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PRESENTED BY ARLANDA EXPRESS

How to travel for less on the Arlanda Express

So you've touched down at Arlanda airport and are eager to see the sights. Time is of the essence so why waste a single moment of it?

Published: 17 December 2019 06:00 CET
Updated: 17 March 2021 10:48 CET
How to travel for less on the Arlanda Express
Photo: Patric Johansson

Fortunately, the Arlanda Express will get you to the city centre in just 18 minutes. That’s two minutes less than the train used to take to get from the city’s main airport to Stockholm central station. Plus, you can save money when you buy two tickets so it pays to travel in pairs. A single is normally 299 kronor ($32) while you can get two tickets for just 379 kronor ($40).

Click the banner below to buy two Arlanda Express tickets for just 379 kronorDid we mention the trains are environmentally friendly to boot? Stockholmer Greta Thunberg would (surely) approve. 

Going green is all the rage nowadays but the Arlanda Express was way ahead of the game when the first train rolled off the tracks exactly 20 years ago. Before then the only way to access Arlanda airport was via car or bus, or if you were prepared to spend a small fortune on a taxi…

And the service has evolved with the times. Not only is the Arlanda Express faster than before, you can now buy tickets on your mobile before you land so you can just hop aboard. Trains run six times every hour during peak times and every 15 minutes at other times.

Benefiting the environment was a core goal of the service, which halved travel times between Arlanda and the Swedish capital compared to other transport options. The service even comes with the royal seal of approval; the first passengers back in 1999 were the King and Queen of Sweden. 

Since then more than 63 million passengers have used the Arlanda Express. Only green electricity coming from renewable sources is used to power the train, which can reach 200 km/h as it flashes by to its destination. 

A wise man once said that ‘it’s not about the destination, it is about the journey.’ And while it is unlikely that the author of that quote was thinking about the benefits of a good wifi connection, which is free for all Arlanda Express passengers, the sentiment rings true for all travellers of any vintage. 

Stepping onboard the Arlanda Express directly from the platform is an extension of your travel experience. From the air-conditioned carriages through to the soft lighting and images of the Swedish provinces, passenger comfort is at the heart of your 18-minute journey. 

Photo: Arlanda Express

Even the 190 custom made seats have a story to tell. Each one is labelled with a date on which a different historical event occurred. Take seat 1475-03-06 with the tag March 6, 1475 – the date of the birth of Italian artist Michelangelo. If you are curious to know what happened on the date your seat is tagged with then visit the Arlanda Express site here. 

Back in 2006, the train’s interior was redesigned by the iconic Swedish firm Björn Borg International. Such attention to detail earned the Arlanda Express a prestigious red dot design award for the firm’s ‘Trains of the Future’ concept that has Scandinavian design at its core.

So what are you waiting for? Book your tickets for the Arlanda Express here.  

This article was produced by The Local Creative Studio and sponsored by Arlanda Express.

FOOD AND DRINK

OPINION: Are tips in Sweden becoming the norm?

Should you tip in Sweden? Habits are changing fast thanks to new technology and a hard-pressed restaurant trade, writes James Savage.

Published: 5 April 2024 13:59 CEST
OPINION: Are tips in Sweden becoming the norm?

The Local’s guide to tipping in Sweden is clear: tip for good service if you want to, but don’t feel the pressure: where servers in the US, for instance, rely on tips to live, waiters in Sweden have collectively bargained salaries with long vacations and generous benefits. 

But there are signs that this is changing, and the change is being accelerated by card machines. Now, many machines offer three preset gratuity percentages, usually starting with five percent and going up to fifteen or twenty. Previously they just asked the customer to fill in the total amount they wanted to pay.

This subtle change to a user interface sends a not-so-subtle message to customers: that tipping is expected and that most people are probably doing it. The button for not tipping is either a large-lettered ‘No Tip’ or a more subtle ‘Fortsätt’ or ‘Continue’ (it turns out you can continue without selecting a tip amount, but it’s not immediately clear to the user). 

I’ll confess, when I was first presented with this I was mildly irked: I usually tip if I’ve had table service, but waiting staff are treated as professionals and paid properly, guaranteed by deals with unions; menu prices are correspondingly high. The tip was a genuine token of appreciation.

But when I tweeted something to this effect (a tweet that went strangely viral), the responses I got made me think. Many people pointed out that the restaurant trade in Sweden is under enormous pressure, with rising costs, the after-effects of Covid and difficulties recruiting. And as Sweden has become more cosmopolitain, adding ten percent to the bill comes naturally to many.

Boulebar, a restaurant and bar chain with branches around Sweden and Denmark, had a longstanding policy of not accepting tips at all, reasoning that they were outdated and put diners in an uncomfortable position. But in 2021 CEO Henrik Kruse decided to change tack:

“It was a purely financial decision. We were under pressure due to Covid, and we had to keep wages down, so bringing back tips was the solution,” he said, adding that he has a collective agreement and staff also get a union bargained salary, before tips.

Yet for Kruse the new machines, with their pre-set tipping percentages, take things too far:

“We don’t use it, because it makes it even clearer that you’re asking for money. The guest should feel free not to tip. It’s more important for us that the guest feels free to tell people they’re satisfied.”

But for those restaurants that have adopted the new interfaces, the effect has been dramatic. Card processing company Kassacentralen, which was one of the first to launch this feature in Sweden, told Svenska Dagbladet this week that the feature had led to tips for the average establishment doubling, with some places seeing them rise six-fold.

Even unions are relaxed about tipping these days, perhaps understanding that they’re a significant extra income for their members. Union representatives have often in the past spoken out against tipping, arguing that the practice is demeaning to staff and that tips were spread unevenly, with staff in cafés or fast food joints getting nothing at all. But when I called the Swedish Hotel and Restaurant Union (HRF), a spokesman said that the union had no view on the practice, and it was a matter for staff, business owners and customers to decide.

So is tipping now expected in Sweden? The old advice probably still stands; waiters are still not as reliant on tips as staff in many other countries, so a lavish tip is not necessary. But as Swedes start to tip more generously, you might stick out if you leave nothing at all.

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