Other European Frequent Flyer Programs - Air Europa Nightmare

I booked a flight on Air Europa 3 months ago for my friend and I who are visiting Ibiza. Our flight was to leave Ibiza at 12:40 to arrive into Barcelona at 1:30pm.

Imagine my surprise, shock, horror when I got to the airport to check in only to find them say that for some reason my reservation is cancelled at not in the system anymore. We had seats assigned, etc. and all of a sudden we have no seats, the flight is full, etc.

They recommended that I call the NY office for Air Europa so I called but the office was closed. It was around 5am NY time when I was in Ibiza.

Our only option was to buy tickets and go on stand-by so we tried that. However, only one of us was able to get on the flight and the ticket cost 330 euros. For the other, it required a flight going from Ibiza->Madrid->Barcelona at a cost of 700 euros!

We had no choice as we were stuck in Ibiza and had to get to Barcelona. I called the ferry service but they did not have anything available either.

I cannot afford to spend time and money making more international calls from here trying to clear this up. I will deal with this when I get back to the US in 10 days.

Beware of Air Europa.

RVD.

I booked a flight on Air Europa 3 months ago for my friend and I who are visiting Ibiza. Our flight was to leave Ibiza at 12:40 to arrive into Barcelona at 1:30pm.

Imagine my surprise, shock, horror when I got to the airport to check in only to find them say that for some reason my reservation is cancelled at not in the system anymore. We had seats assigned, etc. and all of a sudden we have no seats, the flight is full, etc.

They recommended that I call the NY office for Air Europa so I called but the office was closed. It was around 5am NY time when I was in Ibiza.

Our only option was to buy tickets and go on stand-by so we tried that. However, only one of us was able to get on the flight and the ticket cost 330 euros. For the other, it required a flight going from Ibiza->Madrid->Barcelona at a cost of 700 euros!

We had no choice as we were stuck in Ibiza and had to get to Barcelona. I called the ferry service but they did not have anything available either.

I cannot afford to spend time and money making more international calls from here trying to clear this up. I will deal with this when I get back to the US in 10 days.

Beware of Air Europa.

RVD.

I am sorry for all of the headaches and I hope you can get reimbursed for all the extra expenses, nevertheles I am surprised that you could not get a cheaper ticket with Iberia, Vueling,...

I didn't really have that much time at the airport to look into alternative flights from Ibiza to Barcelona since the flight was leaving in about 30 minutes. I did get to the airport way way early (over 2 hours early) and spoke to them when the gate first opened 2 hours before the flight but by the time we got through this hardship, a good 1+ hours had passed.

I also assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that last minute tickets would be similar on all airlines at the time.

My wife is still in the US and she tried to call Air Europa to explain the situation but nobody every answered the line (she called 3 times) and when she tried to leave a message, the voicemail box said that it was full.

This is going to be a major pain dealing with this when I get back.

Who did you buy your ticket from? Did you have a confirmation number?

I understand what you say and probably you have more chances of getting reimbursed flying on the original carrier than on a 3rd one.

Regarding last minute fares, in Spain is slightly different than in USA and the ticket depends in the fare bucket available, independently if the ticket is purchased just before boarding the plane, or a few days before. Naturally the cheapest fares demand some advance purchase, but you may find some last minute fares relatevily cheap.

Good luck with your claim.