IAG Latest Addition - Level

Jamie2k9

New low cost carrier is called Level (what a pathetic name!)

* - Two A332 (21Y+. 293Y).
* - Four Routes from BCN - Los Angeles, San Francisco, Buenos Aires and Punta Cana commencing in June.
* - "initially" staffed by Iberia’s flight and cabin crew.
* - Other European Cities to follow.

Locker10a

Terrible name, but to be honest most people who want cheap tickets don't give a toss about name/brand! They'd probably get on a airline named Death! if the tickets were cheap. 
It will be interesting to see how this goes and from where they might expand

goingnowhere

Flights on Level will earn avios in all IAG frequent flyer programs

Buffman

Level! That could make for some interesting ATC exchanges if they're allowed use that as a callsign.:D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVq4_HhBK8Y

jamo2oo9

Flights are insanely cheap though. I'd imagine that doesn't include checked in baggage. 198 to Oakland, 289 to Buenos Aires and Punta Cana. Don't have a figure for LA though.

Cloudio9

IAG have launched a new long haul low cost carrier called Level. Based in bcn initially using two new A330-200.

It will feed in to the veuling network at bcn.

I think this will work well for them in latam.

Good interview with Willie about it here:

http://crankyflier.com/2017/03/27/across-the-aisle-from-iag-ceo-willie-walsh-on-level-his-new-airline/

Part 2 here: http://crankyflier.com/2017/03/28/across-the-aisle-from-iag-ceo-willie-walsh-on-why-his-long-haul-low-cost-airline-will-work-while-others-wont/

Merged from separate thread

Buffman

Looks like they're also going for a low cost paint job!

JCX BXC

The tabloids really entertained me with the one "BRITISH AIRWAYS will fly YOU to LOS ANGELES for 100 POUNDS!"

Hence people going ape, and then realising that they'd have to travel to Barcelona and forgo all onboard niceties.

marno21

JCX BXC wrote: »

The tabloids really entertained me with the one "BRITISH AIRWAYS will fly YOU to LOS ANGELES for 100 POUNDS!"

Hence people going ape, and then realising that they'd have to travel to Barcelona and forgo all onboard niceties.

Be as handy to go to DUB and fly with Ethopian, who seem to do occasional good deals with their fares too.

Rawr

Level? It's an ok name and an alright livery too. However it is a bit 'meh...'

I find it curious that IAG choose to create an entirely new low cost brand when they already had Vueling for that job. Wouldn't it have made more sense to extend the Vueling brand to this long haul operation too?

You'd probably have to take Vueling plane to get to BCN anyway, so it might have been better to keep it clean with a single brand (and minimize potential confusion for those who don't know which airlines IAG own/operate).

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, especially with Norwegian basing some of their long-haul at that airport too

Cloudio9

Rawr wrote: »

I find it curious that IAG choose to create an entirely new low cost brand when they already had Vueling for that job. Wouldn't it have made more sense to extend the Vueling brand to this long haul operation too?

I hadn't seen this thread and started another on this where I linked to a Willie Walsh interview. He explains why Veuling is not used, much along the lines of why Ryanair don't do long haul.

"Cranky: You mentioned Vueling, the importance of connectivity in Barcelona so far. Why not make this a part of Vueling? I know for Vueling, Barcelona is its biggest operation, but it’s not necessarily a Spanish brand. So why not use that?

Willie: We tested it. We did brand research in a number of countries, and it wasn’t as strong in the US as we would have hoped. So I think having looked at it quite a lot, a number of issues pointed us to creating a new brand. We want to keep these companies focused on their core activities. Vueling’s core activity is short-haul low-cost. Quite honestly they didn’t have a great appetite to do the long haul, it’s a very different proposition, as you know. The fact that Ryanair doesn’t do long-haul demonstrates just how different it is. If it were simple, they would have done it and they would have done it a long time ago. We felt we had scope to create a new brand, a new operating company in the group. And having worked with Brand Union on the development of the brand, we came up with Level which we felt had better resonance in the target markets we were looking at."

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057723067

john boye

Buffman wrote: »

Looks like they're also going for a low cost paint job!

I don't know if it's by accident or design but I do like how the tail sort of resembles an artificial horizon (if you squint enough!) but, yeah, pretty uninspired livery all told.

KevR

goingnowhere wrote: »

Flights on Level will earn avios in all IAG frequent flyer programs

Any idea if it will also be possible to earn Tier Points?

