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

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• xcalx says:

  29 Jun29 June 09:23

  OT (no bits)
  A friend flew LBA-IBZ FR2486 on 21st June. Ryanair handed passengers form stating no compensation due to tech problems of inbound flight from Poland. Is this a reasonable denial of EU 261. Any sites I could check.

  Thanks.

  • Andrew says:

    29 Jun29 June 10:45

    Almost certainly not (depending on the exact nature of the technical problem). Technical problems are now considered part of the normal operation of an airline (hence something they should plan for) and not ‘exceptional’.

  • the real harry1 says:

    29 Jun29 June 13:49

    if you’re polite about it, the guys on FT BA EC261 compo thread will discuss a Ryanair flight (even if it’s not BA)

    Agree with other poster – tech problem is not extraordinary circs – won’t be defended at MCOL, but Ryanair wouldn’t take it that far, they are just trying it on

    other criteria (such as length of delay vs distance of flight) need to be satisfied, of course – see CAA site

  • Lady London says:

    29 Jun29 June 15:49

    difficulties with inbound flight are not relevant. The difficulty has to be a qualifying one and it has to be affecting your flight not the aeroplane they have flying in to service your flight.

    Always take a careful note of who said what when from the airline about any reason stated for delay. It’s amazing how many reports I see on here where an excuse given at the time by the airline looked highly like it qualified you for EU261 compensation, and later the same people receive a different explanation (that mysteriously would not qualify for EU261 compensation) when contacting the airline formally later to claim.

    • Ahop says:

      29 Jun29 June 18:30

      Inbound flight issues are taken into account. For example a plane not arriving due to bad weather on the inbound leg would still get you compensation as the airline should have made alternative provisions (I fell a little over the top).

      I know because I’ve received the compensation half a dozen times.

      • the real harry1 says:

        29 Jun29 June 18:51

        that doesn’t work with many outstations where it would be unreasonable to expect the airline to have replacement aircraft available – but yes, works at eg LHR

• JPV says:

  29 Jun29 June 09:59

  OT as no bits: What’s the advice on trying to book long-haul first with a 241 with inflexible dates? Is there ever F availability at -355 ? Is it even worth trying?

  The -355 date on my honeymoon is coming up and I’m trying to get a booking strategy together. Would it be more sensible to just set my sights on CW? Would really love to try F and I don’t know when we’ll get another chance

  • Ralph Hely Hutchinson says:

    29 Jun29 June 10:20

    Yes, there is sometimes F availability -355. We book two F trips with a 2-4-1 voucher every year, but not on the very sought after routes. Also routes that have switched to 787-9 with small F cabin hardly seem to come up at all. We got lucky last year on MEX which used to have a daily 747 (which was the case when we booked -355), then switched to 5 x a week Dreamliner a few months later. We kept the F seats.

  • Rob says:

    29 Jun29 June 10:21

    No, nothing guaranteed at 355 days. More likely to open up nearer the time. Book CW to guarantee the seats and then keep an eye on availability.

  • Londoner says:

    29 Jun29 June 10:21

    Book CW at -355 and keep an eye out for F availability. If seats become available you can call up BA and pay the £ 35 fee (and Avios) to change to First.

    • JPV says:

      29 Jun29 June 10:32

      Ah ok! Didn’t realise it was possible to upgrade 241 bookings in this way. Great, thank you! (and thanks Rob and Ralph too)

  • Mark2 says:

    29 Jun29 June 14:06

    As you would expect, it depends where you want to go to.
    The last few years I have booked F at t-355 to Seattle, back from Vancouver, to Toronto, Boston return. They often start at 9+ seats in F.
    Keep watch at T-355 and see the pattern. Also BA Redemption Finder.

• Devin says:

  29 Jun29 June 10:18

  O/T

  I have 200k MR points in a US Amex that I had been saving to use on ANA to a trip to Tokyo. Unfortunately it seems the rewards seats on ANA are increasingly hard to come by, and even a year out can be difficult to find 2 return seats. Does anyone have any experience with the ANA waitlist, or know if there are specific times of the year where there is more availability? Or would I be better using these as a 241 in BA F?

• vand says:

  29 Jun29 June 11:07

  kudos to IAG for the Level website/branding – simple but effective. However clicking a big box that says ‘New York from $149’ brings me to a city guide about Paris .. so a few kinks to work out.

