Iberia Airlines Iberia Plus - IB/BA Cancellations due to undersold flights and not posting the cancellation

Below is my comment to AA on a code share flight operated by IB.

3/31/11 AA Flight 5657 from BOS to MAD was cancelled by IB more than 2h before departure. IB did not notify AA or put the flight into cancellation until after departure time. All the while there was a a line of the entire flight waiting more than 2 hours to be rebooked which they were doing yet AA showed the flight "on time" or "delayed." IB is lying to AA. IB is cancelling flights because they haven't sold enough tixs and making customers wait for hours because they are trying to rebook with only one person who has the skills and/or authority to change tixs. They also do not recognise priority access.

When we finally got to the AA lounge another passanger said this is common practice with IB and BA. They cancel flights at the last minute if not enough seats are sold.

Time for AA to put a stop to this practice by the one world airlines or stop code sharing these flights.

When we finally got to the AA lounge another passanger said this is common practice with IB and BA. They cancel flights at the last minute if not enough seats are sold.

Time for AA to put a stop to this practice by the one world airlines or stop code sharing these flights.

The say-so of a possibly irate passenger is surely insufficient evidence to support your conclusion/accusation.

Not meaning to take away from the inconvenience you suffered as a result of the cancellation in any way.

Finally, welcome to Flyertalk!

I wondered why the OP posted here as there rant seems to be more about Iberia than anyone else.

Very unlikely as IB or BA would end up with an aircraft in the USA and they definitely would want it back in Spain or UK.

Welcome to FT.

With all due respect your rant is about Iberia, and then some random guy in the lounge says "BA do this all the time".

I'm sure you know that BA is based at Heathrow in London which is full to capacity: this makes cancelling based on load difficult for BA because the airport operator have a "use it or lose it" policy with slots.

It quite simply doesn't happen at BA.

I'm sorry of your poor experience with Iberia; having never flown with them I can't comment on them specifically.
What I can say is that I have flown on a BA flight with a load of 10%....and it flew on time.

When we finally got to the AA lounge another passanger said this is common practice with IB and BA. They cancel flights at the last minute if not enough seats are sold.

Utter bo||ocks!

Time for AA to put a stop to this practice by the one world airlines or stop code sharing these flights.

How about charging for drinks in the lounge? And onboard flights in economy?

Would you like AA to put a stop the practice of other oneworld airlines NOT doing this? I think other oneworld airlines might like to stop AA doing this!

Airlines are different, get off your mighty american donkey and accept it.

Your original post is utter bo||ocks.

Utter bo||ocks!



How about charging for drinks in the lounge? And onboard flights in economy?

Would you like AA to put a stop the practice of other oneworld airlines NOT doing this? I think other oneworld airlines might like to stop AA doing this!

Airlines are different, get off your mighty american donkey and accept it.

Your original post is utter bo||ocks.

Suggest you maybe revisit an Admirals Club ask for a pint of beer and tell us how much they charged you.

Welcome to FlyerTalk, BostonAAflyer

Can I ask that you expand a few points - this will allow us to help you.

It is clear you were booked on a IB operated flight from BOS to MAD on 31 March, you had checked in and were waiting to board. Can I ask where you were waiting? From your post it does read you may have been in a secluded place relying on AA for flight updates to be delivered to your phone/laptop/iDevice. During this time the departure boards must have shown the cancellation otherwise the other passengers who had queued to rebook would not have known to approach IB to rebook.

Your assumption that any airline will cancel a flight at the last minute because of low passenger numbers really is a false one. When an airline cancels a flight, the aircraft, the flight crew and cabin crew are then placed out of position. This in itself can create enormous operational problems - the aircraft and crews operating the IB6166 on 31 March would have been needed to be in MAD the next morning just as much as their passengers.

As this topic relates to an IB flight cancellation, this thread will be heading over to the Other European Frequent Flyer Programs forum shortly

Prospero
Moderator: BAEC forum

It is all an old wive's tale indeed. Canceling a flight with only 10 pax is probably more expensive than running it. You should never believe people who make blanket statements.

(yes, I know)

EDIT: Should this forum not represent all IAG FFPs?

EDIT: Should this forum not represent all IAG FFPs?No :)

Suggest you maybe revisit an Admirals Club ask for a pint of beer and tell us how much they charged you.

Hi GVA. I'm in the AA lounge in PTY at the moment and no beer. However there is lots of free tequila and rum!! Only problem is it's 7am and still feeling a bit green from last nights quiet drink!
:rolleyes:

I agree. BA and IB should become a lot more like AA and then the world will be a happier place. We'd better get ripping out those flat beds...

Our one post wonder (probably) has not thought this through. Because it is a codeshare and has BA written on an IB operated flight then it is BA's fault? Given the number of international BA flights over the world every day, I can alomost guarantee that BA would send their plane even if it had 5 people on it simply because that plane will be scheduled a couple of hours after it has landed to fly somewhere else.
I must agree that some people really don't think before they post. What would the OP lke us to do? Agree with him? Sympathise with him? No sympathy here when you come with that tone... Besides, there are many issues with AA and other US carriers which are not agreeable with on this side of the pond.

I think all airlines have similar issues to this. AA last year canceled my flight to PHL from MIA a day out and blamed it on an inpending storm. I finally got rebooked on my origional flight into MIA and found that the PHL flight was the only one canceled and was due to underbooking.

I was rebooked onto a later MAN - LHR a couple of years ago. We were told they were cancelling our original MAN - LHR and the corresponding LHR - MAN because several of the flights that day were less than half full.

There may have been another reason, such as they needed an aircraft and they were looking for a rotation where cancellation would cause the least impact, but that is speculation on my part, not what was being relayed to the passengers.

I was rebooked onto a later MAN - LHR a couple of years ago.
It used to happen on the GLA-LHR route during the quieter periods. Not sure if this was down to lack of staff,passengers or aircraft. I'm sure it happens at sometime with most airlines.

No idea why the OP thinks AA have the power to tell other airlines how to run their business. :rolleyes:

Isn't this why the airline must pay up to €600 if the pax is delayed?

I really hope that the OP is aware of the cash compensation he/she can receive.


OT: Since BA nowadays is so tightly connected with IB shouldn't IB questions fit in this forum?

When we finally got to the AA lounge another passanger said this is common practice with IB and BA. They cancel flights at the last minute if not enough seats are sold.

Time for AA to put a stop to this practice by the one world airlines or stop code sharing these flights.

Hearsay and gossip and as for the accusation against BA on this route - sorry utter rubbish as far as BA was concerned - you remarks are Iberia orientated only. Sorry.

What I am curious about is what the purpose of this thread is? Do you wish to deter us from flying Iberia? Converted no preaching required, thank you.

Hearsay and gossip and as for the accusation against BA on this route - sorry utter rubbish as far as BA was concerned - you remarks are Iberia orientated only. Sorry.

What I am curious about is what the purpose of this thread is? Do you wish to deter us from flying Iberia?

Absolutely, on the passing statement of someone else you have accused an airline you were not even traveling with of a pretty shoddy practice. I doubt IB ever cancel for a lack of seats sold, especially down route. As pointed out by others the aircraft and crew would be there, do you think they say to the crew "sorry you can't come home unless there are more bums on seats, get selling..."? EU carriers are covered by legislation that would make that a very expensive approach even ex base.

I don't think there's anything more to add, so closing this thread.