Subject: Complaint and Demand for Action regarding bookings BOOKINGREF1 & BOOKINGREF2 - Misleading information and incorrect charges
To SAS EuroBonus Customer Service,
I created this website in order to reach you with a formal complaint regarding the handling of my bonus trips, which has resulted in an incredibly frustrating and time-consuming process filled with conflicting messages and incorrect debits.
Booking Information:
Booking Reference 1: BOOKINGREF1 (Dan, Traveler2 )
Booking Reference 2: BOOKINGREF2 (Traveler 3, Traveler 4)
*The actual booking references and traveler names have been given in calls, emails and forms.
Summary of events:
My contact with your customer service began on July 19 and has since involved at least eight different agents over several days. The entire process has been characterized by incorrect information, leading to an unsustainable situation.
July 19: First call with agent Olivia regarding a limited number of bonus seats with Saudi Airlines. There are currently only three economy seats available and this is the case for all flights we can find across multiple days. Our hypothesis is that if we book two seats, more might be released immediately or the next day (since I need four this is of interest to me). Olivia agrees that it is a good idea to book two people as a test and then talk the next day and see if more seats have been released. Post this call, I learned from the internet that Saudi Airlines only releases 3 economy tickets per flight, period, - so I decided to call in again.
July 19: Second call with agent Henrik. He confirms that Saudia only releases three seats and helps me book a split journey for the family:
Outbound: Dan & Traveler2 from Madrid on 20/12. Traveler3 & Traveler4 from Heathrow on 21/12. Both to Kuala Lumpur.
Return: From Singapore to Istanbul in mid-January.
Henrik assures me that the remaining segment (Istanbul-Arlanda) can be added later without extra change fees. A first payment is made.
July 20 (as I recall): I call in to add the return journey from Istanbul. An agent suggests an unreasonable solution with a night in Amsterdam. She claims that because the trip is so 'inconvenient', I can pay for a hotel night and then get the money back from SAS. I am skeptical and say that I need to speak to my wife before making a decision. The agent was supposed to call back but never did, while we, on our own, decide that this is not a good idea.
July 22 (as I recall): I call again and speak with Olivia. She finds a new solution for the return journey all the way from Singapore to Arlanda. Suddenly, a change fee of 75 euros per person is added, despite Henrik's earlier promise. When I point out that I am within the 24-hour rule and can cancel, Olivia states that I then risk losing the entire trip. I feel forced to accept the fee under these premises. Olivia assures me that everything is now correctly booked.
30 minutes after we hung up: I discover in the SAS app that segments are missing on the return journey. I call again and an agent confirms that it is wrong and says she has fixed it. It now looks correct in the app again.
Another 30 minutes after we hung up: I see that the trips are gone again. I call in again and the agent I speak with informs me that the entire booking setup starting in Madrid/London to Kuala Lumpur and returning from Singapore to Arlanda is an unauthorized "Double Open Jaw" and therefore invalid from the beginning. He cannot restore the trip, not even to the previous version to Istanbul (which he also says was incorrect).
When I, after spending approximately 6 hours on the phone with you so far, request to cancel everything and get a refund, he informs me that you intend to keep the change fees.
>>The core of the problem: Your staff has thus sold me a trip that, according to your own rules, is invalid. Subsequently, based on incorrect premises and promises, you have made me pay change fees for new bookings that also turn out to be invalid. To refuse to refund the change fee in this situation is completely unreasonable, as the entire basis for the change was incorrect information from your side.
The agent agrees that it is unreasonable but he doesn't know what to do. I ask for a manager to call back, he says he will arrange it.<<
July 23: The day is nearing its end and I have not heard anything from a manager. I call in and speak with an agent, having to explain the entire problem again. The call is disconnected. I call in again, get to speak with Alexandra. I explain the entire problem, she is fully on board (and seems to be an experienced agent). She puts me on hold and after a while, she says that all money, booking + change fees, will be refunded. Wonderful, I say, thank you and hang up. Note that SAS has then debited 10048 SEK from my Amex. I cannot fully understand exactly how you arrived at that sum, but it is clear from the debits.
July 24: I receive two refund notices from SAS. One for 2129 SEK and one for 900 SEK. A total of 3029 SEK. 7019 SEK is missing. I call in again. I speak with an English-speaking agent. He says he will check the entire history and call back an hour later. He then calls back and says he has to call back the next day instead at 10:00.
July 25: The agent calls at 11:30 and now also confirms that everything will be transferred back but that it may take up to 72 hours.
July 26: I find new tickets online and since I have received my points and vouchers back, I call in and speak with Jessika, booking a trip. She was very helpful and after we finished booking the trip, I ask if she can see any notes about my ongoing case (there is apparently no case number but she checks the previous booking references). She apologizes for the trouble and after assuring me that this will not cause any more issues, she makes her own note that everything should be refunded.
