Flying To Stockholm
I went to Stockholm earlier this month: my trip was wonderful. Rather than focusing on general sites there for tourists, my coverage is more specific and in two parts: how to get there (below), and where to stay (click here).
Getting There On SAS
Any time of year is good for Stockholm, but late summer in the Swedish capital is near-Edenic, and I cannot think of a better way to reach Paradise than via SAS — the world-admired Scandinavian airline. And so I was not too surprised, on an August afternoon, to find myself at Newark airport, whistling softly in happy anticipation of my flight to Sweden. Newark is one of SAS’s four hubs in the US (the others are Chicago O’Hare, Seattle, and Washington Dulles), and the airline’s business lounge, in terms of design, was a perfect introduction to my 10 days in northern Europe: a mixture of practicality (free Internet access), sustenance (delicious snacks), and ingenuity (furniture set at all levels, comfy low seats to high benches).
On the way over to Stockholm, I was in business class, which provided services at least as good as that in the first class of the international airlines which still have it (not many of those left). One of the reasons I don’t fly as much as I used to is that many airlines take off so late. So I was almost shocked when, no sooner had I settled into my seat, than we were pulling away from the gate. I shouldn’t have been surprised: as Anders Lindstrom, the director of public relations for SAS, told me later that week when we had breakfast in Stockholm, the airline has one of the very best on-time records in the world among major airlines.
It is one thing to be prompt; it is another thing to be pleasant, as the flight attendants onboard were, unfailingly. And it still another virtue to provide ease, as the business-class seat did. (It was the most comfortable seat I’ve ever had on an airline, with controls that seem to adjust every inch of your body.) But what about the food? There, too, perfection — with Scandinavian influences. The glasses were from Orrefors, cutlery from George Jensen, and porcelain from Royal Copenhagen.
The seared ahi tuna first course, the bacon-wrapped turkey medallion main course, and the petits four for dessert were all tasty. I’m a Puritan when it comes to alcohol at 35,000 feet. (Unlike many of my friends, my goal aloft is not to be higher than the plane.) But if you do imbibe, the SAS selection of wines was wonderful: mostly French and Chilean. I bypassed both the bubbly and the outstanding array of movies on the in-flight entertainment system. I was too engrossed in Colum McCann’s new novel, “Let the Great World Spin,” which takes place in New York in August 1974,
when Philippe Petit walked the tightrope between the World Trade Towers.
Petit’s peregrinations were as risky as SAS’s methods, in every way, are secure. Over our Stockholm breakfast, PR whiz Lindstrom — young, energetic, well-informed– told me how important safety is to the SAS brand. “It is one of the most important things for us,” he said. Modernity matters as well. Lindstrom told me of SAS’s impending program to do away with paper boarding passes in favor of mobile-phone passes: you’ll just show your phone at the gate/airport. (This program will go into effect first in Europe; America, with its different security concerns, will have to wait.)
Another virtue is good, old-fashioned helpfulness, and not just at the airport or onboard the plane. SAS publishes a Crew Guide, containing the best-kept secrets of cabin crew and pilots. In that little volume, available from flysas.com, you can find suggestions about the best shops and restaurants in virtually all the major cities worldwide to which SAS flies. The book is not just a laundry list of tourist traps; it’s the real scoop about where plugged-in locals go.
Another priority for the SAS is the environment — something that’s reflected not just in fuel concerns but even in the menu: my in-flight meals used as many organic ingredients as possible.
So paramount is the environment for the SAS that, after our breakfast, Lindstrom arranged for me to have coffee with Niels-Eirik Nerturn, SAS’s Environment Director. Nerturn, is Norwegian, and we settled in to our chat by his telling me that, after centuries of feeling like Sweden’s “little brother” (from 1814 until 1905, Norway was junior partner in a union with Sweden), Norway is feeling much more like an equal — the result of its oil-driven economic boom.
I pointed out to Nerturn the irony of such an environmentally concerned country as Norway being propelled by fossil-fuel revenue. He smiled and said, “That’s true. But we are using our good fortune to explore and implement ways to REDUCE our dependence.” As for SAS, initiatives are underway, for example, to use blend in alternative fuel when it is
approved and commercially available; to have the airline industry’s most efficient fuel-saving program; to have a long-term plan for the company’s aircraft fleet that leads to a significant reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions. Overall, in other words, SAS aims to be seen as the most environmentally conscious airline in Europe. It’s well on its way.
In general terms, Nerturn pointed out SAS’s consistently at-the-top rating in terms of its environmental progress in terms of the world’s airlines. In specific terms, his conversation was enlightening but I fear it should not be conveyed by me but by SAS’s website. The site, for example, has a CO2 Emission Calculator, which offers customers he possibility to offset carbon dioxide emissions. You can enter your journey and a calculator
computes the distance and CO2 contribution.
