Iberia Airlines
Reviews and Complaints

Iberia sold me a ticket to travel from Mexico City to Madrid, Spain Wednesday night, February 2. They canceled that flight because of the light load, made me travel Thursday the 3rd by day, costing my an extra $400 plus the call to Spain to change my itinerary. They didn't even bother to call me, just an email a few days ahead letting me know it was canceled.

To top it off they wouldn't even compensate me with an upgrade in service. Bad service is one thing, but arrogance on top of bad service is inexcusable.

Avoid this carrier if you can.

I flew Iberia to Madrid to meet my husband who is stationed in Iraq and finally had some leave. I had all our vacation clothes in my bags since he only had military clothes with him. We were on vacation for 12 days and the luggage showed up on day 11. We had to spend much of our money on replacement items so were unable to do many of the things we had planned. I kept receipts and filled out the many forms needed to get our money replaced. After two months I did get a check - for about 1/10th of what it should have been! When I try to call I'm on hold for more than 12 minutes and then someone picks up the phone and hangs up. From the other complaints I've read I am very lucky that they even acknowledged that they got my paperwork and sent me anything but all in all it was such a letdown after such a long-awaited trip. It's sad too because the flight crew and the flight itself was good.

Horrible experience with Iberia. Our connecting flight from Venice was 2 hours late, so they let our plane to Washington go although we were only 10 minutes late at the gate. There were seven of us. The Iberia employees were rude, unapologetic and deceitful to us. We had to spend a night in Madrid. Then the next day they assured that we will make a flight to Boston and issued us standby tickets. However, they gave Spanish nationals seats, but kicked out three Americans with assigned seats (one of them an 85-year old lady). So we didn't have a chance to get on that flight at all. Then they issued us boarding passes for a NY flight, which was delayed by 2 hours because one runway at Madrid airport is closed on the weekend and we had 77 flights to take off ahead of us. As a result, we missed a connecting flight to Washington and there were no more flights that day. Iberia put us in the worst hotel imaginable with huge stains on the carpet, filth everywhere, mold and ragged towels in the bathroom. We could not run faster away from it in the morning. We finally got on a 2 pm flight out of JFK. Overall, we spent three days traveling from Europe. It was the worst travel experience of our life.

Prezados,

Venho aqui expor toda minha indignação perante ao representate de vendas de passagem aereas, Opodo.com da Companhia Aerea Iberia, na qual fiz uma compra de um bilhete do São Paulo(Brasil) para Geneve(CH) país de minha residencia para meu filho menor de 14anos. Dos factos é que infelizmente tive de fazer mudanças, no Bilhete comprado pela internet, à primeira foi porque ele iria perdermuitos dias de aula na escola, ou seja tive de alterar as datas, que me custo um valor absurdo por essa aslteração de datas, a segunda infelizmente meu filho adoeçeu e seria impossível que uma criança doente viesse a viajar sozinho numa viagem tão longa, assim para não peder o bilhete pedir para alterar o nome do passageiro e me disseram que isto seria impossível que minha única alternativa era cancelar o bilhete pagando 400€ e pagando um novo bilhete, ou seja, até para cancelar o voo eu teria que pagar.
Usurpada em 1800frs e indignada vem pedir as autoridade maior que tome providência, pois imprevistos existem, não os programamos e o que essa companhia fez tratasse de um crime inafianssável e espero que este crime não venha a ser impune.

Com meus cumprimentos

Nadjane Henriques

Cher,
Je viens ici pour exposer mon indignation face à tous les représentants des ventes de billets de passage, de la compagnie aérienne Iberia Opodo.com, qui ont effectué un achat d'un billet de Sao Paulo (Brésil) à Genève (CH) le pays de ma résidence pour mon enfant mineur de 14 ans. De la question est que, malheureusement, j'ai dû faire des changements dans le billet acheté en ligne, d'abord c'est parce qu'il serait perdermuitos jours de classe à l'école, ou ont dû changer les dates, ce qui m'a coûté une somme ridicule aslteração à cette date, le seconde, malheureusement mon fils était malade et il serait impossible pour un enfant malade devait Voyage seul pour un long voyage, afin de ne pas la perdre de la demande de billets de changer le nom du passager et a dit qu'il était impossible que ma seule alternative était d'annuler le billet en payant € 400, et de payer un nouveau billet, ou d'annuler le vol jusqu'à ce que je devais payer.
1800frs abusive et indigné à la demande vient de l'autorité supérieure de prendre des mesures parce qu'il ya des imprévus, et non les programmes et ce que cette société était un fait inafianssável infraction et j'espère que ce crime ne restera pas impuni.

