According to this news article (in Dutch), LEVEL, the new LCC of IAG that will operate out of Barcelona, has already sold over 100.000 tickets in the past few weeks since ticket sale started on march 17th. They're very satisfied with the overwhelming demand for cheap tickets.

This summer they'll be adding more aircraft to the LEVEL fleet. With that they can expand their number of destinations on both sides of the ocean according to the news article.

http://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/nieuws/categorie/2/airlines/iag-al-100000-tickets-voor-level-vluchten-verkocht

This is good news for the airline. It is, however, sad to see low cost take over the world.
But, it is an outstanding number, wich i believe is rare: low-cost long haul rarely used to work (even though they work more and more, with LHLCC like Norweigan, Scoot, Westjet now flying 767s, ect...).
Here's an english version:
http://www.cityam.com/262771/british-ai ... as-already

One problem is that people may be expecting Iberia, given it was sold through their site, on their flight numbers, and sold as operated by their crew and aircraft.

FCO-OAK flights may be in the offing:

When Cruz and I discussed this, I told him I thought it was great to get non-stops from the Bay to Barcelona, but that Norwegian was already in that game. I said what we really need in the Bay Area is a non-stop to Italy. His reply? “I think Level will take care of that need very soon.” Stay tuned for more on that!

http://travelskills.com/2017/04/07/brit ... ss-photos/

Gaspard wrote:

sad to see low cost take over the world

What??? Who wants to pay more for a flight than what's necessary? Most fliers are interested in the price of the ticket, everything is secondary.

ucdtim17 wrote:

FCO-OAK flights may be in the offing:

When Cruz and I discussed this, I told him I thought it was great to get non-stops from the Bay to Barcelona, but that Norwegian was already in that game. I said what we really need in the Bay Area is a non-stop to Italy. His reply? “I think Level will take care of that need very soon.” Stay tuned for more on that!

http://travelskills.com/2017/04/07/brit ... ss-photos/

Walsh hinted at LEVEL coming to Italy, France, and Belgium, so this would not surprise me in the least, and would be an extremely smart move. Vueling has a very devoted base in Rome, so hopefully we see this one come out.

If level opens a second base it will probably be at Rome due to a good size Vueling base already there.
How many more aircraft do they plan to add?

keitherson wrote:

One problem is that people may be expecting Iberia, given it was sold through their site, on their flight numbers, and sold as operated by their crew and aircraft.

I don't think that'll be an issue. People booking these flights know what Level is and are aware of it's service level. Besides, with this level of success I'm sure they'll be operating on their own AOC soon enough.

Gaspard wrote:

It is, however, sad to see low cost take over the world.

Not sad at all if you ask me, but that's just my personal opinion. LCCs are my favourite type of airline. Why pay more than you need?

PatrickZ80 wrote:

keitherson wrote:

One problem is that people may be expecting Iberia, given it was sold through their site, on their flight numbers, and sold as operated by their crew and aircraft.

I don't think that'll be an issue. People booking these flights know what Level is and are aware of it's service level. Besides, with this level of success I'm sure they'll be operating on their own AOC soon enough.

Gaspard wrote:

It is, however, sad to see low cost take over the world.

Not sad at all if you ask me, but that's just my personal opinion. LCCs are my favourite type of airline. Why pay more than you need?

Because the experience sucks.

Being nickeled and dimed is stressful and drives me nuts. Just tell me how much it costs.

Could LEVEL fly to Argentina or Dominican Republic out of Italy? Or just the US (Openskies)?

Varsity1 wrote:

Because the experience sucks.

Being nickeled and dimed is stressful and drives me nuts. Just tell me how much it costs.

Then we got a different opinion about that. You say "Just tell me how much it costs" where I say "That can be done cheaper". I won't accept a regular fare, I'm going for the lowest otherwise I won't fly at all.

rotating14 wrote:

Gaspard wrote:

sad to see low cost take over the world

What??? Who wants to pay more for a flight than what's necessary? Most fliers are interested in the price of the ticket, everything is secondary.

Having been a student till few years ago, I heavily profited of low cost flight throughout Europe and I have been very cautious to spend the least on long hauls..

However if I consider why a low cost airline is able to offer soooo cheap fares, it has a lot to do with poorer salaries and work conditions for the workers of such airlines. And, sadly, this is the trend of every business out there, those who make profits are eating on the shoulders of people willing to accept poorer work and life conditions.

