San Francisco — Copenhagen Scandinavian Airlines SK936 Flight Report
Going to London for a conference, I chose to book my SFO-LHR flight with an overnight stopover in Copenhagen not to save money (it was indeed only half the price of the direct flight, but my boss would pay anyway.) As always, I did it for adventure — the chance to visit another country.
Hell, even if this flight were double the price of the direct one, I may have booked it anyway (not sure how my boss would think about that though).
Arriving San Francisco Airport by uber (which my boss would also pay) I was very surprised too see no line at the check-in counter. I got my boarding pass immediately. Haven’t check-in that smoothly and stress-free before in my entire life perhaps. Unfortunately due to my 16hr layover, they weren’t able to issue me the 2nd boarding pass from Copenhagen to London Heathrow.
Now the not-so-smooth part: no lounges available for priority pass in terminal G, nor is it connected to other terminals airside. So the only option is a Prioty-pass-cooperating restaurant where I could spend anything up to $27 (thanks to Chase. Most other banks have removed this feature now). There was a long line waiting to be seated, which I waited for nearly 30 minutes. At the end I was seated with an old Australian grandpa, where we enjoyed our meals awkwardly with each other.
Scandinavian Air A330: some say it’s another pseudo-low-cost-carrier, but the seats look quite standard. The flight seemed quite full, with mostly European passengers instead of American ones. Surprisingly, the seat next to me remained empty when the gate closed! Having an empty next to me when flying long haul — in my book this is luxury.
A full bottle water was served — again not that common in economy nowadays. The meal was standard chicken rice, bread and some ham, which exceeded my expectation as well.
Outside meal time, all other snacks and drinks were not complimentary, unfortunately. But they could be easily ordered through the screen.
Breakfast was served before landing — the crusty bread tasted good. Unfortunately there was cheese inside, which ruined everything of course.
Landing in Copenhagen around 4pm, I was welcomed by Northern Europe’s typical gloomy sky. A depressing theme to many but an exciting one for me — finally a chance to explore Denmark for a night. It was my first time to this part of the world, the part of the world using this mysterious letter ø.
Copenhagen Airport turned out to be much smaller than expected. I initially had plans to just sleep at the airport overnight, but immediately realized it would not be the most pleasant experience. Denmark still used its own currency Danish Krone (DKK), but given how credit card is prevalent here, I didn’t bother to take any cash.
I was quite amused by the Danish name of the city København, which literally means “merchants’ harbor”. It gradually became Copenhagen in English via low-land German.
I also noticed that in Copenhagen Airport, passport control was in front of the gates. Thus departing and arriving passengers would enter the same area after security check. Does that mean I could go use the lounge as an arrival passenger then?
But I only had so much time to spare. Entering my 29th country, with little sleep but no jet leg (yet), I headed to the metro station to start my quick layover tour of Copenhagen.