avec mes compliments,

Nadjane Henriques

Cher Client,
Nous avons été contactés par la compagnie aérienne qui opère votre vol en raison d’un changement intervenant dans votre réservation.
Vous trouverez ci-dessous les nouveaux détails de votre vol.
Pour prendre connaissance de ces modifications sous une forme plus lisible que ci-dessous, vous pouvez également vous rendre sur le site www.checkmytrip.com (en indiquant la référence de réservation et le nom du passager).
Votre nouvel itinéraire est à imprimer et à présenter au comptoir d'enregistrement de votre vol le jour de votre départ avec les papiers d'identité nécessaires à votre voyage.
DATE 22APRIL10
BOOKING REF 4RQ5XZ
DE CARVALHO/VICTHOR D
SERVICE FROM TO DEPART ARRIVE
-------------- ------------------- --------------------- -------- -------
IBERIA - IB 6820
WED 21JUL SAO PAULO SP MADRID ES 1930 1035
GUARULHOS INTL BARAJAS 22JUL
NON STOP TERMINAL 1 TERMINAL 4S DURATION 10:05
NON SMOKING
RESERVATION CONFIRMED - N ECONOMY
ON BOARD: BREAKFAST/LUNCH
EQUIPMENT:AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A340
IBERIA - IB 3490
THU 22JUL MADRID ES GENEVA CH 1250 1440
BARAJAS GENEVA INTERNATIONAL
NON STOP TERMINAL 4 TERMINAL M DURATION 1:50
NON SMOKING
RESERVATION CONFIRMED - N ECONOMY
ON BOARD: FOOD AND BEVERAGES FOR PURCHASE
EQUIPMENT:AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-100/200
IBERIA - IB 3489
MON 09AUG GENEVA CH MADRID ES 0825 1015
GENEVA INTERNATIONA BARAJAS
NON STOP TERMINAL M TERMINAL 4 DURATION 1:50
NON SMOKING
RESERVATION CONFIRMED - M ECONOMY
ON BOARD: FOOD AND BEVERAGES FOR PURCHASE
EQUIPMENT:AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-100/200
IBERIA - IB 6821
MON 09AUG MADRID ES SAO PAULO SP 1215 1800
BARAJAS GUARULHOS INTL
NON STOP TERMINAL 4S TERMINAL 1 DURATION 10:45
RESERVATION CONFIRMED - M ECONOMY
ON BOARD: LUNCH/SNACK
EQUIPMENT:AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A340
MISCELLANEOUS 17SEP PARI
RESERVATION NUMBER(S) IB/JF4RH
DE CARVALHO/VICTHOR D TICKET:IB/ETKT 075 [protected]

Veuillez noter que certaines compagnies exigent que vous confirmiez votre réservation pour le vol retour au moins 72 heures avant le décollage. Ces compagnies se réservent le droit d'annuler les billets si vous ne les avez pas re-confirmés.
Nous vous souhaitons un agréable voyage.
A très bientôt sur notre site !
L'équipe Opodo
www.opodo.fr
Tél. : [protected], 35 €/appel + 0, 34€/min) du lundi au vendredi de 8h à 21h et les samedis et dimanches de 9h à 18h
Tél. depuis l'étranger : +[protected] à partir d’un fixe (coût d'un appel international)
E-mail : utilisez notre formulaire de contact en cliquant sur « Contactez nous » en bas de la page d’accueil d’Opodo.fr
Note – Cet e-mail est automatiquement généré et ne requiert pas de réponse.
Récapitulatif de votre réservation
Votre vol
Aller : mercredi 21 juillet 2010
Durée du trajet : 14h00
Départ : 19h40 Sao Paulo Guarulhos International (Sao Paulo, Brésil) Terminal 1
Arrivée : 10h35 Madrid Barajas (Espagne) Terminal 4S
Vol : Iberia 6820 Classe Eco. Restrictions
Airbus Industrie A340
Départ : 12h50 Madrid Barajas (Espagne) Terminal 4
Arrivée : 14h40 Genève Genève International (Suisse) Terminal M
Vol : Iberia 3490 Classe Eco. Restrictions
Airbus Industrie A320-100/200
Retour : dimanche 12 septembre 2010
Durée du trajet : 14h45
Départ : 08h25 Genève Genève International (Suisse) Terminal M
Arrivée : 10h15 Madrid Barajas (Espagne) Terminal 4
Vol : Iberia 3489 Classe Eco. Restrictions
Airbus Industrie A320-100/200
Départ : 12h35 Madrid Barajas (Espagne) Terminal 4S
Arrivée : 18h10 Sao Paulo Guarulhos International (Sao Paulo, Brésil) Terminal 1
Vol : Iberia 6821 Classe Eco. Restrictions
Airbus Industrie A340
Nom De Carvalho
Prénom Victhor d.
Montant total TTC 22.00 € 764.77 €
Type de carte utilisée pour le paiement : Visa/Carte Bleue ou e-Carte Bleue
Votre réservation de vol est soumise au règlement tarifaire de la compagnie aérienne ainsi qu’aux conditions du contrat de transport IATA.
En effectuant cette demande de réservation, vous avez accepté les Conditions Générales et Particulières de Vente de Opodo.
Modification et annulation
Attention si ces billets sont modifiables ou remboursables, les pénalités prévues par la compagnie aérienne et les frais de gestion de l'agence seront appliqués.
Les modifications ou annulations de vols se font uniquement au téléphone auprès de nos conseillers voyages.
Dans le cadre d'une classe économique avec restrictions, les billets peuvent ne pas être modifiables ou remboursables avant et/ou après votre parcours aller.
Justificatifs d'identité
Dans certains cas, pour des raisons de sécurité, nous pourrons vous demander des justificatifs d'identité avant l'émission de vos billets. Nous vous conseillons de nous retourner ces justificatifs dans les plus brefs délais afin que nous puissions, dans la mesure du possible, conserver votre tarif ou vous proposer des conditions tarifaires équivalentes.
Service Clients

Avant d'appeler nos conseillers voyages, nous vous invitons
à consulter notre aide en ligne.

