8 tips you absolutely must follow if you want to take advantage of the SAS promotion for 1 million points (and avoid the risk of not getting them)

If you want to do the round-the-world trip to take advantage of the promotion that gives 1 million points (value of ≈ $10,000 to UNLIMITED), I’ve promised you an optimized turnkey itinerary (even better than my own). But without further ado, I want to at least reiterate the 8 important tips more clearly, because a few of you told me you’d started booking.

I’ve mentioned all these tips in the guide to the SAS EuroBonus Millionaire promotion, but it can get lost in all the content explaining the rather complex promotion… and it’s really very very important to avoid the many risks.

Here are the 8 important tips in a very clear way.

Important background on the risks related to the SAS promotion

The promotion is obviously amazing, probably the best seen in a decade… but it’s vital to make sure you don’t make a mistake that would cost you your million points.

I want to say it very clearly: the slightest minor mistake can (and will) totally make you miss out on the million points. This is true for any promo really, but the stakes are so high with these million points!

It’s not a reason not to do it: it’s just a reason to plan well! Just be careful and everything will be alright. If you follow these 8 tips, it’s going to be fine. Take the time to do it well, because it’s absolutely vital. 

It’s normal for it to be complex too, it’s a million points!!! They don’t want it to be too easy; otherwise, literally everyone would do it to get the million! Now, it’s a good filter to weed out those who aren’t able to plan well and pay attention. It’s clear that this promotion is not for beginners unless you put in a lot of time to learn and become a pro in record time or follow these tips.

I was a speaker at the Chicago Seminars travel rewards event this weekend and was on a panel about the promotion, and many travelers are definitely intimidated by it.

My own round-the-world itinerary that I’ve just booked already has a pretty major snag: a flight whose date has been changed by 3 days (!!!), while I have 21 flights in 24 days, so clearly an average closer to 1 flight per day than 1 flight per 3 days! I’ll share the details of this complication in a separate post (so I can tell you what I did to fix it).

In my case, the complication really won’t be so bad because I had followed tip #7 below. This one is the most important because it’s THE biggest risk for this whole promotion, in my opinion. If I hadn’t followed it, the whole house of cards would have collapsed, literally. Or it would have been very very expensive to adjust the plan.

I repeat: the risk becomes exceedingly low if you follow these 8 tips.

1. Make sure you register for the promotion before you start

Like virtually all promotions in the world of travel rewards, you have to register in advance.

In this case, that means before you take your first flight. It can be done with a few clicks on the SAS app.

Imagine taking all 15 airlines and forgetting to register beforehand… that would be a bummer. Also, take a screenshot when it says you’re registered. There’s a 99.99999% chance it’s unnecessary, but it takes 2 seconds to do.

2. Make sure you have 15 eligible airlines

UPDATE: Thanks to the change explained in tip #4, you can probably choose any of the 17 eligible airlines to reach the threshold of 15, instead of having to do the 15 specific ones I mentioned.

I strongly recommended avoiding Air Europa and Aerolíneas Argentinas and therefore, doing the other 15, as I explained in the promotion guide.

If you choose these 2 airlines, there is a certain risk. If you do the other 15, you avoid that risk. That’s what I’ve done. The risk is now very small thanks to that update, but it’s still not much more expensive to replace Air Europa by an Asian airline so I wouldn’t necessarily change strategies.

Others who are doing it have told me they’ve even booked the 15 AND Air Europa (because it doesn’t cost much more to add it) as an additional buffer. It certainly can’t hurt, but I haven’t done it.

3. Make sure you check the airline operating the flight

There are many less-experienced travelers who really don’t seem to understand the concept of codeshare flights and partnerships (as we see with the many questions about the Air Canada free checked bag benefit).

For the promotion, it’s the airline that OPERATES the flight that counts! A flight purchased on the Delta site, with a Delta flight number… but operated by AeroMexico, won’t count as a Delta flight. The name written on the side of the plane is what matters. Just read what’s on the screen when you search.

And if your flight is canceled, they might initially rebook you on another airline. You have to make sure to demand to be rebooked on the right airline. If you buy a ticket that combines airlines, it’s even more important because they might rebook you on just 1 of the airlines instead of all 2.  

4. Make sure you complete all flights before December 31 (not December 12)

UPDATE: You now have until December 31 based on the most recent loosening of the rules! SAS will accept claims for missing points in January, as it should have been from the start. They have changed the rules “due to members’ feedback.”

Strangely, before this change, the deadline for claiming points if there is a problem with the points crediting for one of the flights was December 20. However, the SAS policy is to have to wait 8 days after the flight to be able to make the claim.

