I had a unique pleasure on August 31st, and again on September 1st. On the 31st, I left New York onboard an SAS flight bound for Copenhagen. The flight was unique, because it represented a mid-air alliance change.
This was a particularly historic change after 26 years in Star Alliance for the Scandinavian Airline, as it left the Star Alliance it helped to found, for a new home in SkyTeam.
There was drama, intrigue and a few impressive bits, and I wanted to take a moment to share what it was like from start to finish.
Cool Experience, Lots Of History
From the customer perspective, it’s incredible to watch an airline change alliances overnight. Considering SAS started flying to New York in 1946 and has been a member of Star Alliance since the very beginning, just over 26 years ago, there’s a lot of history here.
After I completed check-in for my SAS flight, and walked past the typical Star Alliance signage, an overhaul began almost immediately. The boards that mark the check in experience were being unscrewed and swapped over to virtually identical boards bearing SkyTeam signage.
Obviously so much goes on behind the scenes — and I’ll share more on that later — but it’s all surreal how quickly things can swap over for the customer perspective. I was fortunate to be traveling in business class and was still able to use the Lufthansa Lounge, but from the next day, it would be the Air France lounge at JFK.
On board, SAS frequent flyers and Star Alliance partners were welcomed before departure and on arrival, it was almost the same speech, but for SkyTeam. It’s just that simple, right?
Impressive: Alliance Changes Are Not Simple
I spent the day in Copenhagen on the first and was fortunate to get some time with leaders from SAS and its loyalty program, EuroBonus. Honestly, I was expecting it to be a lot more chaotic than it was.
By 9AM (and realistically much earlier), SAS EuroBonus members could already earn miles on all SkyTeam partner airlines and redeeming EuroBonus points was also already possible on SkyTeam partner airlines.
If you know even the slightest bit about airline IT, this was an absolute triumph of technology integration and the airline deserves massive kudos. Sequencing like 15 simultaneously external tech integration partners is not easy by any means.
As cheesy as it is, I was perhaps most blown away that the automatic lounge access gates in the SAS Lounge were already properly recognizing the SkyTeam ElitePlus status attached to my ticket, and the gates whisked me in without a peep. I know some airlines that still need to manually scan everyone in, and still get it wrong!
Future And Amusing Squabbles
It’s always exciting to see what happens when an airline joins a new alliance. I find myself more often on Oneworld or SkyTeam airlines these days and SAS opens up a welcome new series of routes and products for me. More opportunities to earn points and redeem points is always a big positive.
I couldn’t help but notice some parting shots from Star Alliance as founding member SAS departed, some of which made me chuckle. It was a little salty, like a jealous ex? I love a good reality TV drama and “some airlines take to the sky, others soar among the stars” felt like a very thinly veiled reality TV diss from Star alliance.
An alliance wide status match offer from Star Alliance for all SAS customers also felt like a bit of a saucy move, considering all the positive history together over 26 years. Anyway, wild times and undoubtedly many more ahead. I couldn’t help but be impressed by the new SAS and never miss a chance to be a part of something unique in air travel.
