Review of SAS flight from Paris to Oslo in Economy

I won’t go into detail in my research for a meeting in Oslo, but it all boiled down to this:
• Norwegian arrived too late in OSL the day before
• Flying Lufthansa resulted in wasting an entire afternoon, or making it too late in OSL
• Air France was leaving OSL too early on the way back
Hence this SAS routing which was not ideal, since I had to either eat in CDG1 or buy on board on the way in, and the return trip included a 30’ layover in CPH on a Friday evening…
• CDG-OSL : SK834 14:05 – 16:20
• OSL – CPH : SK461 18:00 – 19:10 here
• CPH – CDG SK1563 19:40 – 21:40 there
… but the return trip did not happen exactly this way (teaser).
I would have liked to leave Paris early to do some tourism in OSL a zero marginal cost, but there was no single airline flight combination which made it possible.
I left by car to the airport somewhat early because
a) it was raining, which always slows down the traffic and increases the risk of an accident creating a traffic jam
b) I was concerned that there could be more security and ID checks of all kinds at the airport, although this was an intra-Schengen Zone flight. We were in mid-November 2015, and I had received during the previous week-end messages of concern and support from my friends living on both sides of the Pacific Ocean…

… and in particular from one of cities in the world which lit their iconic building with French colors as a gesture of support.

I received the day before, at ETD-22h, a reminder that I could use the OLCI. An hour or two later, there was still ample choice. Row 10 of SAS’ 738s does not have windows, and anyway I had no access to the rows forward, so I chose a window seat behind the wing, on the side opposite the sun direction. Note that SAS is just as superstitious as AF : there was no row 13.

I made it at half past noon in CDG and there were definitely no crowds there. There were nearly fewer passengers than soldiers in full gear patrolling slowly, widely spread from each other and stopping every ten-twenty meters to ostensibly look all around them.

Going to the machine to obtain my BP

It did not recognize my credit card

It did not consider reading my passport either, although it could.

But it did recognize my PNR

I had left my FF card at home, and I did not understand that "Enter card manually” actually meant typing manually the card number. I sometimes have a hard time with the way the French use English.

I had my BP without a FF number, and went up to the Arrivals level for some plane spotting (the view is better, because it is two levels further up).

In middle of the day, the harvest was rather slim: I saw more (terminal) satellites than planes

A La Compagnie aircraft that I could not see any better than that.

A Thai A380

Arrival of a QR A380.

TK 738

It was not crowded at all to go airside ; the BP was checked with a smile

… below a sign warning of possible increased waiting times.

Going up the tubes

… which were in the middle of rather meager Christmas decorations

Stairs from the Departures level down to the shops and restaurants.

The FIDS (there were several more screens for the flights departing from Terminal 2)

My flight was listed on time

Departure towards one of the two Schengen flights satellites, without seeing any specific controls in connection with to the state of emergency

Moiré patterns caused by my camera’s sensor

The security check was so empty that I nearly went through inadvertently without stopping !:)

The metal detector did not beep, but a security staff noticed a 100% plastic splint, and tapped it with cotton for explosive detection (there has been explosive shoes; why not an explosive splint too?)
It had been a very bad winter for a marathon runner, and this was the result of one of several ankle injuries which ruined my season (at time of posting, I resumed training, starting back from a humbling level after several months of forced rest).

So I limped my way into a rather empty Satellite 7

I settled there in the vicinity of an Icelandair757 waiting for her last passengers, with a view on the tarmac despite the stupid frosting of the lower part of the windows,

… with a power port at the foot of my seat and a free internet access with a decent bandwidth.

Some plane-spotting, not in chronological order:
A FedEx 777 (thanks to Jish.b for the correction)

The QR A380 had reached her gate

PT-MUJ, a TAM 77W

Eurowings A320, in the new livery

The same taking off

An AF A320 takes off

The Icelandair 757 pushes back

The competitors do not mix : that was the time when a Wow Air A320 taxied in

Takeoff of a Cityjet Jumbolino

Hop ! E190

Looking for good weather in Paris was not a good idea for the passengers of this Jet2 737.

Arrival of the 738 which will operate my flight

The pictograms for the baby-care room are no longer female in CDG.

Since I could claim to be (moderately) handicapped, and actually because the standard toilets were all occupied, I could legitimately use these toilets for handicapped passengers. Maybe out of coherence, the hand dryer was handicapped too, i.e. it was out of operation.