(Apologise for the bad English)

SCQ83 wrote:

Could LEVEL fly to Argentina or Dominican Republic out of Italy? Or just the US (Openskies)?

Routes have not yet been announced, however in theory it shouldn't make any difference. Spain and Italy are both part of the EU, so basically they're equal. Only some countries got agreements with individual EU countries instead of the whole EU.

Although I am not overwhelmed about the brand there certainly is a market for it as we are seeing. Good luck to them.

keitherson wrote:

One problem is that people may be expecting Iberia, given it was sold through their site, on their flight numbers, and sold as operated by their crew and aircraft.

To be fair, if you're booked on Iberia and expect any kind of good service, you're already destined to be disappointed.

ushermittwoch wrote:

keitherson wrote:

One problem is that people may be expecting Iberia, given it was sold through their site, on their flight numbers, and sold as operated by their crew and aircraft.

To be fair, if you're booked on Iberia and expect any kind of good service, you're already destined to be disappointed.

Have to disagree there I have had plenty of great IB flights over the last few years. They have improved a hell of a lot.

It is fun to see the price wars where there was clearly margin to be eroded in the international space. Being PHX based, I would have to 1 stop connect on the likes of LEVEL, Norwegian, Etc but it is tempting to try.

Varsity1 wrote:

PatrickZ80 wrote:

keitherson wrote:

One problem is that people may be expecting Iberia, given it was sold through their site, on their flight numbers, and sold as operated by their crew and aircraft.

I don't think that'll be an issue. People booking these flights know what Level is and are aware of it's service level. Besides, with this level of success I'm sure they'll be operating on their own AOC soon enough.

Gaspard wrote:

It is, however, sad to see low cost take over the world.

Not sad at all if you ask me, but that's just my personal opinion. LCCs are my favourite type of airline. Why pay more than you need?

Because the experience sucks.

Being nickeled and dimed is stressful and drives me nuts. Just tell me how much it costs.

The LCCs are straight forward about it. The legacies are the ones that hide behind an image, or advertise about their premium experience but only offer it to those who pay way more than Y prices...

Plus, if you are willing to pay thousands when you can pay hundreds, the legacies still exist, fly business class.

ushermittwoch wrote:

keitherson wrote:

One problem is that people may be expecting Iberia, given it was sold through their site, on their flight numbers, and sold as operated by their crew and aircraft.

To be fair, if you're booked on Iberia and expect any kind of good service, you're already destined to be disappointed.

I KNOW RIGHT???

Which is why it confuses me that they didn't even just use the Iberia brand to begin with.

Hell, even British Airways is attempting to be a LCC: BOB on Club Europe, and now they're talking about doing it in World Traveler. (long-haul Y)

It is not a secret that LH uses Cityline and even EK has high-density configuration for certain places that can sustain it.

Could any A330 be moving from the Iberia fleet ? Level seems to have sold more seats they expected or the expectations were low. 100K seats sounds like 6 months worth of seats for a two plane A330 fleet. Interesting to see where they fly next ?

jfk777 wrote:

Could any A330 be moving from the Iberia fleet ? Level seems to have sold more seats they expected or the expectations were low. 100K seats sounds like 6 months worth of seats for a two plane A330 fleet. Interesting to see where they fly next ?

It will be can't wait!

SCQ83 wrote:

Could LEVEL fly to Argentina or Dominican Republic out of Italy? Or just the US (Openskies)?

Don't see why they can't.I believe blue panorama and NEOS fly to the Dominican Republic from Rome or Milan.

The problem I have with LCCs is not the lack of premium experience or add on fees. It's the lack of connectivity. Norwegian is great if you want to fly from Seattle to London and the flight isn't canceled, but of the hundreds of airplane trips I have taken I can only think of five that had an origin and destination with a non stop flight between them. I also can't usually afford a cancelation resulting in a multI day delay getting to my destination. If the LCC would allow connections and institute usefull interline agrements I would be happy to use them.

SCQ83 wrote:

Could LEVEL fly to Argentina or Dominican Republic out of Italy? Or just the US (Openskies)?

Argentina, like most countries when it comes to aviation bilateral agreements, deals at a country to country level. So it will all boil down to what the Argentina-Italy bilateral spells out; if the bilateral allows airlines from a third country to provide air service between points in the two countries, then LEVEL would be allowed to operate those flights.

I am sure that at least on the Dominican Republic side there would not be any problems for LEVEL to fly even from every European airport. The DR government is very liberal with rights.

