Advertiser Disclosure

Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which we receive financial compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). However, the credit card information that we publish has been written and evaluated by experts who know these products inside out. We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse. This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers that are on the market. See our advertising policy here where we list advertisers that we work with, and how we make money. You can also review our credit card rating methodology.

Delta Air Lines and SAS Announce Codeshare Agreement

Ryan Smith's image
Ryan Smith
Ryan Smith's image

Ryan Smith

News Managing Editor

293 Published Articles 359 Edited Articles

Countries Visited: 197U.S. States Visited: 50

Ryan completed his goal of visiting every country in the world in December of 2023 and now plans to let his wife choose their destinations. Over the years, he’s written about award travel for publicat...
Edited by: Nick Ellis
Nick Ellis's image

Nick Ellis

Senior Editor & Content Contributor

184 Published Articles 841 Edited Articles

Countries Visited: 35U.S. States Visited: 25

Nick’s passion for points began as a hobby and became a career. He worked for over 5 years at The Points Guy and has contributed to Business Insider and CNN. He has 14 credit cards and continues to le...

We may be compensated when you click on product links, such as credit cards, from one or more of our advertising partners. Terms apply to the offers below. See our Advertising Policy for more about our partners, how we make money, and our rating methodology. Opinions and recommendations are ours alone.

There’s a lot happening with Scandinavian Airlines (commonly known as SAS). The latest move is a codeshare agreement between Delta and SAS, which will open up each airline’s route network to passengers originating on flights with the airline.

Let’s take a look at what the latest news means for travelers.

New Delta and SAS Codeshare Agreement

Effective September 25, 2024, Delta Air Lines and SAS will begin a new codeshare agreement, announced this morning. There’s been a flurry of news with SAS this month, so let’s quickly recap that to figure out how we got to the new codeshare with Delta and why this matters.

SAS filed for bankruptcy in 2022, and its exit came after a major investment from Air France-KLM. At that point, the carrier’s future became much clearer, as SAS left Star Alliance (of which it was a founding member in 1997) and joined rival alliance SkyTeam on September 1, 2024.

Since then, SAS has begun publishing earning rates for flights on its new partners. In return, SkyTeam partners are publishing award charts covering redemption flights on SAS.

SAS also announced new flight routes to the U.S. for the summer of 2025. Interestingly, some of those align with Delta’s U.S. hubs. However, Delta doesn’t currently offer service on its own metal to the airline’s primary hubs across Scandinavia in Copenhagen (CPH), Oslo (OSL), and Stockholm (ARN).

Until a couple of days from now, U.S. travelers looking for onward flights within Europe had fewer options — especially in northern Europe. The new codeshare agreement between Delta and SAS, however, will let travelers start on Delta flights and then connect onward to an SAS flight, providing access to additional destinations. The same holds true in reverse.

This codeshare agreement provides Delta flyers access to an additional 50 destinations in Europe. SAS flyers, meanwhile, get access to an additional 150 destinations in the U.S.

While an interline agreement would allow passengers to connect from Delta flights to SAS flights on 1 ticket, a codeshare agreement does more. Travelers will be able to earn SkyMiles on the SAS portion of the journey, for example, and the airlines have indicated reciprocal elite benefits are coming soon. We’ll start seeing Delta flight numbers and marketing on SAS flights, plus SAS marketing Delta flights on its own website.

SAS A330 business class seats
Business class cabin on SAS’ Airbus A330s. Image Credit: Ryan Smith
Hot Tip:

Learn more about the SkyTeam alliance in our complete guide!

Final Thoughts

SAS has been busy this month. It changed alliances, updated partnership agreements, made its flights available for redemption bookings on new partners, and now it’s signed a codeshare agreement with Delta.

This likely isn’t the end of the news cycle with SAS this year — or possibly even this month. The next step may very well be joining the SkyTeam transatlantic joint venture, but only time will tell if that actually happens.

Ryan Smith's image

About Ryan Smith

Ryan completed his goal of visiting every country in the world in December of 2023 and now plans to let his wife choose their destinations. Over the years, he’s written about award travel for publications including AwardWallet, The Points Guy, USA Today Blueprint, CNBC Select, Tripadvisor, and Forbes Advisor.

INSIDERS ONLY: UP PULSE

Deluxe Travel Provided by UP Pulse

Get the latest travel tips, crucial news, flight & hotel deal alerts...

Plus — expert strategies to maximize your points & miles by joining our (free) newsletter.

We respect your privacy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA. Google's privacy policy  and terms of service  apply.

Deluxe Travel Provided by UP Pulse
DMCA.com Protection Status