I could not find any info on it on the English version of the SAS website, which leads me to believe that since the new requirement applies to domestic flights, SAS thinks that everybody who flights with them within Sweden should speak Swedish. Oh well… The announcement in Swedish  is here.

Basically, don’t be surprised when you’re asked to be fingerprinted on domestic flights with SAS while in Sweden. The explanation for it is that if you have checked-in luggage you need to be matched to it later on, and hence the need for your fingerprint. In theory it works like that: you proceed through the self-check in, print your luggage tags and when you deposit your luggage at the luggage drop, you leave a fingerprint.

Later, while boarding, you are required to leave a fingerprint at the gate. That way SAS knows you and your luggage are on the same flight.

However, in practice, the check-in staff seems a bit confused. On a recent flight from Umeå to Stockholm on November 19, everybody was required to leave fingerprints at the gate, even if a person didn’t have any checked in luggage. However, when returning from Stockholm to Umeå on November 21, only people with checked-in luggage were fingerprinted.

Because this is Sweden, and people meekly accept and do what they are told, and because the information is supposedly stored only for the duration of the flight and later erased, there were no objections to this new innovation from the public at large.

This requirement applies to both foreigners and Swedish citizens who fly SAS domestically.