Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) is the national airline of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. It’s one of the largest operators of flight routes to Scandinavian cities, particularly to its hub cities in Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm. SAS also operates several direct routes from Europe to North American cities, including Toronto, Boston, New York, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

If you’re flying across the Atlantic Ocean on SAS, you might consider booking in business class for a more comfortable experience on your long flight. Unfortunately, cash prices for SAS business-class tickets on transatlantic routes are typically in the thousands. However, by booking tickets with points and miles, you can often keep your out-of-pocket costs low and still experience the comfort of SAS business class.

In this article, we’ll detail the best ways to book SAS business-class tickets with points and miles as well as what you can expect when flying in SAS business class.

Traveler pulling a rolling suitcase along a cobblestone street lined with colorful historic buildings in Denmark, likely Copenhagen

What to Expect in SAS Business Class

The business-class experience you’ll receive on SAS depends on the type of aircraft you’re flying on and the route. Here are the aircraft types in the SAS fleet:

  • Airbus A321LR
  • Airbus A320neo
  • Airbus A320
  • Airbus 319
  • Airbus A330-300
  • Airbus A350-900
  • Embraer E195LR

The most luxurious business-class products are found on long-haul flights, which are operated using Airbus A350-900, Airbus A330-300 and Airbus A321LR. All three of these aircraft types offer seats that convert into fully flat beds.

The Airbus A350-900 includes other great business-class amenities, such as an 18.5-inch in-flight entertainment screen and a durable threshold that can give you a light foot massage. These seats also include a separate control for backrest recline, a bi-fold tray table and comfortable seat padding.

The Airbus A330-300 includes business-class amenities such as mood lighting throughout the cabin, an HD in-flight entertainment system and bed linens from Hästens.

The Airbus A321LR offers different mood light scenarios in the business-class cabin, in-flight entertainment screens and PC and USB power outlets.

SAS short- and medium-haul international flights within Europe also offer business class. The seats on these flights do not lie flat and are similar to the economy-class seats except with more legroom. However, it’s guaranteed that the middle seat in your aisle will be empty when flying in short- and medium-haul business class, ensuring you’ll have room to stretch out.

All SAS business-class passengers (regardless of flight duration) will receive perks at the airport, including priority check-in, priority boarding, priority baggage delivery and Fast Track security and priority immigration lines at select airports. Plus, SAS passengers with business-class tickets can access any SAS Lounge for free. Here are the current locations of all SAS Lounges:

  • Copenhagen Kastrup (CPH)
  • Oslo Gardermoen (OSL)
  • Stockholm Arlanda (ARN)
  • Gothenburg Landvetter (GOT)

Since SAS is a member of SkyTeam Alliance, SAS business-class passengers can also access SkyTeam partner lounges around the world. To see if there’s an eligible SkyTeam partner lounge at a specific airport, you can use the Lounge Finder tool in the My10x web application.

Finally, on long-haul flights, business-class passengers will receive amenity kits containing a variety of comfort and self-care products, including cozy socks, an eye mask, earplugs, skincare products and a dental care kit. The products within these kits are designed by Scandinavian companies and are largely sustainable.

Food and Beverage

One of the best things about flying in business class is the access to complimentary meals and beverages. On long-haul SAS flights, business-class passengers can pre-select their meals between 10 days and 24 hours before departure. Dining options are typically inspired by Nordic cuisine, but there are always special meals available for those with dietary restrictions.

Business-class passengers on all SAS flights also have complimentary access to snacks from the SAS in-flight menu. Plus, you can request a complimentary beverage at any time throughout the flight, including coffee, tea, soft drinks, beer, white wine, red wine, spirits and cocktails.

Best Programs Through Which You Can Book SAS Business Class

SAS is a member of SkyTeam Alliance, which means that SAS award tickets can often be booked through SkyTeam partner frequent flyer programs.

Since so few U.S. citizens use the SAS EuroBonus program and you can’t transfer points from major U.S. credit cards to the EuroBonus program, we’ve focused on programs that do allow transfers from major U.S. credit cards. Unfortunately, none of these programs typically allow you to book round-trip SAS business-class awards on transatlantic flights.

Air France-KLM Flying Blue

One SkyTeam frequent flyer program that allows you to book SAS business-class award flights is Flying Blue, the joint frequent flyer program of Air France and KLM. While we were unable to find any round-trip SAS award flights on transatlantic routes through the Flying Blue program, we were able to locate a one-way SAS business-class flight from Chicago (ORD) to Copenhagen (CPH) for 81,800 Flying Blue miles and $33 in taxes and fees.

Air France Flying Blue search results showing a business-class award flight from Chicago O’Hare to Copenhagen priced at 81,800 miles plus taxes

If you were to book this flight with cash through the SAS website, it would cost you 6,845 euros (about $7,934).