I have a BA Executive Club account. I have no plans to use Aer Club. I'm going to continue with BAEC and consolidate as much as possible from IAG and One World partners. I find it annoying that you still can't book on aerlingus.com and properly earn BAEC Avios and Tier Points. (I know you can if you book through ba.com, but there is often a huge price difference).

faoiarvok

If you can handle the design speak:
http://www.itsnicethat.com/news/level-airline-identity-design-brand-union-200417/

Rawr

faoiarvok wrote: »

If you can handle the design speak:
http://www.itsnicethat.com/news/level-airline-identity-design-brand-union-200417/

Admittedly it is a very clean brand (still very 'meh' but clean), and it's visually very inoffensive. I can also get why they would would want to create a sort of neutral / international brand that isn't too Spanish, or too British, or too...well anything...

That in itself might be a problem brand-wise. The brand's neutrality could be the reason I feel so 'meh' about Level. Until we get to see a living & breathing airline, this identity feels kind of...soulless.

Most airlines seem to have a character, from the 'strictly business' British Airways, to that dirty little scamp that is Ryanair. But so far it is difficult to see if Level will have a character at all.

CoisFharraige

Locker10a wrote: »

They'd probably get on a airline named Death!

Hahahahahaha :D

''Ladies and gentlemen welcome on board Death. In the unlikely event of reaching your destination there will be a €10 bonus fee.''

john boye wrote: »

I don't know if it's by accident or design but I do like how the tail sort of resembles an artificial horizon (if you squint enough!) but, yeah, pretty uninspired livery all told.

If you close one eye, and then put your hand over the other, it's not too intrusive on the cornea.

Bussywussy

They'll probably have the race to the bottom wages too once they start recruiting away from vueling etc.

Buffman

john boye wrote: »

I don't know if it's by accident or design but I do like how the tail sort of resembles an artificial horizon (if you squint enough!) but, yeah, pretty uninspired livery all told.

Turns out you weren't far off with that description. IAG could have saved themselves a bit of money on the branding company and ran a children's competition or something, probably would have come up with better.:D

faoiarvok wrote: »

If you can handle the design speak:
http://www.itsnicethat.com/news/level-airline-identity-design-brand-union-200417/

“Our design director Mark Smith came up with the ultimate minimalist statement about flight. The logomark is a bisected square with blue above green: here is the sky and here, below, the land.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Locker10a

Fred Swanson wrote: »

Long haul with pay for baggage and food. Once you factor in baggage and food you are back up to the legacy airline price points.

I see TAP are doing the same for long haul.

Yeah, I've kept an eye on a few routes ex LON where BA and Norwegian compete, honoetly BA are generally better value all round.

Tenger

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Marketing will spin that as "checked in bags and onboard food are an option for those passenger who dont need the fare bundles offered by other airlines. We allow you to chose what you need, travel at your Level"

Locker10a

Tenger wrote: »

Fred Swanson wrote: »

Long haul with pay for baggage and food. Once you factor in baggage and food you are back up to the legacy airline price points.

I see TAP are doing the same for long haul.

Marketing will spin that as "checked in bags and onboard food are an option for those passenger who dont need the fare bundles offered by other airlines. We allow you to chose what you need, travel at your Level"

Exactly! And I'm sure plenty of airlines will start offering similar class levels to compete, and when oil gets price in years to come and it hurts long haul operations, ticket prices will rise back up, but inclusive bags and meals will be long gone

Buffman

I just noticed that when you try to search actual flights on the Level site, it sends you to the Iberia site for flights. And according to Wiki,

All Level flights will initially be operated by sister airline Iberia, using the Spanish national carrier's flight and cabin crew, as well as the IB flight code.

L1011

I imagine that they're seeing if this works before actually starting a new airline. New AOC, maintaining new operations manuals etc is not exactly cheap - although Norwegian seems to work OK with 4 AOCs!

Buffman

Ye, I can see where they're coming from on the flight operations side of things, but not even setting up a proper booking website seems a bit lacklustre from them.

Maybe they blew the whole budget on their 'branding'!:D

jjbrien

Kinda reminds me of when they did Go

Wonder will they end up selling it like they did to Go. Also using an A332 not as fuel efficient as Norwegians Long Haul 787's which will be doing the same routes. Wonder will we see service out of Gatwick or Stansted in the future.