LEVEL would be perfect for STN

I think these would be a good fit from FCO next summer (or sooner!)

OAK - already rumored above, logical to be first Bay Area-Italy nonstop
LAX - Alitalia only fly this seasonally, I'm sure it could work year round, even if not daily
MIA - only AA hub east of the central time zone to not have an FCO link, surely plenty of demand in both directions
EZE - big market that we're already seeing Level get into + has a good oneworld presence
YYZ, YUL, or YVR - this is my out of the box guess. not sure how the EU-Canada bilateral is, but I could see IAG giving Canada a shot for Level. BA have a huge presence in the market already, but at the same time Iberia doesn't fly to Canada at all. it's probably not too likely, but I don't see too many possibilities otherwise, Asian airlines all have a very strong presence at FCO (as opposed to BCN where most of them are newcomers) and I don't see them growing that way...

also expect we'll see NRT-BCN as was originally rumored back when word of Level was leaking out. I think SCL and HAV were in the rumors too, wouldn't be a bad idea. we'll see just how many planes are coming on for Level.

jfk777 wrote:

Could any A330 be moving from the Iberia fleet ? Level seems to have sold more seats they expected or the expectations were low. 100K seats sounds like 6 months worth of seats for a two plane A330 fleet. Interesting to see where they fly next ?

I'll be interested to see where they get further planes from for their expansion. The first two are new having been on order for Iberia. The article quotes Summer 2018 for further expansion so maybe a new order specifically for LEVEL is due soon.

Geoff

Trying to book tickets on the flylevel.com website (which then takes you to the Iberia site) comes up with numerous 'prove you're a human' boxes and then comes up with no results. A direct search on the Iberia site doesn't come up with any Level results.

Am I doing something wrong or are others experiencing the same issue?

Geoff1947 wrote:

jfk777 wrote:

Could any A330 be moving from the Iberia fleet ? Level seems to have sold more seats they expected or the expectations were low. 100K seats sounds like 6 months worth of seats for a two plane A330 fleet. Interesting to see where they fly next ?

I'll be interested to see where they get further planes from for their expansion. The first two are new having been on order for Iberia. The article quotes Summer 2018 for further expansion so maybe a new order specifically for LEVEL is due soon.

Geoff

thinking it'll be a separate order. they made it pretty clear they were test running the concept of LEVEL with the IB planes/crews to see if it would work out. clearly it has, and so they'll probably completely spin it off into its own brand, order planes, etc

wenders825 wrote:

Geoff1947 wrote:

jfk777 wrote:

Could any A330 be moving from the Iberia fleet ? Level seems to have sold more seats they expected or the expectations were low. 100K seats sounds like 6 months worth of seats for a two plane A330 fleet. Interesting to see where they fly next ?

I'll be interested to see where they get further planes from for their expansion. The first two are new having been on order for Iberia. The article quotes Summer 2018 for further expansion so maybe a new order specifically for LEVEL is due soon.

Geoff

thinking it'll be a separate order. they made it pretty clear they were test running the concept of LEVEL with the IB planes/crews to see if it would work out. clearly it has, and so they'll probably completely spin it off into its own brand, order planes, etc

Yeah, IB can actually run a fairly low cost operation (fares from Madrid to the US are routinely around 400-450€ all in) so they can just let it get to the critical mass it needs to be before spinning it off to its own AOC without having to worry about growing out of the start up costs.

keitherson wrote:

ushermittwoch wrote:

keitherson wrote:

One problem is that people may be expecting Iberia, given it was sold through their site, on their flight numbers, and sold as operated by their crew and aircraft.

To be fair, if you're booked on Iberia and expect any kind of good service, you're already destined to be disappointed.

I KNOW RIGHT???

Which is why it confuses me that they didn't even just use the Iberia brand to begin with.

Hell, even British Airways is attempting to be a LCC: BOB on Club Europe, and now they're talking about doing it in World Traveler. (long-haul Y)

It is not a secret that LH uses Cityline and even EK has high-density configuration for certain places that can sustain it.

BA doesn't have BOB on Club Europe. It has in Euro Traveller (short-haul Y). CE continues to see free food (although there has been a lot of questions about quality and quantity).

Level can be used anywhere. It isn't a country specific brand and doesn't have an image either as a LCC, a full service carrier or a full service carrier going cheap.

Galwayman wrote:

LEVEL would be perfect for STN

Yes- LEVEL has an opportunity to fill the long-haul gap at Stansted with Norwegian focusing on Gatwick (for now).