Pour nous contacter au sujet de cette réservation : [protected] (appel non surtaxé) ou au +[protected] depuis l'étranger (coût d'un appel international depuis un poste fixe).
Notre service clients est disponible du lundi au vendredi de 8H à 19H, samedi, dimanche et jours fériés de 10H à 17H.

Vous pouvez également nous contacter via notre formulaire.

I flew from Amsterdam to Barcelona via Madrid - my baggage was lost for 9 days. I only obtained my luggage by presenting myself at the Barcelona airport and refused to leave until they found the bag. It is funny that they 'found' it after telling me for days that it was with the courier - it was in their lost and found department and had been in the airport for 8 of the 9 days - five of which were in the lost and found. I had given them distinguishing markings, and my name and all contact details were on the bag! I contacted the CEO, but after two letters, still no reply, nor compensation

To anybody considering to fly Iberia.
Last week I took an Iberia flight from Amsterdam via Madrid to Santiago de Chile, and back. It is not my habit to complain about airliners, but this was exceptional. In the plane to madrid there was no space for legs. I'm just 1.87, so I wander what longer persons do. I was not able to stretch my legs at all. I could barely walk when I came out of the plane. On board standard policy is nothing to drink unless you pay. I better fly with Ryan Air next time! What a lack of service! On the flight to Santiago things were not much better. I can go into detail, but I will only mention no toilet paper and soap on the toilets.
On the way back I was sitting in a chair where the light and sound control box in the airm support was repaired in a very special way (Old planes!). They added a little box on top of the old one that sticked out andwas hurting my leg. The reaction on my complaint was that the plane was full. I did not take that. It would have been dangerous for my health! Furthermore, the food was very bad, and the air histesses were not what you call friendly. Some of them do not speak English, clearly. All calls over the inetrcom are almost impossible to comprehend: people speak English with a very heavy accent and they seem to be in an extreme hurry. I can understand many accents (I travel everywhere for business) but this one was impossible.
And so on...and so on...
I travel a lot by plane. Sometimes the service is good, sometimes it is a little bit worse. I flew with Iberia a couple of times. I decided this was the last time. Iberia is one of the worst bigger Airliners I know. It is a shame.
I hope this helps people.
Rob Veltman

My partner and I flew on iberia flight 0817 on monday 10th of august 2009.
On arrival at madrid we noticed and photographed two holes in the fuselage that had previously been patched up.
There were two or three iberia ground staff looking at the damage as we got off the plane.
My question is, why was this plane allowed to fly with passengers on board with a temporary repair? We fly every week and I am very worried about this incident and the possibility of a similar situation reoccuring on iberia airlines. Have iberia broken any caa laws and can I claim compensation for this incident. Anthony vandeputte, 406 cura sol 2, calle paino, playa del cura, mogan, las palmas, gran canaria35138, spain tel 34 [protected] personal email [protected]@hotmail.co.uk. I look foward to an immediate reply.

Went to the airport to find myself, husband and son of 5 not on passengers list for flight to Ibiza via Madrid on the half term holiday which was booked.

I had a confirmation letter when i purchased the ticket that confirmed flight and the total costs for flights including the credit card used for payment . However, there was a problem with the payment and the airline never informed me of this and i thought the flight was booked and confirmed. In their document there is a statement that says they will inform purchaser if there is a problem with payment which they did not. Airline staff refuse to acknowledge that this was a fault of their booking system. On all other booking system a message is sent out immediately to inform person booking and ask for other method of payment. I was very upset and furious about what happened as i had to come home and wasted a lot of money. My son and husband were very bitter about the whole thing as we had been so looking foward to this holiday.

I missed a connection due to a late flight with Iberia and as they weren't willing to compensate me I've taken the matter to court. I provide the details I submitted on my court claim below. If anyone has a similar issue or can help me I'd be keen to hear from you.

On 17/1/2008 I bought a return flight from
london-montevideo via madrid for 13.2.08 on
Iberia.com. The documentation + website
showed all flights were on Iberia. As
advised by Heathrow check-in staff I checked-
in bags from Heathrow to Madrid. Due to late
departure of Heathrow-Madrid flight IB 7447
I missed connection to Montevideo which was
very stressful + exacerbated by staff on
IB7447 being unhelpful and there being no
Iberia staff in the arrival lounge to help
decide what to do with my bags that needed
to be collected and re-checked in. There was
not another direct flight for some days so I
had to cancel my holiday, stay overnight in
Madrid and return to London in the morning,
getting no sleep. My claim is for £250
compensation for distress, inconvenience and
ruining of my holiday. The claimant claims
interest under section 69 of the County
Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year
from 13.2.08-3.1.09 of £? and also interest
at the same rate up to the date of judgment
or earlier payment at a daily rate
of?

I had a terrible experience with Iberia, flying from Madrid to Buenos Aires. First our flight was overbooked. We couldn't flight that night and they assured us the place in the next flight, transfer to the hotel and the airport and a cash compensation. We had to change flights (connections) and to book an extra night in Buenos Aires. The following day, we were sited inside the plain for three hours, with technical problems. That plain didn’t lift – very little information was given to the passengers – and we had to go again to a hotel, until they solved the problem. We stayed from 11h to 20h30, without food or water, nor information about our departure. We departed to Buenos Aires with a delay of 13 hours in the second flight. We had to change our vacations completely and lost two days in the Barajas Airport. Iberia didn’t excuse itself for the trouble it caused to the passengers. I will never fly again with this company.

