European Commission approves Lufthansa’s investment in ITA

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• lcylocal says:

  4 Jul4 July 06:00

  Do the additional flights to IAG and AF-KLM hubs from Rome require through ticketing to be made available?

• Jetset Boyz says:

  4 Jul4 July 06:10

  “Lufthansa and the MEF can only implement the transaction following the Commission’s approval of suitable remedy takers for each of the short-haul, long-haul and Milan Linate commitments.”

  My understanding there’s still this ‘hurdle’ they need to overcome – and nothing customer-facing will be implemented until they’ve received those approvals.

  “a commitment to offer additional flights from Rome to IAG and Air France KLM hub cities”

  So in the UK that’s London Heathrow… Alitalia gave most of their slots to Etihad so we’ll probably see Lufthansa transferring som theirs – they added to their stash of slots when they sold bmi to British Airways.

  • daveinitalia says:

    4 Jul4 July 08:07

    I can’t see the point in this. Why would you fly ITA to connect to BA or IB in LHR or MAD? Presumably the BA/IB websites won’t offer this option even if there’s through ticketing and interlining available.

    • JDB says:

      4 Jul4 July 08:42

      GDS will offer connections with mixed carriers/alliance, so the purpose of this remedy is not only to stop LH starving competing hubs of flights, but actually to enhance connectivity.

  • Nick says:

    4 Jul4 July 11:28

    It says city not airport, so could be Gatwick/City if they don’t want to give up Heathrow slots.

    I suspect the Lon/Par/Mad remedy was the competition authorities calling LH’s bluff in response to their assertion of an ‘increase in competition’ as a result, but in reality few people will actually go via Italy to the US. Might give cheaper fares to Rome for a while though to fill the space.

• William Avery says:

  4 Jul4 July 08:59

  Merlin offer a decent deal?

  • RYAN says:

    4 Jul4 July 09:12

    Up to you to decide that, can 99% of the time get a 2-4-1 voucher for a pound which makes it c. £70-£80 for 4 people. So less than 0.5p a point

    • ed_fly says:

      4 Jul4 July 09:34

      I think 2-4-1’s can only be applied against on the day gate prices. so £130-140 for 4 people.

• Richie says:

  4 Jul4 July 09:55

  Would BACF be interested in slots at LIN?

• stevenhp1987 says:

  4 Jul4 July 10:01

  “This isn’t necessarily good news for people with Volare elite status via the British Airways status match a couple of years ago, as those cards will expire before the Star Alliance integration occurs. Lufthansa may choose to extend status, of course.”

  Both me and my wifes status ends end of January 2025…

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    4 Jul4 July 10:07

    Ah, never mind, you said Star Alliance… You’d get 2 months of Lufty access I guess though!

  • Rob says:

    4 Jul4 July 10:12

    Could be tight.

• George K says:

  4 Jul4 July 12:12

  Bought x3 Legoland tickets at full online price so kicking myself about this Merlin deal. I was too late for the National Rail 2-4-1 deal as it was sold out for our dates, and couldn’t find another way to take some money off. Tesco vouchers are long gone, and couldn’t remember if Costco did Merlin passes for a decent price.

  We’ll never know now…

• Olly says:

  4 Jul4 July 12:48

  Does M&M allow you to transfer between the schemes? I have c.60k in both Volare and M&M so being able to combine them together would be very handy.

  • Rob says:

    4 Jul4 July 13:12

    I expect this to happen, yes.

    Whether it happens before Star Alliance membership is confirmed is a different question. Can Lufty gift Volare members Star Alliance elite status even though the airline itself is not in Star Alliance?

• AL says:

  4 Jul4 July 13:10

  Would be interesting if V Hols allow Virgin Hotel in London to be bookable via them…

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