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Baggage Fee Alert - Level Airlines from California to Barcelona


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Since Barcelona is a major cruise start/stop point, folks might be considering the new service from Level Airlines to BCN. Flights operate from LAX and OAK.

 

Loyalty Traveler has an interesting blog post in which he tells how opaque Level/Iberia is regarding its baggage fees, and how they are much higher than first presumed. LINK HERE.

 

Among other takeaways:

Iberia’s website actually sells the Level ticket without the option to include a checked bag before hitting the purchase confirmation with your credit card data. I am sure I am not the first passenger flying on Level to learn the cost of one checked bag is $85 and not $44 as it appears to be when researching bag fees.
After trying a couple of dummy bookings for Level flights yesterday, I see the problem is due more to the Iberia website than my ignorance of flying Level. Here are a series of screenshots to clarify reasons why I accuse Iberia and Level of a lack of transparency that, in my opinion, borders on checked bag fee extortion for the unsuspecting consumer.
The reason I went into such great detail on Level checked bag fees is my dummy bookings yesterday showed me that consumers buy their tickets without ever seeing the cost for a checked bag. Diligent consumers who research bag fees probably conclude the cost for one checked bag is $44. But, you will find the real cost is $85 for one checked bag.

In my opinion, this kind of flight marketing is consumer extortion.

$85 is not the highest bag fee I have seen for a low cost carrier. But, Level Airline bag fees are the least transparent extra charge I have ever seen for a low cost carrier ticket.

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ft - thank you for your post on this. It just points out to me that there is NO low airfare (including all fees) available unless you only have a carry on.

 

So what is the value of even thinking that you will get a low fare from such airlines when going on a cruise? None in my book and history. There is a LCC in my town and they are not as 'cheap' as driving 45 miles to PHL, I do the drive when the difference in fare is more than $150 p/p or I cannot get to where I want to go directly.

 

We really enjoy cruising but do not want airline fee suprizes. We budget using the current air full fare and go from there looking for the most non-stop/direct fare including fees. I do not want to spend a lot of time trying to figure out if an airline is really 'the cheapest' lazy on my part.

 

Most likely a travel agent might be the best route for those who are really looking for the cheapest flight, $25 - $50 for their service is a drop in the bucket based on what the OP has found.

 

bon voyage ....

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Since Barcelona is a major cruise start/stop point, folks might be considering the new service from Level Airlines to BCN. Flights operate from LAX and OAK.

 

Loyalty Traveler has an interesting blog post in which he tells how opaque Level/Iberia is regarding its baggage fees, and how they are much higher than first presumed. LINK HERE.

The answer is likely to be simpler than being suggested (the allegation being that the website is misleading).

 

This following snip is from Level's own page about baggage fees (which is the place one would naturally look). Given what he describes as happening, it seems likely that the purchase of the first bag at $44 was somehow recorded against his reservation but not confirmed for some reason, so that it didn't show up on the boarding pass and didn't generate a confirmation email. When he went to pay again, he was charged the second bag fee of $85.

 

That would substantiate a complaint that the website and reservations systems had messed up, but it would not substantiate the complaint actually made that the airline is being dishonest or underhand about how much you have to pay. Neither does it substantiate the complaint that "Instead, I learned the cost of one checked bag is $85 one way when purchased online."

 

I can understand Joe Bloggs, competely unversed in the airline industry, possibly coming to the view that this blogger came to. But the blogger should have done some more researching and thinking before writing this piece.

 

2ccupdu.jpg

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