Originally Posted by
usbusinesstraveller
Norwegian is in deep financial doggy doo and if they carry on they way they are they'll go bust. And so without an acquisition the airline could be lost and a competitor gone anyway. And it's IAG that is making the move, not BA.
Most folks ascribe nefarious reasons to IAG for having an interest in Norwegian, and I suspect they're right. I don't know exactly what game they're playing, however (but then I'm no expert on European bankruptcy laws and such). Buying a competitor to shut them down isn't that unusual. Heck, I even thought Southwest bought AirTran largely to eliminate a competitor. But this usually happens when the competitor is solvent. When they're bleeding money, you usually just wait for them to fail. So it's certainly interesting.
Originally Posted by
Concerto
Well that is what I thought and that means I was right to advise friends to be careful and use a credit card for any bookings, never mind any extra fees. And so IAG is not BA? What does the clown in the street know about that? But I take your point, and maybe the acquisition can save jobs and keep some of that route network alive. It would also give IAG a finger in the Scandinavian market, maybe not a bad thing given the endless years of SAS dominance.
Why buys airline tickets with cash? You definitely need to buy tickets on struggling airlines with a credit card, but I don't know the financial protections available in Europe for such purchases. And if you're taking summer of 2019, there's a long time to go before your friend should be shopping for an airline ticket!