So here is a recap of my final 24 hours with SAS:
1) The flight, which was scheduled to depart at 15:45, is cancelled at approximately 19:00. That was all the information we had.
2) I called SAS customer service. Despite staying on the line for about one hour, no one answered my call. No one.
3) The SAS app was useless. I could not rebook a flight on the app. There was no information about rescheduling on the app. Zero.
4) An email arrived telling me that I was rebooked on Brussels Airlines at 06:50 and would be back in Chicago around 12:00.
5) I had to go to the Transfer Station at the Copenhagen airport and take a number. I was #593; they were calling #469. After over a one hour wait, during which time customer service never picked up the phone, I was finally able to speak with someone at the Transfer Station.
6) That SAS representative told me that I could not rebook onto a different airline that left Copenhagen earlier and got to Chicago earlier. There were zero alternatives for me.
7) She told me I would not get a hotel voucher because the rebooked flight left too early in the morning. She also wrote 250 EUR on scrap paper and told me that I would be reimbursed for my expenses as long as I kept my receipts. There was no mention of alcohol prohibition.
8) I went to the hotel restaurant across the street and had a dinner with two drinks and a bottle of water. The total cost was in the EU $90-100 range, which is well under the EU $250 limit I was given.
9) Since I did not have a hotel voucher, I went back to the airport and "slept" there until early morning when I finally boarded a flight from Copenhagen to Brussels and then from Brussels to Chicago.
10) After all these events, I submitted my expenses for DKK 721, only to be denied reimbursement for alcohol, which is asinine. You then tell me that you hope I understand and hope that I will board SAS again.
11) I do not understand and I will never board SAS again.