Spain and Italy are both part of the EU, so basically they're equal. Only some countries got agreements with individual EU countries instead of the whole EU.

Actually, currently the opposite is the norm. Most countries still have individual bilaterals with EU members, EU-wide agreements are few. In particular, Spain has some of the most generous bilaterals with LatAm. I don't know what bilaterals Italy has, but they are likely less generous. In any case, flying out of FCO is not the same as out of BCN.

OA260 wrote:

ushermittwoch wrote:

keitherson wrote:

One problem is that people may be expecting Iberia, given it was sold through their site, on their flight numbers, and sold as operated by their crew and aircraft.

To be fair, if you're booked on Iberia and expect any kind of good service, you're already destined to be disappointed.

Have to disagree there I have had plenty of great IB flights over the last few years. They have improved a hell of a lot.

Their service and everything is pretty good, but legroom is my main problem with them. They just squeeze you like a damn panini, Im 6'1 and all but it still feels so tight.

Aliqiout wrote:

The problem I have with LCCs is not the lack of premium experience or add on fees. It's the lack of connectivity. Norwegian is great if you want to fly from Seattle to London and the flight isn't canceled, but of the hundreds of airplane trips I have taken I can only think of five that had an origin and destination with a non stop flight between them. I also can't usually afford a cancelation resulting in a multI day delay getting to my destination. If the LCC would allow connections and institute usefull interline agrements I would be happy to use them.

On LCCs it's mostly the other way around. You don't pick a destination and then see what LCC can take you there, as you said mostly it'll be none. On LCCs it's mostly you're open to go anywhere and you go to wherever you can get a good deal.

Norwegian does offer connectivity by the way, but sometimes it just isn't available because they don't have a connecting flight. That can be a bit of a problem. Sometimes you're able to make a self-transfer, other times you're not so lucky. LCC flights hardly ever get canceled because they can't afford to pay the compensation for that. In fact, some LCCs are among the most punctual airlines in the world.

pollitt1985 wrote:

Trying to book tickets on the flylevel.com website (which then takes you to the Iberia site) comes up with numerous 'prove you're a human' boxes and then comes up with no results. A direct search on the Iberia site doesn't come up with any Level results.

Am I doing something wrong or are others experiencing the same issue?

No, nothing like that here. Level has it's own site and is not being redirected to the Iberia site. I guess you're on some kind of fake site that claims to be Level/Iberia but in fact is an imposter. Get out of there as soon as you can!

Try this link, it should link you to the real Level site:

http://www.flylevel.com/

LupineChemist wrote:

Yeah, IB can actually run a fairly low cost operation (fares from Madrid to the US are routinely around 400-450€ all in) so they can just let it get to the critical mass it needs to be before spinning it off to its own AOC without having to worry about growing out of the start up costs.

I couldn't possibly call that cheap. Those are regular fares which you may expect on a legacy airline, but nothing out of the ordinary. Compare that to Level flying for something around € 100,- / € 150,-. All right, not every seat is that cheap so let it be € 200,-. That's the price level of a LCC and that's a significant difference with the Iberia prices. I admit it's a different product because it doesn't include things like checked luggage and a meal on board, but for me it's enough. I don't need all those extras that are included in the Iberia price and thus make it extra expensive (yes, I'm calling 400 euros expensive). If I can save half the ticket price by accepting a lower service level then that's what I do.

Galwayman wrote:

LEVEL would be perfect for STN

I don't think so. Stansted can certainly use a long haul LCC, but only if they have a feeder deal with Ryanair. I can see Norwegian do that, but not Level. Level doesn't have any connectivity at Stansted.

In Barcelona they got Vueling to feed for them, besides BA and Iberia both serve Barcelona and offer connections. But none of the IAG airlines fly to Stansted. If they're going to serve London it'll be Gatwick. I can see them buying some slots from EasyJet or something like that, EasyJet does have the possibility to shift their flights to other London airports so they'll happily accept the money. But for now I think they'll focus on mainland Europe first.

Has any information regarding a LEVEL FF program been announced? I assume it'd live in the Avios ecosphere...

rotating14 wrote:

Gaspard wrote:

sad to see low cost take over the world

What??? Who wants to pay more for a flight than what's necessary? Most fliers are interested in the price of the ticket, everything is secondary.

Long haul = travel, vacation.
I don't mind pay more and feel good the whole time, the same that I didn't sleep in an b&b for little money
4-5 stars for me.