So it was really unclear, but the only way to be sure it works was to complete your flights before December 12. That’s what I recommended. Some of the airlines are known to work well for the points crediting, but this is impossible to verify officially and you’d rely only on other travelers’ experiences, which is not without risk.

Now they explicitly specify that January will be fine.

I met someone at the points conference who is going to sue SAS (she’s an American, obviously😅) if their technological incompetence makes it impossible to complete according to their own rules. Honestly, in my opinion, it’s clear that it would be almost impossible to lose. But not everyone is keen to get into this! It seems that won’t be necessary, unfortunately for the thousands of American lawyers.

5. Make sure every flight is in an eligible fare class

You have to earn points with the flight for it to work. This isn’t a problem for the vast majority of the 15 airlines, because all their fare classes earn points with SAS, but with a few, there are some cheaper fare classes that don’t.

Check very carefully before booking. I’ve explained it all in a section of the promotion guide. You can use SAS points too, but just about nobody has any of them (for now). You cannot use other airlines’ points.

I didn’t feel like specifically naming airlines because you should definitely double-check them all (because it changes for each date depending on which fare classes are sold out that day), but the ones most likely to require you to pay a little more are Xiamen Air, Delta, and TAROM.

6. Make sure you take each country’s entry requirements into account

We can’t repeat it often enough, it’s not complicated: for any trip, checking the countries’ entry rules is literally the only really mandatory step. Otherwise, you could be denied boarding.

To make life easier for you since I’ve done it for my own itinerary, I’ll share it with you in a separate post very shortly (for Canadian passports). But if you’re doing different countries, you’ll have to check (like Egypt for example).

As a teaser, China is obviously the biggest issue here, with 2 obligatory passages (and a 3^rd for Kenya Airways’ 5^th freedom flight, unless you’re going to Africa). Doing the visa is certainly the least risky, but you can do as I did and instead use the 144-hour visa-free transit which has particular rules (I described them in the post on my itinerary). They even have a separate 24-hour visa-free transit too.

7. Make sure you leave yourself as much buffer as possible

I met some this weekend who are going to do all 15 airlines in 10 days. With days that have 3 flights on 3 separate tickets. Sure, it’s feasible if all the flights go perfectly, but as soon as there’s the slightest flight cancellation (or even the slightest long delay), it’s extremely problematic.

The more buffer time you can put between flights, the better. Especially before long, expensive flights between continents. This is true whenever you use the self-transfer tip (one of the best ways to save a lot on flights), but especially here because if you only do 14 airlines, you lose the million.

I’d add looking at plan Bs too. For example, an Air France flight from Paris to Amsterdam with 9 departures per day isn’t very stressful. A TAROM flight from Bucharest to Amman with 2 frequencies per week is one I knew was a risk.

But I had left myself 3 days in Jordan, my longest stay of the trip. So I’ll be able to ask them for a rebooking without stress today, and if that doesn’t work out, I can manage without it costing much more (probably TAROM to İstanbul, then a $200 flight from there to Amman).

In Europe, it’s a little less stressful. That’s why that’s where I put in the least amount of buffer myself. If your flight is canceled, you’re often entitled to $629 (600) thanks to EU regulations, so it helps to pay for another flight. But you still need to have the time in between your flights.

I’ve also paid for all my flights that are on a tighter schedule with my American Express Platinum Card (new RECORD-HIGH offer launched today), which has the best trip interruption insurance. It pays for a new flight if I miss one because of a delay on an earlier one.

8. Make sure your SAS membership number is on every boarding pass, and take a photo of every boarding pass

I did my first airline Sunday, and like many of the other 15, the option to add the SAS number doesn’t even exist yet online on the AeroMexico site. So I had to do it at the airport counter.

Arrive early for each flight to allow time, at least for those you weren’t able to add your number when booking or managing the online booking.

Take a photo of the boarding pass showing your number. It’s one of the rare instances where paper is better. Take the picture before boarding, as the important bit with your SAS number might be ripped off at the gate. And make sure the photo is backed up and not just on your phone (or email it to yourself).

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Summary

With these 8 essential tips, you should be able to book your flights to earn a million points with the SAS EuroBonus Millionaire promotion. The key here is to have rigorous planning to minimize risk and avoid mistakes. Although complex, the SAS promotion becomes much safer if you follow these tips carefully.

What would you like to know about the 8 tips you must follow if you want to take advantage of the SAS promotion? Tell us in the comments below.

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Featured image:  Singapore (photo credit: Mike Enerio)

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