On 31 August celebrating our honeymoon in Europe our luggage was checked in at the Iberia counter at Athens airport. Bound for Malaga, Spain we were ensured by Iberia staff that our luggage would be sent directly through to Malaga, despite having to change planes at Madrid Airport.

We arrived in Malaga, Spain having travelled the whole day and night from Greece to find that our luggage had not arrived. The baggage carrosel was a joke - they kept putting 10 bags out at a time and then stoping the conveyer belt and closing the shutters. it was a complete disaster leaving passengers stranded, tired and not knowing whether they were going to receive their luggage that evening (it was 11 pm at night). Our luggage did not arrive on the flight we were on so we immediately we went to the lost baggage claim area. The staff were very blase about the fact that our luggage had disappeared. After explaining to them that we had a wedding to go to in a day's time and that since this was the reason we had decided to come to Spain in the first place we were not in the slightest bit happy..

My husband and I had pre-wedding functions to attend, hence no make up or toiletries and were told that we had to buy some toiletries etc and would be re-imbursed by our travel insurance company later. This did not help our situation as we had come for our honeymoon after the wedding costs and travelling through Europe at our own cost you can imagine what little money we had left. the Iberia representative did not offer us anything but were told to phone the airline the following day to find out whether our luggage had been located.

I was appalled by the Iberia customer service. After my husband lodging the paperwork at the counter, I was not happy as I think they should have offered us something. It was a disgrace so I decided to speak to the Iberia General Manager myself (who was conveniently not there at the time). Nobody seemed to care and the whole experience of not having luggage for 37 hours was really stressful as I had all of my clothing for the wedding in my luggage as well as shoes, make up, toiletries etc and a wedding gift. It was as though they did not care and we had to call the airline at our expense. Which we are claiming compensation for.

Not only did it cause my husband and I distress (0n our honeymoon) but wasted my families quality holiday time in Marbella who were all in Marbella for my brother's wedding.

I have lodged a formal complaint with Iberia Airlines but of course have not yet received any response from the airline 2 months later. We have also still not received an apology from the airline. I felt the staff were unhelpful and didn't seem to care. The whole system was a joke which caused us much distress on our honeymoon. We will never fly this airline again.

I flew from Atlanta - Miami - Madrid - Gran Canaria on 5/26/08. Upon arrival at the Atlanta airport, the AA agent (I flew on AA from ATLMIA)informed me that my bags (6 of them)would be checked all the way to my final destination in Las Palmas Gran Canaria on IB. When I arrived in LPA on 5/27/08, not one of my checked bags had made it in. As a result, I filed a lost baggage form with the IB agent. That night, I received a call from the local IB baggage office in LPA. The agent (I must say was extremely nice and helpful) informed me that IB had located 4-of-6 bags at the MIA airport. For some reason, AA did not transfer my bags to IB in the time required to make the conncections. He also added, that he would work with IB in MIA to locate the other 2 missing bags.

Again, that night, I received a second call telling me that the two additional bags were found. I was told that all the bags were enroute to MAD and they would arrive at LPA on IB834 on 5/28/08. On 5/28/08, I met IB834 MADLPA and in the process of getting my bags, I noticed that the largest piece I had checked seemed very flat. Upon further inspection, I noticed that the TSA approved lock was cut. Upon lifting the bag, I noticed that it seemed light. Once I opened the bag I noticed that about 80% of the content checked were missing.

Needless to say, I felt totally confused, humiliated and angry about the whole situation. The local LPA IB personnel seemed in disbilief and very apologetic. Because some the items taken were very personal (e.g. underwear, electric shaver and socks)IB gave me a care kit to make due and provided phone and fax numbers for their main customer care office in Madrid. Currently, I've sent a fax to IB main office in Madrid Spain detailing all the missing items with corresponding value. I've yet to receive any responses but I'm hopeful the proper compensation can be made asap.

By the way, the IB Reservations agents have told me there is nothing they can do to help me in tracking my complain from the US. Basically, I must continue dealing with their main offices in Madrid which mean that I would have to pay for long distance calls. Please, I would appreciate hearing from anyone that may have experienced similar situations.

IBERIA, LINEAS AEREAS DE ESPANA
El. Venizelos Airport,
Main Terminal Building
190 19 Spata

11th July, 2008

Dear Mr. Alvarez,

We would like to formally submit our complaint in reference to the following episodes that occurred during the materialization of the Incentive trip of Ethniki Insurance on the below mentioned dates.

The total number of guests that flew with IBERIA, a number which we consider and believe to be a substantial one and to which the service provided was extremely poor, especially noting that this occurred on the return – a regretful way to end a very successful operation.

Group bookings / payments were all handled on our behalf by Monogram Travel under the following PNR numbers:
 Z5PFGN
 Z5O5G5
 39KG8X

Flight information was as follows:
• Group A – 30 guests + 1 Tour Leader = 31 persons total
o July 1st IB 3883 Athens / Madrid
o July 1st IB 108 Madrid / Seville
o July 7th IB 117 Seville / Madrid
o July 7th IB 3882 Madrid / Athens
• Group B – 106 guests + 3 Tour Leaders = 109 persons total
o July 2nd IB 3883 Athens / Madrid
o July 2nd IB 106 Madrid / Seville {60 persons}
o July 2nd IB 112 Madrid / Seville {49 persons}
o July 8th IB 3882 Madrid / Athens

 Total guests with Iberia = 140

Ideally we had wished to have all guests on same dates & same flights, but accepted that this was not possible which was the reason in breaking the group into two different departure & return dates.