SAS traveler details and pricing screen showing a one-way Business Flex cash fare from Chicago O’Hare to Copenhagen totaling 6,844.94 EUR including taxes and carrier-imposed fees

Factoring in the taxes and fees paid for the award flight, this redemption would give you a value of about 9.7 cents per point, which is incredible. However, the value is significantly inflated because this is a one-way flight example. Nonetheless, even if you were to cut this value in half for a value of about 4.8 cents per mile, it’s still outstanding. You could then book a separate award for your return flight or simply book your return flight with cash.

One of the best things about the Air France-KLM Flying Blue program is that it’s a 1:1 transfer partner of several major U.S. credit card rewards programs, including American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Brex, Capital One Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Wells Fargo Rewards. So, if you have a rewards credit card from any of these issuers, you can earn Flying Blue miles relatively easily.

Etihad Guest

Another program through which you can book SAS business-class award flights is the Etihad Guest program. Etihad has many airline partnerships despite the fact that it isn’t a member of any airline alliance. However, just as with the Flying Blue program, we were only able to find SAS transatlantic business-class flights from North America to Europe, not in the reverse direction.

For example, we found a one-way SAS business-class award flight from New York (JFK) to Copenhagen (CPH) for about 80,000 Etihad Guest miles plus $29 in taxes and fees.

Etihad Guest booking screen showing a business-class saver award from New York JFK to Copenhagen on SAS for 80,000 miles plus $29 in taxes and fees

If you were to book the same flight with cash through the SAS website, it would cost you 6,484 euros (about $7,516).

SAS booking page showing a one-way business-class cash fare from New York JFK to Copenhagen for €6,483.94 including taxes and carrier-imposed fees

Accounting for taxes and fees, this redemption would give you a value of about 9.4 cents per mile. Once again, this value is significantly inflated because this is a one-way award. Nonetheless, even at half of this value (about 4.7 cents per mile), you’d still get excellent value out of your miles.

The Etihad Guest program is also a transfer partner of several major U.S. credit card rewards programs, including American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards. If you have a rewards credit card from any of these issuers, you can easily earn miles with the Etihad Guest program.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

You can also book SAS business-class awards through the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program. However, you can typically only find SAS business-class award space on short-haul flights within Europe through this program.

If you want to fly around Europe in business class, these redemptions can provide excellent value per point. For instance, we found a round-trip SAS business-class itinerary between Copenhagen (CPH) and Amsterdam (AMS) for 29,000 Virgin points and 890 Danish krone (about $138) in taxes and fees.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club booking showing a round-trip SAS business-class award between Copenhagen and Amsterdam for 29,000 Virgin Points plus DKK 890 in taxes and fees

If you were to book these same flights with cash through the SAS website, it would cost you 814 euros (about $944).

SAS website cash booking showing a round-trip business-class itinerary between Copenhagen and Amsterdam priced at 814.41 EUR including taxes and carrier-imposed fees

Factoring in the taxes and fees you’d have to pay for the award flights, this redemption would give you a value of about 2.8 cents per point, which is good for a short-haul award flight.

The Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a 1:1 transfer partner of several major U.S. credit card rewards programs, including American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Wells Fargo Rewards.

Credit Card Travel Booking Portals

If you want to book SAS round-trip transatlantic business-class award flights, the only way to reliably do so is through credit card travel booking portals, such as Amex Travel or Citi Travel. Unfortunately, these credit card travel booking portals nearly always offer exactly 1 cent per point in value on all flight redemptions. Since SAS transatlantic business-class flights have very high cash prices, these awards require a lot of points.

For example, we found a round-trip SAS business-class award flight itinerary between New York (JFK) and Copenhagen (CPH) for 357,353 points through the Citi Travel portal. The cash price for this flight was $3,574, so the value of this redemption would be 1 cent per point.

Citi Travel search results showing a round-trip SAS business-class flight between New York (JFK) and Copenhagen (CPH) priced at $3,574 or 357,353 points including taxes and fees

You can potentially get a lot more value out of your points in other ways. For this reason, we’d recommend trying to book your SAS business-class award through Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club or Etihad Guest before you resort to booking through your credit card’s travel booking portal. However, if you’re unable to find flights that suit your needs through any frequent flyer programs, there’s typically much more award availability through credit card travel booking portals.

The Bottom Line

SAS operates several long-haul routes to North American cities. If you’re traveling on one of these transatlantic routes, you may want to book an SAS business-class ticket and enjoy more comfortable amenities on your long flight. However, since the cash prices for these tickets are so high, booking with points or miles can be a more affordable way to get into SAS business class.

Unfortunately, booking round-trip SAS business-class awards on transatlantic routes is typically very difficult through any of the major frequent flyer programs. In our searches, we were able to find a decent amount of business-class award availability on one-way flights from North America to Copenhagen (through Flying Blue and Etihad Guest), but we were unable to find availability in the opposite direction. So, the best option for booking transatlantic SAS business-class awards may be to book your flight to Europe with points and miles and then book your return flight to North America with a different airline.

If you have a lot of points to burn, you can typically find plenty of SAS business-class award availability through your credit card’s travel booking portal, even on transatlantic routes. However, these awards require a lot of points and will usually give you a value of only 1 cent per point.