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IAG launches a new airline in Austria, LEVEL, with just three weeks notice!

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To give Willie Walsh and the rest of the IAG management team some credit, they don’t mess around when they want to get something done.

IAG, the parent company of British Airways, announced yesterday that it is launching a new airline based in Austria.  In three weeks time.

The new airline will NOT use the Vueling branding, which is interesting.  I wonder if the huge service issues that Vueling has had in the last couple of years – primarily when Alex Cruz was running it ….. – mean that IAG feels that the brand is ‘tainted’?

The new airline will be called LEVEL.  This is, as most of you will know, the name of the start-up low-cost long-haul airline owned by IAG.  This currently operates out of Barcelona with Paris due to start imminently.

Why is IAG doing this?

You may remember that IAG was keen to buy Austrian carrier NIKI from the ashes of airberlin.  That deal fell through and Niki Lauda ended up buying back the carrier with financial support from Ryanair.

As it happens, Vueling actually had an Austrian operating certificate issued in the name of Anisec Lufthart.  This enabled it to launch LEVEL in Austria very quickly.  Legally, the low-cost LEVEL flights will be part of Vueling.

(The LEVEL flights from Paris will legally be operated by British Airways under its OpenSkies banner.  LEVEL flights from Barcelona are legally operated by Iberia.)

Fourteen destinations launched, including Gatwick

LEVEL will fly to fourteen destinations from Vienna.

It will initially use four A321 aircraft, in an all-economy 210 seat layout.  The first one, ironically, is an ex-airberlin / NIKI plane!

The first two, launching on 17th July, will be Palma Majorca and London Gatwick.

Over the following four weeks, LEVEL will add Barcelona, Malaga, Venice, Olbia, Ibiza, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Milan Malpensa, Dubrovnik, Larnaca, Alicante, Valencia and Bilbao.

In-flight service

Lead-in prices will include one item of hand baggage.

Checked baggage and in-flight food and drink will be chargeable.

Flights can be bought at flylevel.com.  If you are looking for a cheap trip to Vienna this Summer and can get to Gatwick, you might get a good deal here.

I’m intrigued to see how this works out, and even more intrigued as to how the separation between Vueling and LEVEL will work.

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Comments (113)

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

  • Genghis says:
    29 Jun29 June 04:27

    A couple of apostrophes missing:
    with just three weeks’ notice!
    In three weeks’ time.

    • Mark says:
      29 Jun29 June 07:16

      It doesn’t need an apostrophe because they’re not actually possessive – the notice and time don’t belong to the three weeks.

      • Alan says:
        29 Jun29 June 07:33

        They are however a plural noun ending in an s – https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/punctuation/apostrophe

        I’m with Genghis on this one 🙂

        • Sandra says:
          29 Jun29 June 09:00

          +1

        • RussellH says:
          29 Jun29 June 11:57

          Interesting article! But I am not sure that I would always agree, despite the authority behind the article.
          I was taught only to use possessive apostrophes with living creatures, because only things that are alive can truly posess.
          A ‘week’ cannot therefore posess, and no apostrophe required.
          I am entirely with Rob, not Genghis here!
          You could alsways subscribe to the Usenet group !
          (NB I do not subscribe, but I see others elswhere who do)

      • Genghis says:
        29 Jun29 June 07:39

        https://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/aug/16/mind-your-language-apostrophe

        • the real harry1 says:
          29 Jun29 June 07:53

          yep but there comes a point where usage usurps grammar rules – so I think ‘three weeks time’ (no apostrophe) is OK these days, same ‘the data shows’ is perfectly acceptable (as opposed to ‘the data show’), which these days sounds old school when most people would prefer to sound contemporary

          ‘focussing’ with the double S is, however, unforgivable – and brings a sneer of derision to the face of anybody in marketing or management 🙂

        • qfx says:
          29 Jun29 June 07:55

          Yes, but what does the Daily Mail say on the matter? Who’s to blame for all this ‘apostrophe abuse’?

        • Geoff says:
          29 Jun29 June 07:56

          No. When Useage superceeds rules we are on a slippery slope.

          People need to be focussing on getting it right!

        • Callum says:
          29 Jun29 June 09:54

          Geoff – Why are you speaking modern English if you objected so strongly to the evolution of language?

      • Michael C says:
        29 Jun29 June 08:06

        They are “possessive” in the sense of “three weeks OF time”…and they totally need the apostrophe.
        You can see it more clearly in “one year’s time”, where “one years” would make no sense.

        • the real harry1 says:
          29 Jun29 June 08:25

          p115
          9 Phrases like two weeks’ time, four days’ march, six months’
          leave, also need apostrophes.