So there are people who want to pay more, because we like good service.
I am from Spain, I don't fly Spanish airlines for long haul.
P

spacecookie wrote:

rotating14 wrote:

Gaspard wrote:

sad to see low cost take over the world

What??? Who wants to pay more for a flight than what's necessary? Most fliers are interested in the price of the ticket, everything is secondary.

Long haul = travel, vacation.
I don't mind pay more and feel good the whole time, the same that I didn't sleep in an b&b for little money
4-5 stars for me.

So there are people who want to pay more, because we like good service.
I am from Spain, I don't fly Spanish airlines for long haul.
P

Yes, there are people like you but not everyone. There are also people not like you. Those are the ones Level is aiming at.

PatrickZ80 wrote:

Galwayman wrote:

LEVEL would be perfect for STN

I don't think so. Stansted can certainly use a long haul LCC, but only if they have a feeder deal with Ryanair. I can see Norwegian do that, but not Level. Level doesn't have any connectivity at Stansted.

In Barcelona they got Vueling to feed for them, besides BA and Iberia both serve Barcelona and offer connections. But none of the IAG airlines fly to Stansted. If they're going to serve London it'll be Gatwick. I can see them buying some slots from EasyJet or something like that, EasyJet does have the possibility to shift their flights to other London airports so they'll happily accept the money. But for now I think they'll focus on mainland Europe first.

yeah, and I think they've made it clear Level is going to be used in places that BA/IB/EI can't expand into themselves. they've ('they' as in Cruz and Willie Walsh) have indicated Italy is the next move for Level. presumably France (ORY) and maybe Germany (Berlin/BER would be perfect if AB ever goes under AND the airport ever opens up, but otherwise..) would be after that. I can't see them putting more eggs into the London basket, that's what LHR and LGW are for. MAN would be interesting but that city has made it clear they want full service carriers with F/J and whatnot. Level's low cost model works perfectly for Barcelona, Rome, Orly, and Berlin.

wenders825 wrote:

Level's low cost model works perfectly for Barcelona, Rome, Orly, and Berlin.

I would add AMS to the list. Vueling even has a base there.

PatrickZ80 wrote:

Galwayman wrote:

LEVEL would be perfect for STN

I don't think so. Stansted can certainly use a long haul LCC, but only if they have a feeder deal with Ryanair. I can see Norwegian do that, but not Level. Level doesn't have any connectivity at Stansted.

In Barcelona they got Vueling to feed for them, besides BA and Iberia both serve Barcelona and offer connections. But none of the IAG airlines fly to Stansted. If they're going to serve London it'll be Gatwick. I can see them buying some slots from EasyJet or something like that, EasyJet does have the possibility to shift their flights to other London airports so they'll happily accept the money. But for now I think they'll focus on mainland Europe first.

Although irelevant to this discussion regarding LEVEL and connections or feeder deals but one error in your statement, IAG does have a presence at STN albeit a small one with British Airways City Flyer BACF, not that it would help in feeding LEVEL but just pointing it out.

I can't honestly see Easyjet selling any slots to IAG at LGW, they might and a big might happily accept the money but in this scenario absolutely not.

Varsity1 wrote:

PatrickZ80 wrote:

keitherson wrote:

One problem is that people may be expecting Iberia, given it was sold through their site, on their flight numbers, and sold as operated by their crew and aircraft.

I don't think that'll be an issue. People booking these flights know what Level is and are aware of it's service level. Besides, with this level of success I'm sure they'll be operating on their own AOC soon enough.

Gaspard wrote:

It is, however, sad to see low cost take over the world.

Not sad at all if you ask me, but that's just my personal opinion. LCCs are my favourite type of airline. Why pay more than you need?

Because the experience sucks.

Being nickeled and dimed is stressful and drives me nuts. Just tell me how much it costs.

Interesting - maybe your experience of LCCs is different, but I find with EasyJet it's the exact opposite... for a (admittedly short-haul) flight it's much *less* stressful to click a route and a date, select a flight based on price, pay for a hold bag if I feel like it and that's it. The entire booking over in less than five minutes - and knowing "how much it costs" throughout the entire process.

On the other hand with legacies I have to go right up to the point of giving my credit card before seeing the real price - which inevitably means a whole evening of making multiple "bookings" with multiple carriers before finally being able to decide on one.

Hoping either LEVEL or Norwegian eventually start BCN-BOS!