When it’s this cheap, it’s easy to be cheerful…
If you’re not already familiar with Level, you should probably change that. One good reason? The airline is currently offering $241 round trip transatlantic flights between New York and Paris, with similar deals between Boston and Barcelona. These bold fares are making a serious impact on the way airlines price international plane tickets. Last week, Norwegian made the news proclaiming it doesn’t think low fares should stay, but Level is going in a different direction and in fact, quite a few…
Transatlantic Expansion
Barcelona is one of the most popular places on the planet, not only thanks to tapas, wine and sunshine but due to “hang on a minute” quality flight deals. LEVEL has become a driving force in the low cast market, squaring off against venerable competition from Norwegian, while the two airlines force legacy airlines to lower fares. LEVEL has announced transatlantic expansion, adding New York – Barcelona and Barcelona – Santiago service to its expanding roster. New Santiago flights will begin in March, while New York will kick off in late July. Flights are already on sale.
Low Frills, Big Upside
LEVEL is a unique airline, because it’s owned by IAG, the parent company of British Airways and Iberia. The low frills, low fare airline has been a tactical success and expansion appears to be increasing. Last week, Norwegian announced that the airlines appetite for the current low fare climate was waining, in light of rising oil prices, but this new competitive streak from LEVEL will surely keep headline worth flight deals where they belong. LEVEL has captured significant new business on the New York Paris and Barcelona routes, and shifted West Coast USA flights to the much preferred San Francisco (SFO) rather than Oakland (OAK). The airline has also acquired two new Airbus A330-200 aircraft. At $241 round trip, there’s a lot to love.
If you’re going to write about these low-fare airlines, when spouting the absolutely lowest fare, why not also include the fees so that you don’t come across as a breathless shill?
Their baggage fees may be as high as $85 for a one-way ticket. Even finding this information on their website is difficult.
This page, https://www.flylevel.com/en/why-level/baggage, does not have the fee, and the link from there is only for ‘additional baggage’ and not for the cheapest fares. It also says you can check while booking, but I got all the way to the payment page and didn’t see it, leaving the buyer at the mercy of whatever they’ll charge you at the airport when you show up bag in tow.
Things like meals, seats, will cost even more. Changes of any sort are priced at $150.