For our journey back from Germany, we flew from Zurich to Los Angeles via Copenhagen in SAS Plus, the premium economy class cabin. The 11-hour journey from CPH to LAX on the A350 was quite pleasant and productive for a daytime flight, though I’d love to see SAS put a bit more effort into its food and beverages in Plus.

SAS A350 Premium Economy Class – My First Impressions

I’m sitting on quite a few SAS EuroBonus miles and SAS offers excellent redemption pricing on its own metal (30K one-way in economy, 40K in premium economy, or 50K in business class between Europe and North America). While business class is always the goal and well worth the extra 10-20K miles each way, I’ll tkae what I can get when I do not have flexibility in my travel dates and we wound up with premium economy for this trip: my first time every flying in SAS Plus on a longhaul flight.

On the A350-900, seating is 2-4-2 instead of 3-4-3, which is ideal for my family of four. We chose the window-asile combo on the starboard side, with the kids sitting in front of Heidi and me (they are very well-behaved now on flights and will soon be to the age when we can put them in economy class while we fly business class).

Lunch was served after takeoff, which is a bit of a hybrid between business class and economy class. Beverages are served in plastic cups, except for a single glass which is included on the meal tray.

Meals are served on a tray with metal cutlery and harder plastic bowls featuring an upgraded appetizer and dessert versus what is served in economy class, but the meal itself is the same. Our choices were chicken or lentils, while economy class passengers who do not order a special meal in advance are not given a choice: chicken only.

The chicken was fine…but I noticed there was a ton of liquid (32%) pumped into it and I would never eat something like that at home (you should only buy air-chilled chicken…).

During the flight, flight attendants made frequent passes through the cabin with water and did a formal beverage and snack service mid-flight.

Before landing, a cold meal was served featuring lentils, salmon, and chorizo. I was hoping for a Smørrebrød like on my Copenhagen – Newark flight, but this was not bad.

I always try to get my work done before each flight and was reminded again why: the internet worked poorly for much of the flight. There were wide stretches where it was inoperative and even when it functioned, it was very slow.

SAS does not have a great library of movies, but I spent most of the flight talking to Heidi and writing e-mails that did not require an internet connection.

I tried to nap and was unable to, but still appreciated the seat was much more comfortable than economy class.

CONCLUSION

My 11-hour premium economy flight on SAS worked well for us…the seat is a big upgrade over economy class and the service was lovely onboard. Overall, premium economy is still much closer to economy class than business class, but as a middle road, it was greatly appreciated.

Finally, while my flight may have been an anomaly, the Plus cabin was less than half full…we’re still watching trends to see if there is a decline in inbound travel to the USA or whether demand will remain strong.

I’ll share more pictures and info about the flight and its amenities in my full review.