Originally we had Group B confirmed on earlier flights to Seville, but again this was changed and an afternoon flight was confirmed for the 49 guests – an issue that was not easily accepted by the client, but who eventually accepted this and in order to make the program of the clients much more comfortable we added a tour of Madrid instead of having 49 persons waiting in the airport with nothing to do.

The main issues arised when we started our return journey for both groups.

Group A arrived at Seville airport to check-in on July 7th and was informed that all 31 guests were to check-in at one counter only. The Tour Leader started this way, but managed to direct guests also to the 2nd check-in counter in order to move this line faster. A slight issue to which personally I would not give any serious emphasis on when seeing what happened to the other group.

Group B flights confirmed originally had been afternoon ones, convenient in order to connect with the Athens flight. But these IBERIA changed to morning ones which would give us a minimum of 7 hours waiting time for the Athens flight. Once again, client gracefully accepted that we move all guests by train and ensuring that we would be a minimum of 2 hours prior to take-off at the airport.

A total of 112 guests arrived at the airport in Madrid on July 8th at 16:10 hours (2 hours and 10 minutes prior} to check-in for the Athens flight. Here everything starts:
• Tour Leaders are informed to wait in front of counter 525 in order to be informed where to go.
• Local Agent is then informed to move all guests to counter 904 for check-in. We move all guests to this counter only to be informed upon arrival there that staff had completed their working shift and counters close down.
• From here we are asked to move all guests to counter 878 for check-in.
o Complaints start on the disorganization that is happening.
• We arrive at counter 878 the same time as the airline staff who open 877 and 878 only to find out that 877 is for another smaller group and only for this one. Our counter is only 878…… ONE counter for 112 persons…..
• Immediately I go to the customer service counter in the business class area and request that more counters open up in order to service the guests at a faster pace. The ladies there were very efficient and did make necessary calls and 20 minutes later a total of 3 counters were checking in the guests, but at a very slow pace.
• My four Tour Leaders along with the 2 local Agents remained at all times by the counters assisting the IBERIA airline staff on translations with the guests in cases needed.
• A number of issues arised concerning overweight on luggage to which we do admit that we counted 4 situations where guest luggage was over 25 kgs and to which excess was paid and in one where client removed items from their luggage in order to bring this down to the permitted allowance.
• 112 guests took over 1 hour and 20 minutes to check-in…. the last four guests who had excess luggage and which they paid € 50.00 for the 5 extra kilos were informed that the flight had closed, but some-how this re-opened and luggage was accepted, boarding passes given and we then had to make our way very quickly to the gate as flight was boarding…..
• By the time we made it to the gate, the last four guests that checked in last along with another 2 from our group who had checked in earlier were informed that they were STAND-BY and could not be accepted as flight was full.
• When I asked why we were not informed at the check-in counter on this issue the reply was ‘that is the problem of IBERIA and not me”. When asked who / what this person’s position was giving such a statement – reply was, “I am IBERIA flight supervisor/manager responsible for the flight”. Therefore in one phrase this

person was taking himself out of the responsibility and on the other end wanted to somehow show he was a responsible person in IBERIA. Excellent contradiction.
• In the meantime, the remaining group onboard the flight kept calling us on the mobiles advising that there were seats available on the flight, which as it seems did cause some hesitation to the staff handling the flight who did eventually a head count only again to inform me that there were no seats available on the flight.
• Out of the 4 Tour Leaders, 3 of us stepped off the flight and gave our seats to 3 of the clients, thus leaving behind 3 clients and 3 Tour Leaders.
• We were asked if we wished our luggage to be offloaded to which we confirmed and then taken to the Customer service desk of IBERIA.
• At this point I asked to be directed to the Civil Aviations Manager of the Airport only to be confronted by a young girl that this office was closed and the only person who could speak to me was her supervisor, the same person who had said he was responsible for the flight, but unfortunately he had gone to have a cup of coffee with a cigarette. It seems he was hoping that by the time he would get back we would have left.
o I asked to have my rights provided and only then did this girl state that IBERIA, apart from our re-booking on the next flight would provide hotel accommodation, dinner, breakfast, transfers to/from the hotel.
• On the return of the ‘Flight Supervisor/Manager”, I confronted him with the request to have all 6 accommodated in a deluxe hotel, to which he immediately advised that this was only possible for one person and not the others – as only my ticket was business and the remaining 5 economy. To this I asked to provide a deluxe hotel and I would arrange to pay for the difference. Reply was that all the deluxe hotels which IBERIA cooperates with are fully booked, but again would not say which these hotels were.
• A second request was to upgrade my 3 clients to business and leave me and my staff in economy. Another rejection saying that flight of the next day was again overbooked.
• The young lady who was in customer service that was assigned to assist us proved to be extremely arrogant and rude. Following remarks are few of those we remember:
o How many rooms do you want? Six? Why – you cannot share?
o You want your luggage? Then you will have to wait for at least 2 hours and if we can find them…
o The Station Manager of IBERIA cannot see you as he is not here and it is not his job to speak to you.
o The Civil Aviation Office is closed and your problems can only be addressed by my supervisor.
o Transfer to the hotel is provided by IBERIA – but when asked where we had to go / where to find the transportation to the hotel we did not receive any reply, just a shrug of her shoulders.
o Luggage – when asked where we would find these, she told us to go to conveyor belt 8 and wait to pick these up.
o We asked where we had to go for the refund we were entitled to. Reply was just ‘2nd floor’ – where, to whom – nothing was given, just a shoulder shrug.
• Seeing that no help was been provided – we left and made our way to trace our luggage, pick up our refunds and find our hotel.

