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· 3 min readWhat is a feeder flight? How to connect to an award trip
A feeder flight is the short hop from your local airport to the hub airport where the long-haul flight begins. See how it works, and what it can cost.
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A feeder flight is a short flight that carries you from your local airport to the hub airport where the long-haul award trip begins, for example from Trondheim to Oslo, before you continue on the overnight flight to New York.
The word is industry shorthand for the connecting hop into the hub. In EuroBonus it is also a specific arrangement: the segment goes on the same booking as the long-haul flight, and you pay for it in kroner rather than in points.
Why do you need a feeder?
The best award seats are almost always on intercontinental routes out of the major hub airports: Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Paris, Amsterdam. If you live somewhere else, you first have to get yourself there.
EconomyThe feeder: the connecting hop to the hub airport
BusinessThe long-haul: the overnight flight with award seats
A feeder is not a destination in its own right. It is the connecting piece that lets your award trip start where you live, rather than only where the flight with the good seats happens to depart from. Note the cabins in the example: economy on the short hop, business on the overnight flight. The two are independent of each other, which is the same mechanic as in mixed cabin.
How is a feeder priced?
As a fixed supplement, not as a zone-priced award ticket. SAS adds the feeder to the same booking for around 150 kroner per passenger per segment, and the amount is the same whether you fly Trondheim to Oslo or Tromsø to Oslo.
Use the word when you call. SAS says "feeder" itself, so you do not have to explain the term to get to the point.
That is the irritating part of an otherwise good arrangement. The segment that ties the trip together is the one piece you cannot add yourself.
What is the difference between a feeder and an ordinary connection?
An ordinary connection is the airline's own routing through a hub, at no extra charge. A feeder is a separate segment from a city other than the hub, which you choose to add in order to reach the point where the trip really begins.
TypeWhat it looks like
ConnectionOSL → JFK connecting in Copenhagen: one routing, priced as a single journey
FeederTRD → OSL, then OSL → JFK: two distinct segments, the first one a supplement
When is a feeder worth it?
Add one when you live away from the hubs and the award seats exist only from there. That is the main case, and it is not a close call: intercontinental award seats are scarce enough without also having to be available from a smaller airport.
The reason to keep everything on one booking is not the price but the liability. Buy the connecting hop as a separate ticket and you have no rebooking if it runs late and you miss the long-haul flight, and your bags are rarely checked through. Status points for the whole trip also follow from the single booking.
How do you find the feeder combination?
Searching manually for a long-haul flight with award seats, then working out which feeder flights fit, is laborious. The trip finder puts the long-haul flight and the feeder together for you within your points budget, and the search shows the points price per direction and when each result was last checked. SAS confirms the fee when you call.
Frequently asked questions
Is a feeder flight a separate award ticket?
No. The feeder is not priced from the EuroBonus zone chart the way the long-haul flight is. SAS adds it to the same booking as a fixed supplement of around 150 kroner per passenger per segment, regardless of how far you have to fly to reach the hub.
Can I use another airline as the feeder?
Usually not on the same booking as a SAS award ticket. To combine airlines the feeder has to be booked as a separate ticket. You then have no rebooking if it runs late, and bags are rarely checked through, so leave a generous margin between the flights.
Do I always have to call SAS to add a feeder?
In most cases, yes. Feeder combinations with an intercontinental award ticket can rarely be completed entirely on sas.no. Check first whether the trip finder shows the route as bookable online, which saves you the call when it is.
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