Norwegian rejects two formal takeover bids from British Airways parent IAG

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• Paul says:

  6 May6 May 06:05

  Anyone got experience of the ‘any item’ from the Buy on board menu for business from Manchester? Do they link it what you can have?

• KP says:

  6 May6 May 07:12

  Theres nothing vegetarian on the menu!! Apart from nachos and peanuts!

  • Worzel says:

    6 May6 May 07:53

    Why destroy your own business KP? :).

    I’ll help you though:

    On an EZY flight a week ago, an announcement came out, that someone on board had an allergy, and that the crew would not be serving peanuts.

    We were asked not to open any bags- if we we had the them!

    Might take boats and trains next time………… 🙂 .

    • Lady London says:

      6 May6 May 10:59

      I think I was on that flight.
      And yet funnily enough I also read in an article online at that same time, that the substance in peanuts that causes the problem is not airborne ?

  • callum says:

    6 May6 May 07:56

    I once had an interesting discussion with a waiter in Spain who insisted the sauce with small chunks of ham in it was vegetarian because “you can barely see the meat”…

    There’s lots of delicious vegetarian food in Spain, but it can sometimes be hard to find!

    • Catalan says:

      6 May6 May 08:40

      “Couldn’t you have wafer thin ham then?” :-))

    • Mustapha Beaghuan says:

      6 May6 May 10:46

      Bit like when I went to an American fast food franchise in Westfield Stratford and asked for a ham sandwich and they said they only server turkey ham. I said, no I wanted real ham and got told by an angry fanchisee manager that it’s better than real ham. I told him I’m the customer and decide what I spend my money on and I don’t want turkey ham and walked out.

      • Lady London says:

        6 May6 May 10:58

        Well done.

        Another blow struck against American imperialism.

        I can;t stand so-called “turkey ham” either.

      • Thomas Howard says:

        6 May6 May 14:28

        Its “better” because its halal. The manager was saving you from jahannam, how could that not be better? 😉

  • David says:

    6 May6 May 15:03

    I was on an Iberia (mainline) business class domestic flight in Spain (no meal/snack choice). When I declined the snack offered – as none of the three small tapas dishes were vegetarian, I was asked why. I said why (vegetarian, none of these are vegi).

    I was asked if there was something ‘medically’ wrong with me that meant I couldn’t eat meat.
    Then another cabin crew member appear to also chastise / mock me for not eating meat. Talking VERY loudly about it being abnormal.

    Now the shocking bit – the above has happened to be 3 times with IB! (different crews, different routes). I point out I wasn’t making a big deal about the decline, but I did say why (any decent organisation would track reasons why customers were declining).

    But the mocking – including on one occasion a cabin crew member proceeding to eat the meal in front of me – to ‘prove it won’t kill me’.

    Iberia have conveniently lost the complaints each time – including the one submitted multiple times when they claimed to have lost it when I chased for a follow up.

    A bit like the complaint where I was a witness to racism another passenger received from cabin crew. Also, strangely lost.

• Alan says:

  6 May6 May 07:46

  Damn, really annoying that Edinburgh is excluded from this Iberia deal 🙁 Mind you when searching for flights yesterday the availability was totally different on IB vs BA websites – the former could only see economy availability (incl ‘Blue’ class), the latter could only see business!

  • Mike L says:

    6 May6 May 08:42

    But it doesn’t surprise me tbh. We get shafted all the time. First, the alcohol pricing – Amex has a £20 off £75 purchase at Majestic wine but it’s not valid in Scotland due to that buffoon Sturgeon . Why exclude Edinburgh from the Iberia express offer ?

    • Sandra says:

      6 May6 May 08:54

      Agree with all of that!

    • Anna says:

      6 May6 May 09:15

      I buy all my spirits abroad as I won’t even pay the English rate of duty! Yet those countries don’t seem to have a worse alcohol problem than the UK…

      • CV3V says:

        6 May6 May 09:19

        i am more concerned by the sugar tax! but chocolate runs to France doesn’t sound right.

      • Callum says:

        6 May6 May 12:30

        I don’t think the argument is that our alcohol problem is caused by cheap prices, but that increasing the price is a possible way to reduce it.

      • Anna says:

        6 May6 May 12:48

        People will spend any amount of money to feed an addiction. I can’t see how impoverishing families is the way forward.

      • Anna says:

        6 May6 May 12:49

        And of course more of it will just be shoplifted!

    • CV3V says:

      6 May6 May 09:18

      Nothing to do with minimum alcohol pricing, alcohol ‘promotions’ e.g. multi buys have been banned in Scotland since the Alcohol (Scotland) Act 2010. As another example of this, the barman can’t ask you if you ‘want another’, its been the case since that legislation was enacted.