o Luggage – when we got to the luggage claim area I made my way to the lost and found to ask the ladies there where to find our luggage. This is a point where we were very grateful for the help and information provided. Your own IBERIA staff at lost and found completed the CORRECT information in the system in order to pass through the notification to have our luggage brought through. The last piece was picked up at 23:30 hours…. The flight had left at 18:30 hours…
o Refund - the ladies at the customer service on the 2nd floor were very helpful and very fast finalized all documentation and gave according refunds.
 What I find peculiar is that business class and economy class passengers receive the same amount in refund?
 € 400.00 in either case? (Attached copy of the refund slip)
• One would say that the above is more than enough to go through, but no, IBERIA ensured that the story would not be that simple… The luggage that was offloaded was more than expected and in my case – I received luggage of another client – NOT mine.
o Mr. Giotakos – not only did he receive his piece, but another 4 pieces which belonged to the ladies that checked in with him at the same counter.
o Mrs. Moschoudi {myself} – I did not receive my luggage but the luggage of Mrs. Rigou
 During check-in of group it was a massive issue on behalf of IBERIA that each guest has only ONE pieces of luggage 23 kgs maximum each…. Now how Mr. Giotakos ended up having a total of 5 pieces in his name is something that beats me.
 How Mrs. Rigou’s luggage went through as mine is again another question. (Attached stub of boarding coupon & luggage label)
• By this time, the flight in Athens had landed and we informed the according clients that we had their luggage which we placed in storage at the airport and made our way by Taxi’s to the hotel – TRYP DIANA, checked in and were shocked that this was / is considered to be a 4* hotel. Am sure that if you take the time and go and see this establishment you will acknowledge that it cannot be graded higher than a 3* hotel.
o We asked if they had any other higher category rooms, but informed that all are the same.
• A first glance at the hotel restaurant did not entice anyone to go in and try any of the dishes on display – make it been very late, make it that none of the dishes looked eatable or the horrible odor hanging in the restaurant. We decided to try the El Bergantin – another restaurant in the hotel itself.
o The food was very good which helped us relax and calm down as much as possible. The bill of course could not be charged to our room, for which I paid on the spot, € 280, 20 + € 20.00 tip for all six of us. (attached copy of the bill)

Presume you believe that this was the end of our ordeal? No – the next chapter was played the following day…. With our boarding cards in hand we arrived at the airport at 10:00 a.m. and after picking up the luggage from the storage we went to drop these off only to be advised that we had to pay excess luggage since we were only entitled to 23 kgs per person, apart from myself who could take 30 kgs. This resulted in another blow

up, the supervisor called in who for the next hour kept arguing that she did not care if IBERIA the previous day caused any problems, off-loaded clients, her issue was that she had 6 persons in front of her with a total of 9 pieces of luggage and we had to pay excess on this and then take it up with IBERIA.

After massive complaining, calling IBERIA Athens, continuously arguing she eventually advised the check-in staff to put a note in the system that luggage was accepted as had been offloaded due to overbooking of aircraft…..
• Why could this not have been done from the 1st moment?
• Why make us go through all this hassle and stress?

When at this point the counter staff went to check luggage through the system came up and said that flight had CLOSED…. It was very interesting in seeing how uncomfortable at this point the IBERIA staff became, but eventually she managed to get the pieces through and again we only had 20 minutes to get to the flight as it was boarding….

Eventually we made it back and happier when we saw the entire luggage come through in Athens. A nightmare over.

Questions:
1. Been in the travel industry for 27 years, it is understood that flights are overbooked in order to ensure that they leave with no free seats, but when overbooking’s do occur, common knowledge is that the priority line on off-loading is the same as guests on a stand-by basis. Therefore why was this not taken into consideration?
a. 1st – free tickets
b. 2nd – airline / travel staff on discount tickets
c. 3rd – last minute bookings
d. 4th – individual bookings
e. 5th – group members / groups
f. All others

2. Why was this not mentioned at the check-in counter and pointed out to clients or to us – the Tour Leaders?

3. What has happened to a small but very valuable service called “Customer Satisfaction”? Is IBERIA only interested in dissatisfaction?

4. Who is responsible on the recruiting of hotel for the offloaded passengers?
a. Do you not have any quality control to ensure that these hotels are of the category they say they are?
b. Is this the category that represents IBERIA?

5. Is IBERIA aware that their staff believes that by offering a refund, a disgraceful hotel, having rude – disrespectful staff in frontline customer positions is considered more than enough for servicing off-loaded customers?

6. Business class guests and economy receive the same service?
a. Where is the line drawn in such cases?
b. Why did I have to pay € 1, 320.00 for my roundtrip ticket to Seville in business class {economy not available} only to be treated in this disgraceful manner? I am on purpose pointing this out, even though I refused to be accommodated in another hotel and also gave up my seat to Mr. Giotakos on the way back.