• Ben says:

  29 Jun29 June 11:16

  OT
  Might NEED to book a flexible upper class ticket on VS in the coming days in my MBNA card. What would happen if I need to cancel it next month when my vs card closes? ????

• FX says:

  29 Jun29 June 11:23

  O/T as no bits … how can I as an Amex Platinum holder refer a friend to Gold? It only seems to let me refer to another Platinum?
  Thanks!

  • JPV says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:31

    I seen this when I referred people from plat. Resolved by getting the referred person to open the referral link in a different browser. There should be an option on the page you get from following the referral link to change from platinum to a different card. It’s at the bottom.

    • FlyingChris says:

      29 Jun29 June 12:46

      If you’ve got any adblock function turned on this might also strip out the other options at the bottom of the referral page they receive.

  • Graham Walsh says:

    29 Jun29 June 13:35

    Certain Amex plat links will only allow you to refer to another Amex plat for business card. Generate the link from the mobile app and then you get the option at the bottom to refer to other cards such as Gold, SPG, Nectar etc

• Mike says:

  29 Jun29 June 11:33

  I wonder, is this really the “launch” of a “new” airline? No new legal entities, no new branding, no new business model, no new commercial proposition, no new positioning, no new corporate identity… It’s simply the opening of new routes, as far as I’m concerned. (Yes, with the mess of who under IAG owns the operating certificates, but still all folded in the Level label.)

  • Rob says:

    29 Jun29 June 12:13

    It is only for legal reasons it goes via Vueling. You should look at the intention rather than the legal implementation.

    • John says:

      29 Jun29 June 15:13

      Think the intention is to put the boot into Ryanair, which effectively controls Lauda.

      This is part of the – sometimes amusing, sometimes not – competition between Michael O’Leary and Willie Walsh, which started in Dublin decades ago.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMH7bwdBbak is worth a couple of minutes of your time (especially if you want to know the official pronunciations for Vueling and Iberia).

    • Mike says:

      1 Jul1 July 02:34

      We’ll, that’s exactly it, I’m looking beyond the legal implementation: if I’ve read you correctly, the “new” airline (operating certificate granted to one Anisec Luftfahrt) will be called Level… which already exists under the IAG umbrella. That’s why I say this looks, sounds and feels like Level opening new routes out of Austria (despite all the underlying intricacies), and not really the launch of a new airline.

      • Mike says:

        1 Jul1 July 02:35

        *Well

        (Very annoying autocorrect…)

• Darren says:

  29 Jun29 June 12:01

  OT Lloyds related.
  I’m still having issues with the avios transfer from Lloyds to Avios acc. It is now being completed by a manual monthly transfer by the CS rep at Lloyds and I’d imagine that this will continue when the switch to BAEC occurs.
  But they have offered a measly £25 comp, belt tightening I assume.

  Also, I have an upgrade voucher with an expiry date approaching soon, can this be used one way back to the UK and what sweet spots are there apart from Hong Kong? Thinking UAE.

  Thanks

  • Rob says:

    29 Jun29 June 12:10

    Only Hong Kong and Brazil ban fuel surcharges.

    • Darren says:

      29 Jun29 June 12:21

      Oh well, I’ve a HKG trip booked anyway and taking in Vietnam so I was interested in the IC talk yesterday.

      Looks like I’ll loose the voucher.

      • the_real_a says:

        29 Jun29 June 18:22

        10k Hilton garden inn in Hanoi (embassy district) is a particular sweet spot if you need a bargain. A cheap grab/uber car from anywhere.

      • Michael Jennings says:

        30 Jun30 June 16:25

        There’s a 10k Garden Inn in Vienna, too, which is useful here.

  • Anna says:

    29 Jun29 June 13:51

    It may work out well in the end – when my account was sorted out I got all 12,000 avios again and no less than 3 upgrade vouchers! I assume it’s because the computer system doesn’t recognise what’s been added manually and just gives you everything you’re entitled to while your avios aren’t posting.

    • Darren says:

      29 Jun29 June 15:43

      That’s interesting, I’ve had manual transfers for a while and transferred them all to BAEC. I wish there was a way to ‘cash in’ a voucher as I won’t use it.

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