July 28: Two more refund notices, 1215 SEK and another 1215 SEK. A total of 2430 SEK. There is still (7019 SEK - 2430 SEK) 4589 SEK missing. Ugh.
July 29: Still no more refunds. I call in again, and ask the agent to create a case for me so that I don’t have to re-tell the whole story again OR that she gives me an email address so that I can send it in writing. She is adamant that she has no access to email and that I have to create a case on my end. I give up, and give her the booking references and explain the problem. She tells me that she is going to call me back in a few minutes.
While I’m waiting I visit the ‘https://www.flysas.com/en/customer-service/contact/forms’ webpage. Given the situation, no other form than the “Other” category is fitting. I click on it and quickly realise that I can’t proceed with it because other than the Booking reference that I have, it also needs a flight number and a departure date in the past. In other words, I can’t create a case.
Agent never called back.
Five hours later, I made another call. I spoke with a new english speaking agent this time. She understands the situation, reads up on the case and after having me on hold for about 20 minutes she gets back to me and tells me that she has created a refund ticket internally, with my personal email as CC,.so that I will know if it is approved or not once they get to it. She also tells me that she has written an update of the case in the BOOKINGREF1 booking reference. Now I’m supposed to wait until I get an email with an approval or rejection and take it from there.
While talking to her, I asked if there was any possibility for me to send an email and my full account of everything that has transpired in regards to this case. She said yes, and gave me “customercare@sas.se”. Finally I thought, thinking that the only progress I’ve made so far is to get my money back and I was told that any type of compensation should be a separate case. I thank her for her help and hang up.
I compose this text, write it in an email and attach it as an PDF as well. I sent it to customercare@sas.se. Given my faith in SAS at this point, I wasn’t surprised to immediately get a reply stating:
“Hi,
Email delivery unsuccessful.
Please use our Customer Claims form if you would like to submit a new claim with SAS Customer Feedback”
A new idea started brewing. I registered at www.thankyouforholdingSAS.se . I put up my whole story. I created a case with my booking reference, but then put the date the same as the first call, and put the flight number as SA000. Then, given that I had a 500 character limit, I gave the reader the right booking references / names and an introduction to the case. And then prompted them to use this website.
August 3: I received updates about my flights that I booked on the 26th and had questions about them, so I unfortunately had to call in to my favorite customer service. The agent confirms that the SAS app is showing me the wrong arrival times and we sort things out. Since some days have passed I ask about my case, clearly stating that I don't want to make things messy with another engaged agent. She says that she wants to take a look and I tell her that I spent all this time making a website for her so that I don't have to explain it all over verbally, the tale is stating to be long. Unfortunately, she can't reach the website. It is blocked on her end. With that said, we agree that she will try another way when she has a moment and will call me back when she can.
Some minutes pass, and she calls me, I'm thinking "great, now she knows the case". She instead tells me that she isn't allowed to gather any information from any other place than over the phone.. So I ask if there is a way for me to send an email - she tells me no.
So, I go through it all over again verbally, from the start up until this date including transactions and what SAS still owes mr, and she says she understands and puts me on hold. After a long time she comes back and tells me that since the cancellation (?) was after 24h, I'm not eligible to a full refund. Apparently, the last agent had flagged my case as a "he should get a refund because of the 24h cancellation policy", which of course doesn't reflect the points I've been trying to make since this debacle started. So with this agent, named Marjam, I explain again that SAS sold me a trip, then I made changes to it and then SAS realized that it is a double open jaw and cancelled it because it isn't allowed. I was fine for paying for the changes but as it was later invalid, I should obviously be refunded everything. I also tell her that two agents have already confirmed that I should be refunded everything.
Now this agent tells me that she can't be accountable for what other agents have told me which is honestly, excuse my french, f*cking outrageous. I'm talking to SAS REPRESENTATIVE, they are supposed to be part of the same hive mind, whatever an agent tells me - should be true. If I can't trust one agent to uphold what another agent tells me, how is customer service supposed to work. She then then tells me that she is going to create a new case and that she will call me back when she has heard a verdict about the remaining debt to me. I ask about some expected timeline - she has no clue. I ask about if she can email me since I might miss the call - no possibility, The conclusion is that if I have a missed call from SAS, I will have to call in and give BOOKINGREF1 and hope that whatever agent answers can help me which seems far from guaranteed at this point. To be continued.
Demand for solution:
I expect SAS to take full responsibility for its mistakes. I therefore demand the following:
Refund: An immediate and full refund of all remaining costs of 4589 SEK to my amex.
Compensation: I demand reasonable compensation in the form of a significant amount of EuroBonus points for the more than 14 hours I have spent trying to resolve a problem that your agents created, as well as for the stress and uncertainty this has caused for my family's travel plans.
Request for disclosure of personal data according to GDPR: With reference to my rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), I hereby request that you provide me with all audio recordings of my phone calls with your customer service during the period July 19 to July 29, 2025.
I've heard "Thank you for holding" enough times now.
Sincerely,
Dan