On another level and equally very important my end was that on July 9th I was booked to fly to Rhodes at 8:55 a.m. on OA 702 and return same day on A3 217 leaving Rhodes at 22:15 hours {attached copy of my electronic ticket issued on June 27th}. On Rhodes were already my clients for a very important project which we are handling this year in September for 2, 500 guests. Unfortunately we are not permitted to disclose the name of the client for security reasons. This was the final site inspection for all logistics to apply since on this project an activity is to take place that the goal is have this placed in the World Book of Guiness. As you now can see this did not take place and am at present trying to see how this can be rectified which is proving to be an extremely difficult task to have again 30 different level clients at the same time on Rhodes for ‘another’ site inspection. Maybe, IBERIA can give me an idea on how this can be done….. A very high level project that plans to go down in history and the recklessness of airline staff with no consideration on what value time is for others. From one end my reputation is at stake with Ethniki First Insurance and on the other I have to find solutions on what can be done in order for this other high end project to be secured from all ends and have NO surprises during the actual operation.

Different class of service does not necessarily mean that we are of a higher category than another fellow passenger in economy. We are all entitled in been treated with dignity and respect. A service that IBERIA showed to be unaware of.

As it seems IBERIA is unaware on what an Incentive trip is – please allow me to explain. It is a trip clients work very hard on in order to ensure that they meet their company target in order to go on a trip. This trip the company needs to ensure that it will be successful, all details seen to ensuring that it will be memorable so that all participants will look forward to the next trip and achieve higher goals. With such an ending to this trip – for those that did fly back and those that were left behind – what feelings do you think apply? What position do you think you have brought not only the management of our client but also our agency? We strived and ensured that the most minor details were seen to only to have this disaster occur at the end. A very unfair position to be brought to by a reckless thought / procedure implemented by a third party – IBERIA.

This letter I am not only addressing to IBERIA but also to Civil Aviation at Madrid Airport and to which I would highly appreciate receiving a response from both.

We look forward to your soonest reply and what you believe to be a fair compensation for the problems implemented by IBERIA.

Yours sincerely,

Irene-Maria Moschoudi
Vice President, Operations

cc. Civil Aviation Madrid Airport
cc. Ethniki First Insurance

On Sun 29th June I flew from London via Madrid to South Africa with Iberia Airlines. Our journey was as thus: on arriving to Madrid, we waited to get off the plane last because my companion was a 70 yr old blind man, only to be told by the conductors 'vamos! vamos!'. Hmmm. We were then all herded into buses and the whole plane load of passengers driven to a large glass entrance room which couldn't be left once entered. Here we had to wait for our passports to be checked and go through security AGAIN. I presume it was because Spain had just won the football that no one turned up to check us in for twenty minutes... by which time people were pretty cross.

We then made our way to our departure gate, which in Madrid airport takes quite a while as its expansive, and nothing is near anything else. We arrived, attempted to queue for a coffee then saw on a screen that our flight was delayed - for seven hours! There was no information, no announcements, no Iberia staff to ask. One of our number to a different terminal where there was an Iberia desk, and after an hour returned to tell us we would be put in hotel. All this had taken hours because there were no announcements and no information. We then dutifully headed off to the new terminal, and when bearing in mind it was now past 1am and we had security checks between each terminal, we were pretty pissed off. We bumped into fellow passengers who were also wandering round confused. Finally, we found a woman from Iberia, who refused to speak to us. Opposite was a second Iberia desk for 'ticket sales' At 2am on a Sunday night, this was staffed by three people. Naturally, they had no customers. When I asked them for help, to organize for us to reach this alleged hotel, they refused. 'We only sell tickets', they said. "Surely', I replied, 'you can book us a taxi on your company account. Its 2am and one of our party is blind. We're tired.' 'No'.

There were quite a lot of customers around, completely confused, and told different things. The Iberia desk for 'customer services' had a queue of twenty, and no staff, despite the 'sales' staff sitting idly just opposite. No one knew what was going on. We went to the desk downstairs which again, was unstaffed, and when someone did turn up they told us to go back upstairs. Finally, we found a very very rude woman who told us there was a woman outside, by a bus. We asked her to take us to this bus - she simply refused.

By now we were a group of ten, and we wandered outside together. Some one had to go round every bus until he found it. We dutifully boarded, still not having had any explanation or apology fro anyone at Iberia. We had no idea what arrangements were. After twenty minutes, we left, and we arrived at the hotel (a convenient half an hour away) at 3am. The full bus unloaded, and checked into rooms where we had a discomforting two hours sleep. Bearing in mind that we'd landed into Madrid just after 10pm, and that our plane had been canceled by 12, we didn't get much sleep!

The whole thing was completely farcical. Each and every staff member of Iberia I spoke to was at the least dismissive, and at the worst jaw droopingly rude. They refused to explain, and to apologize. They refused to listen and refused to help. Simple requests like 'could you contact someone who does know?' were refused. It was a wall of silence.

We traveled with Iberia from London Heathrow to Guatemala City via Madrid in November 2006. Our flight from London was delayed because the air crew did not arrive in sufficient time to clear security. On arrival in Madrid, Iberia staff made little or no effort to help us make our connection. In fact, we think they deliberately delayed us. Non-connecting passengers were allowed off first. We were then bussed to the international terminal only to be delayed further as the security gate was locked.

When we eventually arrived at the departure gate, our plane was still on stand. But we were not allowed to board as Iberia claimed our luggage had not been transferred. This was proved to be a lie when a first class passenger with no hold luggage was also denied boarding.

