Iberia Airlines Iberia Plus - Iberia Customer Services

Hi everyone,

I'm new to Flyertalk, so I apologise in advance if I break any conventions here.

In August I flew to Oviedo airport in Asturias from London Heathrow (changing at Madrid) with my wife for a wedding where I was the best man. Due to personal circumstance we could only fly out on the day of the wedding, leaving us just a few hours between arriving at the hotel and being picked up by pre-arranged coach for the wedding.

Against our better judgement we put all of our wedding clothes (new suit that had been altered, my shirt, wife's dress, shoes, accessories etc) in a suit carrier and checked it in. Our Iberia flight from London was delayed, meaning the gate for our connecting flight was closed despite me running the length of Madrid airport. I pleaded and they let us on, but didn't send our baggage, so I had to go the wedding as the best man in my jeans and a casual shirt. :mad:

I sent a (postal) complaint letter to Iberia in Madrid, but they responded by email (must have located my account as my email address wasn't stated in the letter) , and the email address doesn't accept inbound emails. I can only find phone numbers on their website and want to have a record of what I've said and what they've said, so don't want to phone . The web form only takes 3000 characters and I don't want to dilute my response by condensing it. I've tried any email address I can find online but all are rejected (relacionesclientes@iberia.es, IBERIA_LAE@correo.iberia.es, prensaintl@iberia.es) except for one (clasica@iberia.es) which hasn't returned anything.

I have a few questions:

Firstly does anybody know of an Iberia customer Service email address that I haven't tried?

Secondly, I am trying to get my tickets fully refunded as Iberia basically ruined the once-in-a-lifetime wedding for our friends, me and my wife by forcing me to wear casual clothes to a formal ceremony (which has ruined the look and feel of the official photos/video). The few hours we had between arriving at the hotel and being picked up by coach were during the siesta time, so we weren't even able to find replacement clothes/shoes despite trying! Do I stand much chance?

Thirdly, if Iberia are uncooperative is there any 3rd party that I could get involved to help fight my corner (a regulatory body, Guardian Money, or an El Pais equivalent for example)?

Thanks for your time guys!
Andrew.

Andrew,

I truly sympathize with your anger. Everything that could go wrong, did. And I apologize in advance that I can't help you with Iberia CS, I don't have an idea.

But I humbly suggest that you try to look at it from a different angle. The airline had a responsibility to transfer you and your luggage from A to B on time; apparently it failed. The question is, did YOU do all that was in your power to circumvent the possibility of things going wrong?

When I have to be somewhere at a specific time, and it's important, I never take the last possible flight. On most of my trips, in fact, I tend to leave a day earlier, just in case. And this is not for once-in-a-lifetime events, but rather for ordinary business trips. When I have very valuable belongings, I never check them. If you were a more seasoned traveller, you'd know that luggage cannot always make it, and MAD is a real pit in this respect.

Not being a lawyer, I don't know if Iberia "owes" you anything or not (my guess is, they are not liable). But personally, I think you will gain nothing from pursuing the matter further, and you will gain much more by assuming responsibility for the actions you took. It will certainly help you more in your future travel.

Again, I can feel your pain and anger. If I were you, I would just try (hard as it may be) to get over it. A refund of the money paid will not alter your experience, your memories or the wedding pictures. Learning to live with it will.

Shuly

Andrew, I had a somewhat similar experience with Iberia in June on a flight booked through American Airlines. After being ignored for months, I worked through the AA Plat desk to get contact with Iberia. Iberia, after receiving correspondence (probably email) from AA Platinum Desk, were receptive to receiving my complaint. However, it has been about 30 days since they acknowledged receipt, yet I've heard nothing. My suggestion is if you carry elite status with an airline that is part of the OW alliance (BA for you perhaps?), perhaps you should consider going through their desk.

Good luck!

