SAS Eurobonus Millionaire Challenge

SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) joined Skyteam and issued a challenge for the end of 2024. If you fly 15 Skyteam airlines, and credit the points to SAS, you will receive 1 million SAS miles. I decided to do this challenge to exercise my flying/planning chops. This would be the first time I’ve flown outside of North America for about 15 years. The 1 million mile bonus (worth maybe $8000-10k to me) meant the entire trip was essentially free or negative cost.

Some stats for the trip:

  • 15 Days
  • 24 Segments Flown
  • 25 Airports Visited
  • 17 Airlines Flown
  • 30+ Airport Lounges Visited
  • 27966 miles flown, 9546 miles in business class
  • $2921, 75k Aeroplan Points, 40k AA Points Spent on Flights
  • $316, 33k Hyatt Points, 10k Marriott Points Spent On Hotels
  • $539 Spent on Misc (Food, Sightseeing, Ubers, Visas)
  • Total Cost: $3776, 75k Aeroplan, 40k AA, 33k Hyatt, 10k Marriott Points

Some thoughts:

  • I programmed too much time for layovers, especially in Europe. Since it was my first time flying internationally in 15 years, I didn’t know how efficient the transfer system was and added too much buffer time.
  • I didn’t want to just fly, I wanted to spend some time at some of these cities, which increased the cost. I spent a day or two in Barcelona, Bucharest, Jakarta, and Seoul.
  • I flew out of Incheon right as a huge snow storm hit. The flight was delayed 2 hours but I got lucky and many other flights were canceled that day.
  • I got lucky and immigration at Fuzhou let me through on a temporary stay for transit, even though they didn’t have a 24 Transit Without Visa Policy. They were highly professional and let me through without an issue.
  • I unfortunately got a terrible cold/cough/diarrhea/night sweats halfway through the trip.
  • Best flight: Qatar first/business from Dubai to Doha to Jakarta.
  • The daytime flight from TPE-SFO in United Polaris wasn’t worth the points. I was awake for all but 3 hours so the lie flat seat wasn’t worth the price premium.
  • All but one of the flights was on time. The only issue with the flights was with Kenya Airways, which was canceled/rebooked, which cascaded to about $290 in fees.
  • It’s been 7 days since the last leg and I’ve gotten 13/15 flights credited to SAS.

Overall it was a fun experience and I would do it again. I learned a lot about flying international and it made me more confident to book complicated trips in the future.

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