My fiance and I travelled to Martinique in the Caribbean, flying from Leeds to Paris and then onwards to Fort-de-France. We were having a lovely holiday until I received an email from our airline, Level, saying our return flight to France had been put back four days. I spent hours trying to find out why and what assistance it could offer us as it meant we had to book another flight from Paris to Leeds and find accommodation for another four days. Level appears to be owned by Iberia so its helpline bounces you between call centres in different countries. We were offered no help and it turned into a very expensive four days. Level claimed it was entitled to change flights under its terms and conditions. Our insurance firm said it could process our claim for the costs incurred but only if Level provided email confirmation of the dates of the flights and the reason for the change.
I have sent numerous emails requesting this but it replies with a standard email saying we are not entitled to anything.
VT, Morely, Lancashire
Flights sold under the Level name are operated by Iberia, OpenSkies and Anisec Luftfahrt and the website offers three sets of terms and conditions depending on which brand you fly with. Level apologised for the inconvenience and said that the change, made for “operational reasons”, was announced 14 days in advance so customers could “manage or adapt their itinerary according to options offered by our teams”.
Except that no options were offered to you and, because you booked through a third-party website, you learned of the alteration after you had left the UK. That 14-day advance warning is critical; any less and the airline would have been liable for compensation. As it is, its only obligation was to offer an alternative flight or a refund and it is not bound to cover your consequential losses.
After contact from the Observer it did provide the requested details for your insurance claim.
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