Thread: Scanvinavia

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Scandinavia trip report!!

Hello everyone, I am back to real life:
The trip to Scandinavia was great, everything so wonderful and sunny that I could not believe it.
Even the flights were so well (although they looked so bad) that I didnt even notice I was non-reving...
I took a flight out of BCN to CPH, Spanair had 3 flight in the day, so I listed myself and my companion on the Flyzed.com... As I arrived to the airport, I asked for a special check-in counter for non revenue people, and they directed me to a regular one, no special counter... I introduced myself and gave my ZED tickets to the agent, who told me the flight was full in coach, but plenty of space in business. I politely asked how would they do it, if at the time of clearing there were just business seats available, and she told me that non revenue WOULD fly in business if it is the case, so I relaxed myself, because at least they would allow me if there is any open seat onboard.
30minuts before departing, as they told me, I went to a special corner they have for connections and standby passengers in the middle of several gates, and I asked is any seat was open. the agent cleared us together in the first row in coach, which was very good for us (we just wanted to be off for vacation)... so we had no problem at all. As we always try to fly with only hand luggage, we then proceded for boarding... the flight was ok, with a little delay once they closed doors, but at least we were seated!!
When we arrived to CPH, I asked at the ticket office of SAS about the flights for CPH-ARN for they day I wanted to depart (4days after). I had to show my ZED tickets to the agent. I asked for chances and seats available and all that he gave me was a inventory availability print-out of the day I was leaving, you know what I mean, all the flights with the classes you can buy like Y9H9B9... I asked for real numbers and he told me the flight looked good in the paper... I just left the desk and went to the city without giving too much importance, as I was a little confussed how they gave me details... I expected actual numbers and how many people whould fly in standby as me in a desired flight, but seemed too difficult to get.

Anyway Copenhagen wa sooooooo wonderful and great that we didnt want to leave.

The day that we flow CPH-ARN we got to the airport, and checked-in. The agent could not find us on the passenger list, even if I showed her the reservation we made in Flyzed.com... she told me that the flight was fully booked and the prior flight was canceled, and that I should wait for another flight. But I decided to stick to my plans because I had nothing better to do in the airport. She listed for us, and gave us standby boarding passes. When I arrived to the gate they told me to wait to everyone to board, and they would clear us.
There was a flight SAS flight attendant who intented to standby with us, I suppose with higher priority, that had to wait with us. We were called as "standby passengers are now welcomed", and the flight attendant received her BP. Then they gave us like a little receipt in a paper that had the information like a boarding pass, but not the same size, Like the bill of the super market. We were cleared in seats together, and had second row of the aircraft. When we boarded, we realize that we were seated in the business cabin, first row of a A-319 bulkhead. The plane was so full, that we didnt want to look at the rear.
Onboard, they gave us a little box with a sandwith that was nice, and drinks and coffee... The service was good, and the seats were nice aswell, but they were regular economy seats, the service was better, with the little courtain for privacy.

On the way back for ARN-BCN we had several options, the ideal one was a direct flight with Spanair to BCN. And then I had prepared different ZED tickets for Frankfurt, Munich and Amsterdam, all of them with a connection to BCN.
We headed to Terminal 5, where all the airlines we wanted were.
SAS handlings all Star Alliance flights (except Thai, I think) in the same counters, so we qeued in the economy class line. I explained the agent that I wanted to be activated in several flights in ordet to maximize my options once I was inside the terminal, as the flights were one hour after each other, and I didnt want to get in and out for check-in. I said that the Spanair direct flight was my first and prefered one, and she looked at the numbers. She said that the flight was very open and that she could confirmed us. We thank her, and she gave us boarding passes with seats. And she told us if we still wanted to be activated in all other flight, so we said no, if we were already confirmed in our desired flight.
The agent was so nice, that we did not even feel we were nonreving at all.

The spanair flight was ok, very very very narrow leg space, but ok. Maybe little unconfortable for a 3 hours flight, but it cost us about 40€ each, so we put on our iPods and enjoyed...

At the end of the trip we realized how lucky we were for being able to make plans so quickly, how cheap we fly everywhere, and that there are always nice people that try to help... We made a decision: we are not going to buy a confirm ticket again, unless at the time of leaving, the price is so cheap that worth it.
As we thought, we are always in time to buy a confirm ticket in case we need to buy it to return home as an emergency...

Hope the report liked, I know is a little long, but I wanted to elaborate....
Please post me comments about your experiences with european airlines.
And if you need IB numbers and information, just ask me!
PS: sorry about my English

JOHN.

I have to say that what I actually needed were real numbers... what Amadeus shows, which is Y9B9H9 Bla Bla Bla is just the different classes of fares you can purchase for a particular flight, but they are not real numbers of open seats onboard.
When I mean real numbers I mean how many seats are still open, how many people is listed as a non revenue, what are my chances to get onboard, how many people have a reservation without a ticket issued, how many people have a connecting flight with tight connection... because maybe there are 15 seats open in a flight, but there are 35 passengers on the staff list, so my options come to -20.... What is the point of giving me the class availability display and tell me that all the flights look good? Please move your fingers and give me proper info!!!

I am not saying that is what people should do, but when someone asks me about a flight, I just dont print out a amadeus display and say all flight look good because they are still selling tickets on them, because if you know at least a little you will know that selling doesnt mean real figures at all...

Anyway, at the end I could get on the flight without problems, which was the important thing, ...

As I said before, if you all need information regarding IB flights, please drop me a word, and I will give you proper information, not a availability display page...

J.

QUOTE (SpainFlier @ Aug 2 2008, 12:52 AM) *
I asked for chances and seats available and all that he gave me was a inventory availability print-out of the day I was leaving, you know what I mean, all the flights with the classes you can buy like Y9H9B9... I asked for real numbers and he told me the flight looked good in the paper... I just left the desk and went to the city without giving too much importance, as I was a little confussed how they gave me details... I expected actual numbers and how many people whould fly in standby as me in a desired flight, but seemed too difficult to get.

just for the information - the Commercial Services (SAS Group airlines) for example "Tickets desks, Call Centres" can not see the actual situation and are not authorized to give the info on the flight due to Selling Platform Systems. This must be asked from the Ground Services agents (actual loads for service compartments). Make sure you do not ask the info before 24 hours prior the departure.

GOT IT...

Next time I will not ask for real figures.

What does everyone think about it?

J.