… and there was no fresh water.

For younger (or not so young) travelers, there were PS3 stations which did not attract gamers

There was an SAS counter (with staff provided by Alyzia, a ground handling company) : I tried, and no problem, a smiling staff replaced my BR FF number which is no longer relevant by my LH number.

The 738 at the gate. Geeks will be interested to know that this was LN-RPR, in revenue service since 14/09/2000.

Going painfully down a windowless jetbridge

The load ratio was low : probably hardly more than 40%

There were two other passengers in my row

The plane had not been cleaned very thoroughly, but the turnaround in CDG was short

The seat pitch was decent

SAS adopted the design of a magazine pocket in the upper section of the seat, which leaves extra space underneath for the legs.

The seats can unfortunately recline, and using my laptop became impossible. I sat sideways, taking advantage of the absence of a passenger on the middle seat, but this was not very comfortable. The seat was also very hard, with an uncomfortable shape, or one which was not adapted to that of my body.

The safety card both sides

The old-fashioned design of the overhead light

Pushback precisely at ETD. This is the problem with plane spotting while taxiing

An Egyptair A330

She returned safely to her hub, unlike the A320 which landed in CDG on 18 May with two of my close relatives on board, before operating the doomed Flight MS804 a couple hours later.
My kind compassion to all those who lost beloved ones.

You can’t see that very well, but there was a new blue-white-red light pattern on Terminal 1. At night, it stands out very well.

For her rarity, not the quality of the picture, this was the Byelorussian 737 following us towards the runway

Take off at ETD+19’

The cloud cover was very low, so we were promptly in it

SAS only offers drinks – a rather nondescript coffee for me

For the rest, it was only BOB, and this was the selection of intra-European flights

My readers may have noticed that this 738 did not have winglets - a rarity in Europe (but not in China)

This is the non-winglet with the moon

My neighbor went to the toilets, and since the rear of the aircraft was completely empty, I asked the FAs in the rear galley if I could change seat. No problem and I had a smile as a bonus.

It would be comfortable there

… especially for doing that

Oh yes, the toilets were clean, as they should be, and the baby diaper change table was for female use, as there is no reason that they should be.

It does not show well on these pictures, but the wing took a progressively orange tint due to the sunset

Descent on Oslo, reached before OSL

In the foreground, the promontory which nearly seals Drammenfjord, which is Drammen’s access to the sea. On the left, this is the fjord which reaches Oslo .

Oslo’s center

The central station

The waterway on the left is a dead end. Oslo’s access to the sea is on the right: the Skagerrak is on the horizon.

There was a light snow cover on the countryside, with ground temperature -2°C.

Strømmen in the foreground, separated from Lillestrøm by the Nitelva.

The characteristic shape of Lillestrøm’s city center

Lillestrøm is the only stop of the Flytoget train between the airport and the central station. That station was nothing exciting when seen on the way back when the train stopped there.

Kiss landing ; the captain stressed that we had landed 15’ early, which meant there was a comfortable margin built in the schedule

A last look at LN-RPR

It was a looong walk to the exit …

… and the FAs who recognized me very well were very compassionate at my slow limping gait. A good point for them for not ignoring me, or saying simply good-bye..

The advantage of that corridor was that it was plane spotter-friendly, which is not common when deplaning. I saw a Norwegian 787 while taxiing, but I have pictures of 737s only.
SAS

KLM

Norwegian

SAS special livery

We are 4 million members… of what? (of the SAS FF program, but it took me some research to find out the meaning)

The arrival circuit goes on a bridge above the airside Departures area

Going shortly and straight ahead through a duty free shopping area to reach eventually the luggage delivery room.

And arrival landside, to take the expensive but comfortable Flytoget train

The trains leave every 10 minutes, only that the next one was cancelled

The train is indeed comfortable, on the condition of having a seat, which was not the case of all passengers

The seats are a lot more comfortable than those of SAS. They do not recline, providing a decent albeit not luxurious space for the legs

There is an AC power port for each seat

And free wifi internet access. Passengers from Paris can keep dreaming of the CDG Express train which is a 21st century project, possibly lasting until the end of the century, given the present progress rate.

There is even a safety card, in a durable material

Arrival at the Scandic Byporten, accessible directly through the shopping mall of Oslo’s central station.

Thanks for reading me all the way to the end !