SAS Milan To Tallin Via Copenhagen Award Success! (But From Which Program?)

My SkyTeam redemptions are rare compared to Oneworld or Star Alliance, but I have miles with four alliance airlines (Delta, Virgin, SAS, and Air France – KLM).

I need to get from Milan to Tallinn on Monday this week (was doing this on Sunday), and one of the obvious choices would have been Finnair, but that didn’t work due to strikes.

Virgin Atlantic:

I have had miles with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club for a decade+ and they are now more worthwhile due to the SkyTeam link-up.

The SAS options were available.

Delta:

Delta also had SAS award availability at reasonable rates.

SAS:

SAS displays the standard and some “enhanced” availability at a ridiculous price.

Air France-KLM:

However, it seems that SAS’s new owner, Air France—KLM, is trying to recoup some of the purchase price by making SAS inventory available at a special price.

The taxes are the same as those of other airlines.

You can buy miles at 1.13 US cents during the purchase, but I decided not to buy, as I have 400K in my account.

Conclusion

These Flying Blue partner awards rarely make sense, but the SAS pricing seems reasonable due to the ownership stake.

The “business” pricing that SAS partners present is not really business, but a SAS Plus that is pseudo Premium Economy until the Euro Business is relaunched later this year (read more here).

I wish that SAS had stayed in the Star Alliance, but this SkyTeam also works.

Source