    • Axel says:

      6 May6 May 09:35

      Anyone know any lucrative van hire deals around Edinburgh?. Im planning a booze gathering trip to Berwick next weekend to avoid the Krankie tax.

      • sigma421 says:

        6 May6 May 10:13

        Unless you’re a huge fan of high strength cider then I doubt it’d be cost effective. The policy is not an additional tax, rather a floor price per unit of alcohol sold. To be honest, I highliy doubt that much of the alcohol that the HFP reading demographic buys will be caught up in this.

      • John says:

        6 May6 May 14:14

        How on earth is this sensible?
        Reminds me of my old man, he used to drive (many) miles for fuel in order to save a few pence per litre

    • Lady London says:

      6 May6 May 11:04

      Perhaps because Iberia is already getting enough business from Edinburgh? Promotions are normally intended to increase business rather than incentivise where flying is already being done.

      • JamesB says:

        6 May6 May 11:20

        Probably, I think they just operate a small plane on the route.

    • JamesB says:

      6 May6 May 11:18

      Great for your liver…but bad for your blood pressure.and your mental health.

• Urty says:

  6 May6 May 08:33

  OT:

  Doe anybody know which terminal QA will fly out of at Gatwick airport when the flights go live later this month?

  Thanks

  • Nick says:

    6 May6 May 10:05

    There is no airline with IATA code QA, so how they can fly from Gatwick is anyone’s guess.

  • Jack says:

    6 May6 May 10:10

    Assuming you mean Qatar, they will use North Terminal

    • Urty says:

      6 May6 May 10:48

      Yes, I meant Qatar Airways.

    • Lady London says:

      6 May6 May 11:10

      Perhaps they’ll do enough business at Gatwick North Terminal to build one of their very nice lounges there? I hope so, there’s only Number 1 if you’re not using the Virgin lounge and Number 1 seems to want to surcharge for prebooking an awful lot of the time now, in order for you to get in. Methinks another decent lounge at Gatwick North would help a lot.

      • Cate ⛱️ says:

        7 May7 May 15:41

        Doubtful. QA have been a little sneaky on the advertising with their new flights from LGW.

        On 3(?) flights you get on the aircraft at LGW whilst on the other 3(?) you actually get on a bus at Gatwick which takes you to LHR and board a LHR routed aircraft.

  • Rob says:

    6 May6 May 10:14

    You would guess South but, no, I’ve not seen it written anywhere.

    • Taza says:

      6 May6 May 10:17

      Neither have I, i am flying Doha – Gatwick next month and would love to take advantage of the cheap lounge access posted yesterday but have no idea which terminal I’ll be flying into since the route is so new!

      Thanks for all your inputs

    • Mr Flump says:

      7 May7 May 20:25

      Definitely North Terminal, all the signage is already there on the ‘which terminal?’ posters, etc.

• Tony says:

  6 May6 May 08:39

  Ref the IB deal – if you can find availability -remember that BHX is easy & quick to reach from a large swathe of London.

  And the arrivals process is swift, too. Landed there last week, 18 mins from wheels down to stepping onto a train and that included immigration, too.

• Nick says:

  6 May6 May 09:34

  Rob – BIG correction. IAG made two INformal bids which were rejected. If you listen to the Q&A Willie held, someone asked him directly why he said he hadn’t bid when Norwegian said he had. He very clearly said “we have not made a formal bid”… and I don’t think even he would lie to the City.

  • Rob says:

    6 May6 May 10:12

    There are different definitions of ‘formal’. Was there a number written down on a piece of paper? Yes. I count that as ‘formal’. Was it a formal bid in the City context, ie full offer document posted to shareholders? No.

  • Lady London says:

    6 May6 May 11:12

    and also let’s be fair I yawned a bit at that statement from Norwegian. That’s a standard response drafted by investment bankers for their clients to give on a first or second bid. Even if the price was OK, that response would have been given. It’s a bit of a standardized dance really.

• Ammar says:

  6 May6 May 10:13

  Ot – just to check which is the best lounge at hong kong to check out, flying tonight with ba in club world. Wife has silver status.
  I think the wing is the best I have heard but never been before….advice welcome.

  • Leo says:

    6 May6 May 11:20

    The Pier J lounge.

• Doreen says:

  6 May6 May 10:23

  Rob … that photo bears absolutely no resemblance to Iberia Express Business ! Is perhaps it the new Iberia Premium Economy ? Unless you get the bulkhead seats, max seat pitch is 30in and I believe it is even less in Economy.

  • Doreen says:

    6 May6 May 10:24

    Oops … maybe that is Norweigan ?

  • Rob says:

    6 May6 May 12:10

    Pic is Norwegian!

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.