Flight Report :
SK 409 Stockholm Arlanda - Copenhagen

21 June 2024
18:00 - 19:15

Searching for a getaway on the continent that has promising weather, I narrowed down my choices to Sweden and Italy. It was a difficult choice between Gothenburg, Stockholm, and Venice, because Venice is incredibly crowded as summer approaches and a decent hotel is hard to come by. Meanwhile, Sweden is enjoying a cool summer, and with far less tourists, it's a more relaxed getaway.

In the end, Sweden won with 2 days in Gothenburg followed by 3 in Stockholm.

I had initially arrived in Gothenburg from London 4 days earlier with a BA redemption at a fairly bargain basement price of 9250 avios.

BA didn't offer redemption seats for the return leg from Stockholm though, but only Gothenburg was available, but I didn't want to pay extra to take the 3 hour high-speed train back from Stockholm. Instead, I found a cheap one-way flight on SAS for about 75 pounds (fare is about 30 pounds and the rest are taxes and fees) but with a transfer in Copenhagen. It would be a very budget-friendly trip after all.

Similar to Gothenburg, there are a few choices to go from Stockholm's centre to Arlanda, their main international airport. Richer folks can take the express train, which costs 340 SEK one-way and takes only 18 minutes. It is also possible to take the commuter rail but with an extra surcharge to get off at the airport train station. 2 bus companies also make the same trip. Flygbussarna charges 129 SEK and takes 45 minutes, while I chose Flixbus, which is the cheapest at 79 SEK although there is a small booking surcharge for buying online.

Both bus companies operate from the Cityterminalen, which is next to the Central train station. It looks like an airport terminal but on a holiday afternoon, it was fairly quiet. Unlike the ugly bus stations I've seen elsewhere in my travels, I barely saw any homeless people camped out here.

There are a few shops operating in the bus terminal offering food, and a whole line of lockers in case you need to store your bags before sightseeing for the day.

Boarding and departure were both timely and it was a fairly empty bus. It seems both companies use the same stops in the city en route, and it took 40 minutes to reach Terminal 4. My bus was clean, looks new, but didn't have USB charge ports. It's now 4:40pm and I'm flying out at 6pm.

SAS flies out of Terminal 5 but there is a connected indoor pathway from Terminal 4, which leads to a massive shopping mall-like structure with lots of wood and an overall great design. For more photos of the airport, check out my Arlanda Airport gallery.

The typical check-in experience here is to go to a kiosk first to print your boarding pass and bag tags. Then I walked to the other side of the terminal for their bag drop machines in zone 6. Luckily, entry into security is right behind it.

I had monitored the airport website which shows the security wait times and all indicators looked good. Security was a breeze as electronic items could be kept inside your bags so I was through in no time. As this initial flight to Copenhagen is within the Schengen zone, I didn't need to go through immigration.

Emerging air-side, it's yet another shopping mall but wonderfully designed.

The F pier looked quite new and I saw immigration counters so it is probably for international flights. There was plenty of seating and work desks with high ceilings.

It's a bit of a walk to my gate and I passed through many restaurants and windows with plenty of plane spotting. Prices here were not too crazy and I found a small shrimp sandwich on rye bread for only 109 SEK to fill up as it's nearing the dinner hour. It's a famous Swedish dish and did not disappoint, especially since I sat by the window to enjoy the views. I noticed my plane pulling into the gate during my quick meal.

The E pier is a far more dingy facility with dark corridors and low ceilings, possibly the original building. There was a big group of people waiting for my flight already, so I kept walking down the building to check out the planes instead. At the end of the pier, they seem to have extended a little bit with an upstairs seating area.

Boarding seemed efficient with the front part of the A320 using the jet bridge while the back half was directed to the staircase down to board from the tarmac.

First impressions were quite good. The seat had a lot of legroom compared to the BA flight into Gothenburg earlier in the week. There was no wifi but the safety card and dining menu were placed in the seatback.

It seemed like a full flight but there were no issues with the overhead compartments and hand baggage. SAS didn't charge much for checked bags and I happily sent mine into the hold to save the hassle.

We departed just 3 minutes behind schedule and took off towards the south for the short flight to Copenhagen. I kept my eyes glued to my left window hoping to spot the city on departure. I could make out the city's other airport and a more urbanized area in the distance but we were a bit far away to see anything meaningful. The crew came by to serve complimentary coffee or tea and just as I got my hot tea, we hit some moderate bumps and the seat belt sign quickly came on. The pilot then came on to say it's nothing unusual as we are passing through some weather and changing winds, but the turbulence felt different than what I'm used to - quick and violent bumps.

This is a short hop to Copenhagen and we were warned again during the descent that the weather we encountered on the way up would return. The turbulence was more muted this time and thick clouds had rolled into the area.

We passed by Copenhagen on the left on final descent and we looped around for landing. It was grey and gloomy and we were quite far from the city centre to spot the historic towers.

We arrived on time, going past a few interesting birds including my first time spotting a plane from the Faroes. We reached the gate on time at 7:14pm.

The terminal was extremely busy during the dinner hour. It looked more like a shopping mall with shops, restaurants, and few seating areas. Many were sitting on the floor and it didn't look like a pleasant experience. Walking distances were long but there are no trains to connect the distant sections, which makes me wonder whether the designers want to force people to go through the mall than to get to their gate efficiently. While the terminal's design is sleek and modern, it's just too crowded to enjoy.

I've got about an hour and a half to go before my next flight back to London.