I might be the only excited American when I see a Scandinavian Airlines SAS sale for ticket buying opportunities on USA to Scandinavia travel. The deal with SAS tickets to Scandinavia is they are usually priced quite a bit higher than other Star Alliance airlines like United Airlines, and especially Lufthansa and Swiss. These periodic ticket discount sales with SAS only happen three or four times per year.
SAS round trip tickets from LAX to Copenhagen are priced as low as $348 round trip.
San Francisco to Stockholm cheap tickets in this sale are about $100 more in the $450 round trip range.
SAS California-Scandinavia cheapest routes are usually one stop routes LAX-CPH and SFO-ARN. Since SAS flies LAX-Stockholm and SFO-Copenhagen nonstops, in twisted airline industry logic the price is less to fly one-stop past the nonstop destination of the flight.
The one stop flights from SFO to Stockholm via Copenhagen are usually cheaper ticket prices than SFO-Copenhagen nonstop flights. Same is true for cheaper LAX to Copenhagen one-stop tickets via Stockholm compared to flying LAX-Stockholm nonstop.
SAS airline ticket discounts are invariably timed within days or weeks of some other big expenditure I have made, like just returning from weeks of European vacation (July) or a broken car needing immediate repairs (July).
Main Reason I like SAS sales
Last year I put SAS flights into my Aegean Miles+Bonus frequent flyer account (Greece) and qualified for Aegean Gold elite with Star Alliance Gold Elite benefits in the USA. United Club domestic airport lounge and Star Alliance international airport lounge access. Plus additional complimentary bag for most tickets with many Star Alliance airlines.
I don’t have a United Airlines credit card.
The magic of SAS GoLight tickets booked in Deep Discount Economy T booking code is Aegean earns 100% flight miles on SAS operated flights. Miles earning drops to 50% for United and Air Canada and no miles at all for deep discount tickets flown to Europe with Miles & More airlines Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian and more.
Loyalty Traveler – Four benefits flying United Basic Economy domestic as Aegean Gold elite (May 15, 2019).
Loyalty Traveler – How I earned Star Alliance Gold elite for $1,400 in 15 flight segments (April 4, 2019).
SAS GoLight ticket Los Angeles LAX – Stockholm ARN – Copenhagen CPH – Stockholm ARN – Los Angeles LAX
$347.47 round trip Friday Nov 22 – Saturday Nov 30 (Thanksgiving Week)
GoLight is a restrictive weight fare at 8kg for one carryon only bag allowed, plus an underseat personal item.
One checked bag allowed for additional $30 each way with upgrade to SAS GoSmart ticket. That is worth considering at time of ticket purchase for a lower price than later if traveling light might be an issue.