Is Air Canada or SAS better to Europe?

Air Canada scores 8.5/10 against SAS at 8.3/10 on seat, screens, lounge and fare. On the four dimensions we can verify, Air Canada wins 1 and SAS wins 0. Service and food are not scored here because they cannot be read off a spec sheet.

Which is cheaper, Air Canada or SAS?

On the 36 routes where both were priced for the same week (November 8–14, 2026), Air Canada was cheaper on 13 and SAS on 23. Every pair of fares is the same departure and return date in the same cabin, so the difference is the airline rather than the dates or the cabin.

Does the aircraft change the answer?

Not on seat: both carriers fly a consistent product across the aircraft we have verified.

Has Jon flown either of these?

Neither, so this page is product facts and fares only. Any review we publish of either will be labeled Researched until that changes.

Head to head

Air Canada vs SAS

Air Canada scores 8.5/10 against SAS at 8.3/10 on seat, screens, lounge and fare.

By Jon Miksis · cabin data verified September 1, 2026 · fares for travel November 8–14, 2026

Best product each one flies

Scored on what can be verified. Service, food and ground recovery are absent deliberately: they need someone in the seat, and they live in the reviews rather than here.

One caveat on the Value line, stated rather than buried: Value is computed from business fares, and a carrier with too few of them does not get a Value score at all. Where you see a dash, we have fewer than three priced business routes for that airline and did not want to invent a figure from one or two — so its product score is the mean of three dimensions rather than four, and it is not directly comparable to a score built on hundreds of fares. The airlines with the most fares behind them are named on the business-class ranking.

Air Canada

777-300ER / 787-9 / A330-300 (Signature)

Seat: 8/10
IFE: 8/10
Lounge & bags: 10/10
Value: 8/10
Product score: 8.5/10

SAS

A330-300 / A350-900

Seat: 8/10
IFE: 8/10
Lounge & bags: 10/10
Value: 7/10
Product score: 8.3/10

Dimension by dimension

Seat: level
8/10 on the 777-300ER / 787-9 / A330-300 (Signature) against 8/10 on the A330-300 / A350-900.
IFE: level
Screens, connectivity and power: 8/10 against 8/10.
Lounge & bags: level
What the fare includes before you board: 10/10 against 10/10.
Value: Air Canada
Median premium over the cheapest carrier on the same route: 8/10 against 7/10.

Where both were priced on the same dates

Every fare is November 8–14, 2026, so a difference between two rows is a difference between two airlines and nothing else. These are economy fares, while the cabin scores above describe the business product — read them as how each airline prices against its competitors, not as what its business seat costs.

Route	Cabin	Air Canada	SAS	Cheaper
SFO → DUB	economy	$817	$662	SAS by $155
BOS → CDG	economy	$707	$672	SAS by $35
LAX → MXP	economy	$777	$686	SAS by $91
SFO → MXP	economy	$776	$706	SAS by $70
SFO → FCO	economy	$835	$717	SAS by $118
MIA → FRA	economy	$862	$721	SAS by $141
BOS → ATH	economy	$747	$769	Air Canada by $22
ORD → MXP	economy	$781	$772	SAS by $9
LAX → ZRH	economy	$777	$887	Air Canada by $110
ORD → BCN	economy	$795	$778	SAS by $17
LAX → LIS	economy	$781	$848	Air Canada by $67
SFO → LIS	economy	$781	$818	Air Canada by $37
LAX → FCO	economy	$788	$879	Air Canada by $91
ATL → MXP	economy	$1032	$790	SAS by $242
ORD → ATH	economy	$837	$795	SAS by $42
ORD → LIS	economy	$799	$811	Air Canada by $12
LAX → FRA	economy	$841	$856	Air Canada by $15
SFO → ATH	economy	$889	$855	SAS by $34
ORD → ZRH	economy	$866	$969	Air Canada by $103
MIA → ATH	economy	$1024	$882	SAS by $142
ATL → ATH	economy	$902	$901	SAS by $1
LAX → MAN	economy	$912	$911	SAS by $1
LAX → FCO	business	$4790	$5489	Air Canada by $699
ATL → DUB	business	$4830	$5386	Air Canada by $556
LAX → MXP	business	$4846	$5479	Air Canada by $633
SFO → LIS	business	$5023	$5979	Air Canada by $956
ATL → ATH	business	$5994	$5393	SAS by $601
ORD → BCN	business	$7581	$5394	SAS by $2187
ATL → BCN	business	$5983	$5394	SAS by $589
ORD → FRA	business	$6877	$5467	SAS by $1410
ORD → MAN	business	$7069	$5721	SAS by $1348
BOS → ATH	business	$5751	$5901	Air Canada by $150
SFO → ATH	business	$6786	$5901	SAS by $885
SFO → FCO	business	$8755	$5912	SAS by $2843
LAX → ZRH	business	$6792	$5974	SAS by $818
ORD → ZRH	business	$6800	$5974	SAS by $826

Common questions

Is Air Canada or SAS better to Europe?: Air Canada scores 8.5/10 against SAS at 8.3/10 on seat, screens, lounge and fare. On the four dimensions we can verify, Air Canada wins 1 and SAS wins 0. Service and food are not scored here because they cannot be read off a spec sheet.
Which is cheaper, Air Canada or SAS?: On the 36 routes where both were priced for the same week (November 8–14, 2026), Air Canada was cheaper on 13 and SAS on 23. Every pair of fares is the same departure and return date in the same cabin, so the difference is the airline rather than the dates or the cabin.
Does the aircraft change the answer?: Not on seat: both carriers fly a consistent product across the aircraft we have verified.
Has Jon flown either of these?: Neither, so this page is product facts and fares only. Any review we publish of either will be labeled Researched until that changes.

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