Review: SAS Economy Class Oslo to Brussels (Boeing 737-600)

June 8, 2020February 18, 2021 Koen 1 Comment

In this review, we will fly with SAS Scandinavian Airlines in economy class from Oslo Gardermoen to Brussels on a Boeing 737-600.

Oslo

After an amazing train ride from Bergen to Oslo on the Bergensbanen Railway, the long journey crisscrossing all over Eurasia was effectually over.

On arrival at the central railway station of the Norwegian capital, I just headed straight to my nearby hotel for what would be a short night of sleep, as this time I would not have any time for sightseeing in Oslo.

Getting to the airport

Due to my relatively early flight I had to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to head back to Oslo’s central station for the train ride to the airport.

I took the first available regular suburban train ride of the day, which is quite a bit slower but a lot cheaper than the Flytoget express train. Given that I planned to spend as little time at the airport as possible, my suburban train was kind of ideal leaving just a little over an hour at the airport to clear security and head to the gate.

At the station, I grabbed some much-needed coffee and a doughnut for a little picnic in the train. I was treated to a lovely sunrise view over the snowy Norwegian landscape while the train was making its way to Gardermoen Airport.

oslo suburban airport train — *The suburban train from Oslo to Gardermoen Airport had plenty of space for luggage. ©Paliparan*

train breakfast coffee donut — *As I wouldn’t have time to visit the SAS business lounge, I just had a coffee and donut in the train for breakfast. ©Paliparan*

norway sunrise train oslo gardermoen — *Sunrise over the snowy Norwegian landscape. ©Paliparan*

Oslo Gardermoen Airport

Oslo Gardermoen is Oslo’s main airport located 22 miles out of Oslo to the north-east. It being a Scandinavian airport, it is spacious, clean and modern and a breeze to fly out or to connect through.

I arrived at the airport with slightly more than an hour before departure. As I already managed to check-in online and didn’t have any luggage to check-in, I just used my mobile boarding pass to open the barriers to the security check, which barely had a queue this morning.

After security, you are forced to walk through a large duty free store before you arrive at the main concourse of Gardermoen Airport. At one side you will find the way towards domestic flight departures, while the other way leads to the gates for Schengen departures. At the end of the Schengen concourse is a passport control checkpoint which leads to the non-Schengen departures pier.

I easily made it to my gate with some time to spare. Although I could theoretically have visited the SAS business lounge courtesy of my Turkish Airlines gold status, I decided not to bother and just spent the 20 minutes until boarding at the gate area.

oslo gardermoen airport — *The main hall of Oslo Gardermoen Airport, with the lower level used for arrivals and the upper level for departures. ©Paliparan*

oslo gardermoen airport departures board — *A huge flight departure board at Oslo Airport. ©Paliparan*

Boarding

Boarding was an orderly affair, with priority boarding being neatly observed by the gate agents. I was one of the first to board the plane through the jet bridge.

Due to my tiredness I forgot to take any pictures of the aircraft cabin and went straight to my seat, so my apologies for the lack of good interior pictures of the Boeing 737-600.

sas brussels economy class review — *The boarding gate for the Brussels flight. ©Paliparan*

sas economy class boeing 737-600 review — *The SAS Boeing 737-600 which would take me from Oslo to Brussels. ©Paliparan*

Oslo Gardermoen (OSL) to Brussels (BRU)
Flight SK4743 – Boeing 737-600 – Economy class, seat 11A
Departure: 8.15am – Arrival: 10.15am
Flight time: 2h00m – Distance: 692 miles
Costs: 134 EUR for OSL-BRU-OTP one-way

osl-bru oslo brussels — *The flight from Oslo to Brussels takes two hours. ©Great Circle Mapper*

SAS Boeing 737-600 seat

During online check-in I managed to snag a free emergency exit row seat (11A) which turned out to be a good choice, having tons of legroom.

With the Boeing 737-600 being an older bird, these seats are a bit more well-padded and comfortable than those on more modern planes.

That said, the seat did not have any USB or power sockets, and the plane was not WiFi equipped. It was an old-school, comfortable bird, which was showing its age a bit.

SAS has recently got rid of its last Boeing 737-600s in service, so you won’t be able to fly this plane anymore in the service of SAS. The airline also plans to replace its Boeing 737-700s and 737-800s by Airbus A320neo planes as it is in the process of moving to an all-Airbus fleet.

Departure

We took off from Oslo Gardermoen airport on time for what would be a two-hour-long flight to Brussels. There were some gorgeous views over the Norwegian countryside blanketed in snow.

Once we reached cruising altitude I dozed off and somehow slept for the entire remainder of the flight, only waking up when the cabin crew started to do their final checks before landing.

Given this is a short intra-European hop there wasn’t much that I missed in terms of service. SAS has a buy on board menu, so for any food you will need to pay.

That said, the cabin crew does always make a run with complimentary tea or coffee, which is a nice touch. Anything else – even a soft drink or a beer – will cost you extra though!

sas economy class boeing 737-600 review oslo brussels europe european flight — *Views upon departure from Oslo. ©Paliparan*

In short

SAS Scandinavian Airlines has a decent economy class product although it does not stand out when compared to other European airlines.

The seat on this old Boeing 737-600 was quite comfortable as far as an economy seat goes, as these old seats are usually better padded than the more modern slimline seats on more modern planes. Given that I had an emergency exit row seat, I certainly could not complain about the legroom.

The age of the plane does show when it comes to the lack of USB, power sockets and WiFi, which makes a stark contrast with the more modern 737s used by SAS as those birds are WiFi equipped. It is therefore no surprise that the Boeing 737-600 has been taken out of service by SAS since my flight as the airline is working on fleet modernisation.

When it comes to food and beverage service on board flights within Europe, SAS again scores fairly average. Although it has a buy-on-board menu, it does serve complimentary coffee and tea.

Having flown SAS quite a few times more within Europe besides this flight, I can only conclude that SAS is a run-of-the-mill European airline. Although flights on SAS never excel, they also never disappoint, being usually on time and having agreeable, friendly crews.

I wouldn’t actively seek them out for intra-European flights, but I certainly wouldn’t avoid them. If the price and schedule are right, I would gladly hop on another SAS flight again.

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