        • Alan says:
          29 Jun29 June 08:57

          Totally agree! 😀

      • Anna says:
        29 Jun29 June 09:02

        In my view the apostrophe is needed because it denotes a missing element; the full phrase would be “six weeks OF annual leave” or whatever. And usage is no reason to adopt something as it varies enormously from one country to another.

      • RussellH says:
        29 Jun29 June 11:59

        I put the use net group in brackets, and it has been remopved from the posting – I shall try again.
        alt.possessive.its.has.no.apostrophe

  • shd says:
    29 Jun29 June 04:48

    Just tried to price up a flight to LGW, keep getting this:

    ‘Access Denied
    You don’t have permission to access “http://tickets.vueling.com/ScheduleSelect.aspx” on this server.’

    • the real harry1 says:
      29 Jun29 June 06:31

      tickets available on the Vueling platform – Vienna-Gatwick or vice versa £23

      • Geoff says:
        29 Jun29 June 07:57

        I wonder if these are “Opening prices” or a sign of where they will be positioned. I Notice on Vienna – Barcelona Level are cheaper than Vueling.

        • the real harry1 says:
          29 Jun29 June 15:50

          Definitely opening prices! but I reckon they’ll still be very cheap at times even once operations crank up properly

      • ADS says:
        29 Jun29 June 08:59

        but when i tried access the Vueling website directly, the Level flights didn’t show up !

  • LeMain says:
    29 Jun29 June 05:42

    “The first three, launching on 17th July, will be Palma, Majorca and London Gatwick.”

    Aren’t Palma and Majorca the same place?

  • Phillip says:
    29 Jun29 June 06:13

    Yet, it directs you to the Vueling website to book… they may not mess about when it comes to getting things done, but they still manage to maintain a brand identity crisis!

    • Rob Brown says:
      29 Jun29 June 06:26

      It obviously takes longer to set up an booking system than an Airline!

      • ADS says:
        29 Jun29 June 09:12

        it looks like the comparison websites aren’t picking up these flights yet.

        unless anybody has found one that is ?

  • Rob Brown says:
    29 Jun29 June 06:29

    I would expect that the reason for using the Level brand instead of the Vueling brand has something to do with their recent strikes. Probably too much industrial action baggage which would roll over for the same brand.

    • ADS says:
      29 Jun29 June 09:09

      if the reason that they’re using the Level brand rather than Vueling is the damage inflicted on the Vueling brand whilst Cruz was in charge … makes you wonder why Cruz is being kept at BA ?!

    • vlcnc says:
      29 Jun29 June 10:52

      Told you Vueling was toxic Rob! ???? We all know my Vueling hate, still think it is the worst airline in Europe. Given IAG’s record, I doubt this will make much of a difference to service especially as it’s basically Vueling behind the scenes. I suspect it will be part of a consolidation of brands, given considerable amount of money was spent on developing LEVEL as a brand using Brand Union, and it was set up from the outset as an international brand more.

  • Anna says:
    29 Jun29 June 06:33

    OT but no bits and flying-related. Has anyone else read about the imminent ban on having powdered items in hand luggage when flying to and within the US and Australia? I saw a piece in the media quite by chance; I’ve had no notification about it from BA or AA, with whom I have several flights booked this summer.

    Passengers will be limited to a small amount of anything in powder form, which may have quite an impact on hand-luggage only fares. Since the liquids ban came into force I travel with a fair few toiletry and food items in powder form in my carry-on, especially when I need to limit checked-in bags.

    • Anna says:
      29 Jun29 June 06:34

      Also – when you go through security in the UK, how will they know what your destination is for purposes of checking powdered items?

      • Alan says:
        29 Jun29 June 07:35

        Hadn’t heard about this – perhaps they’ll pick up at extra security near the gate? (as US flights already have anyway)

    • Bob says:
      29 Jun29 June 06:52

      I noticed this in April when travelling from Frankfurt on Lufthansa, not to the US or the UK but on a EU flight. I handed over my liquids separately but they insisted to see the contents of my bag where they discovered my cooling powder. I was made very clear that I should know that the scanning machine would recognize this as a liquid and that I should treat it accordingly. Never had this before.

      • RussellH says:
        29 Jun29 June 12:06

        I was told at MAN security two years ago that I should have put my inhaler, which contains no liquid, but does have powder, in my liquids bag…

    • John says:
      29 Jun29 June 06:55

      Do you earn TPs on vueling (any by extension LEVEL)?

      • Geoff says:
        29 Jun29 June 07:59

        No, You earn Avios on Vueling (Not Level unless booking through IB.com) but don’t earn Tier points in Exec Club. You can get Status with Vueling but you obviously need to fly on them a lot for that.

  • Roger1* says:
    29 Jun29 June 07:10

    In a similar article, I read that taking food in hand baggage is not recommended as scanners find it difficult to differentiate between bread and explosives!

    Could this foresee a restriction on taking Boots/WHSmith meal deals on board ex LHR/LGW? Surely not!