Hi shuly and george 3,

Apologies for the late reply, it appears that I wasnt subscribed to the thread so I didnt receive any notification of response. I've corrected that now. :-)

shuly - I appareciate what your saying, but as stated in the original post we had no option but to fly out on the same day as the wedding due to other commitments we could not avoid. In fact, the date my friends chose for the wedding was literally the worst date in the whole year for us. We looked at a number of options (flying elsewhere in Spain and hiring a car, for example) but none of them gave us any advantage. Also, we could not have travelled with everything required in hand baggage only (although I concede we could have at least taken the main cloths and possibly the shoes). I did consider wearing my suit on the plane, but was worried that it would become badly creased (and sweaty!) before we got to the wedding. When you talk about our responsibility, we got to the airport in plenty of time to board the flight, and were one of the first ones on the flight to get to the departure gate, well in advance of the flight. We also ensured that our baggage was carefully packed to minimise any disruption or damage. As long as the passengers are at the airport gate before the gate closure time given, and their baggage is securely and sensibly packed, I believe the rest is the responsibility of the airline. I should point out that the refund I am chasing would be given to my friend and his new wife, as a further apology for the distress caused them on their wedding day.

george 3 - I hope you made progress with your complaint. I have written to Guardian Money in the hope that they may be able to help, but they havent responded and it has been a while. I am considering contacting the citizen's advice bureau (which is a UK voluntary organisation that assist people with disputes with companies and provide legal counsel). I dont carry an elite status with any of the OW Alliance airlines unfortunately.

Summary
What I am really looking for is a regulatory body that will be able to review the case objectively and advise me further. If they say to drop it then so be it, but personally I feel that Iberia have a morale obligation to make amends for what they did.

I will never fly with Iberia again, and given the chance I'll advise anybody who will listen to me to avoid them as well. The responses I have received from Iberia have made it very clear that they do not care about their customers. They hide behind any regulation that they can, rather than take responsibility for failing to provide the service they contractually agreed to provide when selling their tickets. They have no concept of moral responsibility. :(

Hi shuly and george 3,

Apologies for the late reply, it appears that I wasnt subscribed to the thread so I didnt receive any notification of response. I've corrected that now. :-)

shuly - I appareciate what your saying, but as stated in the original post we had no option but to fly out on the same day as the wedding due to other commitments we could not avoid. In fact, the date my friends chose for the wedding was literally the worst date in the whole year for us. We looked at a number of options (flying elsewhere in Spain and hiring a car, for example) but none of them gave us any advantage. Also, we could not have travelled with everything required in hand baggage only (although I concede we could have at least taken the main cloths and possibly the shoes). I did consider wearing my suit on the plane, but was worried that it would become badly creased (and sweaty!) before we got to the wedding. When you talk about our responsibility, we got to the airport in plenty of time to board the flight, and were one of the first ones on the flight to get to the departure gate, well in advance of the flight. We also ensured that our baggage was carefully packed to minimise any disruption or damage. As long as the passengers are at the airport gate before the gate closure time given, and their baggage is securely and sensibly packed, I believe the rest is the responsibility of the airline. I should point out that the refund I am chasing would be given to my friend and his new wife, as a further apology for the distress caused them on their wedding day.

george 3 - I hope you made progress with your complaint. I have written to Guardian Money in the hope that they may be able to help, but they havent responded and it has been a while. I am considering contacting the citizen's advice bureau (which is a UK voluntary organisation that assist people with disputes with companies and provide legal counsel). I dont carry an elite status with any of the OW Alliance airlines unfortunately.

Summary
What I am really looking for is a regulatory body that will be able to review the case objectively and advise me further. If they say to drop it then so be it, but personally I feel that Iberia have a morale obligation to make amends for what they did.

I will never fly with Iberia again, and given the chance I'll advise anybody who will listen to me to avoid them as well. The responses I have received from Iberia have made it very clear that they do not care about their customers. They hide behind any regulation that they can, rather than take responsibility for failing to provide the service they contractually agreed to provide when selling their tickets. They have no concept of moral responsibility. :(