Two other passengers on our holiday actually made the connection by alighting with the non-connecting passengers and a bit of queue jumping. However when they boarded the plane, they found their seats had been reassigned to other passengers. The only possible inference is that we were denied boarding as the flight had been overbooked. Were the delays simply a ruse to avoid paying compensation for bumping we wonder?

We have written and emailed Iberia's customer relations department in Madrid. The Air Transport Users Council has also written to them 3 times on our behalf. But 18 months have elapsed, and we have still not heard from them. And it is impossible to get through to a human being on the phone.

No reputable company would treat customer complaints in such a way.

Lately, this advisory from your office arrived on the day of the flight. The internet advised us to arrive at the Madrid airport 45-55 minutes before the departure time. We, 5 passengers traveling together, arrived 50 minutes early where we learned the flight had been closed 5 minutes earlier. There were signs posted at the airport indicating that 55 minutes were needed for flights leaving a certain terminal. Expecting service similar to other airlines, we then asked for available seats on a later flight. The Service Desk told us that our fares were forfeit but they would offer us the favor of buying a standby ticket for an additional fee.

Obviously Iberia Airlines is more interested in collecting fares than serving passengers. The lines at the Standby windows were the longest in that part of the airport. The policies of Iberia apparently traps hundreds of passengers a day to pay additional fees for air travel on Iberia. I am sure that Iberia would never reimburse passengers for a late departure. That is not their policy. My original trip was from Costa Rica. My wife and I had a unique opportunity to visit Spain and first reviewed travel costs from San Jose. The cost to fly to Madrid on Iberia was 25% higher than we paid traveling from San Jose (On US Air) via Phoenix to Madrid (On British Airways).

I would never recommend anyone use Iberia Airlines until they demonstrate a better service policy. I would be happy to retract any part of what I have said about Iberia should they prove any part of it incorrect.

I was just wondering if there is a possibility of anyone contacting me before the end of the next century regarding a complaint I made at Madrid airport on the 13th January 2007? I filled out a form on that particular day: SW (No: 00019), I have made numerous phone calls and even filled out an additional complaint form on: http://www.iberia.com/OneToOne/v3/complaintPrepare.do

The complaint is in relation to the delayed departure of Flight IB6817 from Madrid to Sao Paulo on the 28th Dec 2006. The flight was originally supposed to depart at 1.30am, rescheduled for 8am but did not finally leave the airport until 9am. The unhelpful Iberia staff gave us no indication as to why the flight was being delayed. As a result of the delay I missed 2 connecting flights on Brazil, which in effect cost me 338.62 Brazilians Reals, not to mention much stress.

The very least I expected was to be contacted by the airline in relation to this matter but I have still heard nothing. It is next to impossible to discuss my grievance with an Iberia employee because you have managed to create a ambiguous system which sends the customer round in circles in the hope that all will be forgotten.

This will not be the case, however. If this matter is not dealt with post-haste then I shall be contacting my lawyer and the Ombudsman and seek to be reimbursed through an alternative avenue.

I still have all necessary receipts of flights purchased as well as the original passenger copy of the complaint I made in January.

On the 16th of sept. 2006 I was confirmed on your flight [IB0211] taking off from Malaga to Madrid to
catch flight [IB3234] heading home. I reached the airport and actually was queuing for my flight well before the statutory 45 minutes of the boarding time. Prior to reaching the counter #212, the ground hostess announced the flight was closed. In order to catch my Madrid flight, I was further recommended by your people to buy a new ticket on 'AirEuropa', next door. I had no choice but to pay AirEuropa 206.90E to purchase this ticket on flight [UX3035]. I was checked-in on that flight in no time.
Upon my arrival in Madrid I had to rush to the international T4. I took my breath arriving at the
counter 50 minutes prior to the boarding time. To my great disappointment, once again, I was told in a most untactful tone that the flight was closed and that my name would be put on the waiting list for the next day's flight. I had to spend the night at the airport without accomodation nor food vouture. Next day, while standing waiting at the gate to embark on the [IB 6974], the ground hostess jubilantly advise that I would be allowed on board. Unfortunetly this was a foundless statement. The earlist confirmed seat would be after 2 more days. Apparently there was no flight the following day. Once again I was left at the airport without accomodation nor food vouture. Besides, I had one single entry visa and I had to go accross the pass control back and forth. The second morning I phoned my travel agent in Cairo, they confirmed that indeed I had an OK status and I was entitled to fly on yesterday flight, going back to your customer service desk they could not deny this fact. To make a long story short, I switched to EgyptAir flight [MSR 0742], where I was welcome in an unmatched manner. I trust you visualised the ordeal I went thr' during these 3 days, no food nor hotel vouture and going thr' pass control back and forth, having only one entry single visa. I do appreciate that at times a plane may be over booked. However in such cases all civilised airlines, which I thought Iberia was one of them, would make a general offer to all holders of confirmed seat, such as my case, to volunterely exchange their tickets to the next available flight. As sweetner the potential passenger will be offered meals, or room and board as the case may be, and a sum of money as compensation for the undue delay. In full fairness, I should take part of the blame. I was looking for a low cost company, it bore out to be a cheap company rather than a low cost one, more deceiptful is that the company functions under the umbrella of Iberia, a distinguished part of the europeen common market. In most charitable words your company, by no means a credit to that name.

Greatings.

N.B.:
I wish you consider changing your company into a 'charter company'.