    I’ve still to experience the offer of M&S inflight catering, or for that matter the Boots/WHSmith possibilities.

    • the real harry1 says:
      29 Jun29 June 07:28

      I often take frozen joints of lamb or beef (and a whole turkey at Xmas) in my hand luggage and have never had problems, sometimes they pull me out to open the bag to see what it is, but generally not. European travel but the Security staff wouldn’t know that.

      They’ve never been confused by sandwiches!

      • Gavin says:
        29 Jun29 June 07:36

        I have taken a butternut squash in hand luggage with me to Munich from UK before with no questions

        • Bagoly says:
          29 Jun29 June 11:52

          I bought a whole bunch of amaryllis (which have hollow stalks) for my wife on the street during a day trip to Amsterdam from London – the florist put a plastic bag at the bottom holding water.
          The Security Staff at AMS made no complaint – indeed they smiled broadly when I put them on the belt to go through the scanner.

        • RussellH says:
          29 Jun29 June 12:09

          I was pulled over at Prague for having a 45cm long 4cm wide salami in my hand baggage. I can see that it would have looked just like a large cosh on the scanner.
          The lad on security opened my bag VERY carefully, and then burst into fits of giggles.

      • Geoff says:
        29 Jun29 June 08:02

        Strangest look I have ever recieved was when I put through my Sky Box as hand luggage. I hadn’t even thought how it would look on the X-Ray. I was advised next time to give them a heads up before it went through but after an extra minute of checking I was on my way.

      • CV3V says:
        29 Jun29 June 08:06

        Do you mean sandwich’s 😉

      • Nick M says:
        29 Jun29 June 13:20

        My Dad came to see us on the Kent coast a while ago and took several crabs and quite a few oysters back on the Eurostar… apparently this caused great confusion at security!

        • Rob says:
          29 Jun29 June 13:23

          I had trouble at T5 recently when a bottle of Hilton’s Peter Thomas Roth mouthwash (nicked from Hilton Park Lane the previous week) got the scanners VERY worried.

        • RussellH says:
          30 Jun30 June 11:05

          Never had any problems at Eurostar security.
          Once, returning from Aachen, at the Bruxelles Midi secuirity check I had the case I had gone out to Cologne with, plus a second overnight bag I had had to buy in Aachen, plus two umbrellas (presents) and a bag of shopping from the station supermarket. No problems at all. And I got back to London well before the rest of the group who had gone back to Koln Airport – major flight delay!
          🙂

    • Stuart_f says:
      29 Jun29 June 08:56

      I certainly wouldn’t recommend trying to take blocks of marzipan!

      • Stu N says:
        29 Jun29 June 22:08

        We often buy aged Comté at Borough Market and fly back with it from Gatwick. Have learned to take it out bag and scan it separately, apparently the crystal structure of the cheese looks a lot like some plastic explosives. It’s definitely “of interest” in a bag when overlapping with a laptop and your phone charger cable…

    • Anna says:
      29 Jun29 June 09:04

      We took a picnic on a flight recently – the scanner was most unhappy with the hardboiled eggs!

    • Kinkell says:
      29 Jun29 June 15:10

      3 of us travelling: one bought Pret, and bought Boots meal deal and I did the BoB. Boots voted best for content and value . BoB. Ugh!

      • Jenni says:
        29 Jun29 June 15:24

        I always get a Boots meal deal. I save my Boots points for this specific purpose.

        Except this year I happened to have so many that I could also buy the mother in law’s birthday present with them ????????

      • RussellH says:
        30 Jun30 June 11:08

        Yes, discovered Boots Meal Deal at NCL earlier this year. Repeated the exercise at LHR. And yes, on Advantage points seems a vastly better deal than BoB with Avios.
        🙂

    • Charlie says:
      29 Jun29 June 21:16

      I packed a ripe durian into my luggage, all the way from Hong Kong. My wife smelt it as we walked through Heathrow the next morning but she didn’t realise what I had done till we unpacked at home! True story!

      • ankomonkey says:
        29 Jun29 June 21:40

        I once brought a century egg from Hong Kong to the UK to terrorise my brother with. Maybe Hong Kong wins the ‘best souvenirs’ award.

        • the real harry1 says:
          29 Jun29 June 21:55

          struggling to compete with the great anecdotes, best I can offer is I took a blender out to our place in the sun quite a few years back, Security T3 got worried about whether I could potentially detach the blade and cut the trolley dolly’s neck or something (I think it was indeed detachable).

          Not wanting to get a blender with no blending blade, I marshalled the 3 kids and sort of begged with a smile and 3 little blondies as back up – all I could muster, he let me through as the world’s most unlikely terrorist 🙂

  • Lee says:
    29 Jun29 June 07:43

    Any points to be earned on Level?

    The article is silent on this aspect.

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