. (193 cm/102 kg), and I was comfortable in the seat with plenty of legroom to stretch out.
My main problem was the same as on every flight: I sat head and shoulders above the top of the seat. So, while other passengers could easily use the comfortable headrests on their seats, my headrest was at shoulder level.
A Decent IFE System
As I settled in and waited for the remaining passengers to board, I explored the IFE system. The 12-inch screen provides passengers with a wide variety of entertainment and information to keep them occupied during the long flight.
About 120 movies, current and older favorites, 150 episodes of TV programs, and 47 music channels are available. The Kids Zone features movies and TV shows for the young and a small selection of games.
My one minor peeve with the selection is that foreign films are not captioned in English. When I’m flying internationally, it would be nice to get away from American culture and explore entertainment produced abroad, but the selection on board was in the native language only.
Also part of the IFE system are forward and downward-facing cameras, which allow you to have a near pilot’s eye view of the flight and see what’s going on below. However, at altitude, it was cloudy, and what the screen showed was mostly a bright white glow.
The flight was on time, with only a slight delay in the taxi to the runway. Takeoff roll can be seen on YouTube here:
Cloud cover appeared quickly, so there was little to see on the ground. And it would remain that way for most of the flight. One of the advantages of having the wing seat was that I could see the wing flex.
It’s not as pronounced as on a Dreamliner, perhaps, but it was fun to watch it rise and fall on takeoff and landing.
Time to Eat!
About 45 minutes into the flight, the crew served drinks and a snack pack of cashews. We were offered beverages, for now, supper, and for after. I selected the SAS IPA (I liked the can design), a Coke, and a High Coast Altitude whiskey (for a souvenir).
Other sodas, nonalcoholic beer, and juices were also available.
About an hour later, dinner was served. I had the choice of fish or chicken, and I went with the fish. It was served with rice pilaf, barley salad, a currant pastry, cheese and crackers, and a commemorative cookie for dessert. The food was served at appropriate temperatures and tasted very nice.
Weirdly, the silverware pack that came with dinner did not contain a fork. I had two spoons and a knife. For a moment, I wondered if this might be an unusual Danish way of doing things, but then realized that other passengers also had not received a fork.
A flight attendant replaced my pack with a second one with no fork. The caterer needs to step it up a bit.
Hot coffee and tea were served after dinner. And here is one thing that SAS could do to endear itself to the Atlanta customer base. We Southerners drink iced tea year-round. Even in the depths of 20 degrees in February, we drink iced tea – preferably sweet iced tea.
On this 90-degree day in Atlanta, a glass of iced tea on the plane would have been really nice to have. If the airline wants to differentiate itself and hit home with this new market, simply having iced tea on all flights would be a big score with its customers.
There were four lavatories for both economy and SAS Plus. We could not use the facilities for the Business cabin, so we needed to walk out of our area and through one section of Economy to the lavatories. The fit was tight, but again, I’m a tall guy, and the small space was expected.
The Excellent Cabin Crew, Night Flight
Here, I need to praise the cabin crew for their exemplary service. All fluent in English, of course, their service was so professional and unintrusive that they were almost invisible during the flight.
The needs of the passengers were anticipated in advance so that only once or twice did anyone use the call button to request service. From their neat and professional appearance to their efficient performance, they were excellent.
Our night flight path took us past Montreal and out over the St. Lawrence Seaway. Although mostly cloudy, I could see parts of that city below.
As we were “flying toward dawn,” the cabin crew requested that all window shades be closed so passengers could sleep. But try as I might, I could not sleep. This was likely due to my size – being too tall to use the headrest – and possibly because I’d had a cup of the (very strong) coffee not long before.
The cabin then went dark for a few hours to allow us to sleep. While most passengers did so, a few others nearby continued to use their IFE systems, whose lights added to my difficulty in trying to conk out.
We then enjoyed an uneventful nighttime flight segment – a few bumps of turbulence – but quiet, calm, and relaxing.
The Morning Arrival in Copenhagen
About two hours before landing, the cabin lights began to rise, slowly turning from the deep blue of the nighttime cabin to the golden glow of sunrise to standard white daytime lighting.
The cabin crew appeared with breakfast: a meat, cheese, fruit, and vegetable plate, yogurt, granola, a roll, and juice, this time served with a fork.
Overall, the food served in SAS Plus tasted very good, was served at appropriate temperatures, was nicely plated, and was quickly and efficiently presented by the cabin crew.
We landed ahead of schedule as anticipated. As we taxied, this American was thrilled to see in-person aircraft from airlines he’d only read about: Ryanair (FR), EasyJet (U2), and Norwegian Air (DY). It was equally unusual to encounter narrow-body examples from Lufthansa (LH), Air France (AF), and British Airways (BA) that are seen in the US only in wide-body form.
Disembarking, like everything else on the flight, is quick and efficient. And in the terminal, I noticed one huge difference between CPH and ATL. Nearly all of the airports are for international service, as opposed to Atlanta, which is overwhelmingly domestic.
Instead of encountering customs relatively near the gate, I had to go through nearly all of the terminals to get to the baggage claim before showing my passport. I thought I had somehow bypassed customs for a while, but eventually, it all made sense. I was greeted at passport control by a smiling young woman who happily welcomed me to Denmark.
Return Flight
After a whirlwind 24 hours in Copenhagen, I boarded the return flight at 1:40 local time. Due to headwinds, this flight would take close to 10 hours to arrive in Atlanta at around 5:00 p.m.
This return flight was a near repeat of the outbound experience, although totally in the daytime. Departing CPH, it was fascinating to see the hundreds of wind turbines lined across the sea (we don’t have that yet in the US). Later, we crossed southern Norway, where I could see the coastline and fjords.
This time, I chose the chicken entrée (very good) and declined the coffee. And as before, the food, service, and ride were top-notch. Rather than breakfast, we were offered a light meal of pasta salad, salmon, and kale, with roll and cheese and crackers. Later, we could choose a snack of a veggie wrap or packs of nuts and crackers.
SAS Plus passengers are well-fed on these flights.
One thing I noticed that I thought was fantastic was that one of the cabin crew was wearing hearing aids. As someone who is hearing impaired, I think this is wonderful. I asked her about it briefly as we deplaned. “I can hear everything,” she said. “It’s fantastic.” A big thumbs up to SAS for this level of inclusion.
It’s a long walk from the gate to customs in Atlanta. After a 15-minute wait in line, I was met at passport control by a scowling vest-wearing police officer who grudgingly nodded me on after asking a few rudimentary questions. It was quite a different experience from what I’d had in Denmark. And as an Atlantan, it was embarrassing. Is this how we welcome travelers to our city?
A Great Trip
I’d like to thank SAS for the invitation and the excellent round-trip. With the level of service and comfort achieved on this route, it seems likely that all parties involved, the airline, the airport, and the two cities, will move toward their goals of cooperation, business success, and enjoyable tourism.
Featured/all images: John Huston/Airways
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