voxx

Hi,

I booked 2 tickets during the last Oneworld promotion (09th september).

Roundtrip between GVA and SJC, business class, booked directly on IBERIA website.

GVA -> MAD (IB3489)
MAD -> ORD (IB6275)
ORD -> SJC (IB7104) - flight operated by American Airlines)

ORD -> SJC (AA1407) - flight operated by American Airlines)
ORD -> MAD (IB6274)
MAD -> GVA (IB3480)

I received my confirmation by mail after payment, all class fare I except the second ORD -> SJC in Y !

What a surprise to fly in economy when you booked and paid business class ticket directly on iberia website...

I called the Iberia call center on Sunday to explain the issue, they said they will call me back but no news, and so i call back monday evening, and same answer "we will call you back".

No news today at midday, so I called again and they told me "flight seems full in the requested class", so you have to fly in economy !!! Change was not accepted by IBERIA (so as far as i understand, the employees of the call center don't belong directly to Iberia...)

I asked to change of flight, to be in business on an other flight -> "No way sir, if you want to change of flight you have to pay the difference"

I asked to cancel my tickets -> "Ok sir, but you have to pay 60 euros of fees"

It is an incredible story, I don't understand how it can be possible.


Do you know what can I do to be heard ?
If needed, I can provide my booking reference and name.


Many thanks to everybody

Mwenenzi

Very very few flights in USA have business class. Most flights are economy/coach[Y] and first[F]
An extremely small minority of flights have economy/coach[Y], business[C] and first[F]. I would not expect business on the ORD-SJC route

MSPeconomist

Some international business class fares seem to book into coach when the domestic connecting flights only offer coach and FC, although IME one is more likely to see this for award tickets using miles from certain foreign carriers. The OP should check what classes are offered and read the fare rules carefully.

voxx

I know that AA domestic flights have only 2 cabins -> economy and domestic first

Do you ever see a case on when you book a long-haul in J within an alliance, the correspondance flights within the USA are in Y ?
Because, I thought that the corresponding cabin class is always the domestic first, but maybe i'm wrong.

Also, the strange thing here it that my first flight between ORD and SJC is confirm in domestic First, and I was able to book my seat.

voxx

I was not aware of that. By the way, it is not award tickets.

For the classes offered and the fare rules, it is not provided on IBERIA website when you book a flight (or did I missed it ?).

But, it was clearly wrote, for the trip I booked, under the departure and arrival date : "2 passengers -> Business minimum"

Lefly

I saw it happens a couple of times searching for routes on AA.com; it's offered usually when the flight is full in F.

Koby

Anyway, how is this a downgrade? On your original ticket that leg was already in Y, correct? So your total ticket price probably was calculated based on that.

("Y" could of course be more expensive than the business class that you wanted, but that is not the issue here.... )

voxx

I don't know how it's work for you when you buy a travel on iberia, but in my case, I received the tickets by mail after purchasing my travel on iberia website.

During the booking process on Iberia website, you can't see the fare rule, or maybe I missed something ?

I said "downgrade" because it was clearly wrote, for the trip I booked, under the departure and arrival date (just the page before payment) : "2 passengers -> Business minimum"
And for me, economy is below than business, but maybe i'm wrong.

Andriyko

Sometimes when the premium cabin is full or if it is a single class airplane, a business class ticket will book into full fare economy on that specific leg. One needs to be very careful and check which class of service each flight books into rather than rely upon the general information that one is booking a business class fare. In my experience, once the passenger accepts the economy class of the segment, even if a seat opens up in the premium cabin the airline will not change it for free.

voxx

Thanks for your answer Andriyko.

To illustrate, some printscreen below:

http://voxxx.zenfolio.com/p486416872...EBFE#h2139ebfe

http://voxxx.zenfolio.com/p486416872...1A14#h372d1a14

hsumh316

From what I can tell when trying to book a dummy ticket, the "Business minimum" is the fare name, which I think is deceiving. When I booked a "business basic" ticket business basic showed up and when I switched to business flexible, "business flexible" showed up.

Often1

The bottom line is that AA does not offer J between ORD and SJC, only F & Y. For what it is worth, the only J services in the US are so limited as not to be worth discussion in this thread.

The question is what class of service your IB fare bucket books into on AA and that is most likely Y if this is a significant sale. Although nobody can say with certainty without the specific historical information.

One thing you might consider doing is calling AA in the US and asking why it is that your J fare booked into Y and not F. While AA can't touch the ticket, you will at least get a quick answer.

Presuming that AA did not make a mistake here, your options are to accept the Y seat, to pay for the change to F or to take the refund.

stevendorechester

I would suggest calling AA . At least you`ll be dealing with employees based in North America who are more flexible. It`s not true that AA will not touch an Iberia ticket. There partnership website clearly states that you can call any airline in the partnership is able to help you, especially if it involves one of their flights.

I got great service from AA last year. I had booked a ticket with Iberia on their website and therefore their ticket stock YUL-JFK-MAD-ORY. The JFK-MAD-ORY was on IB metal. IB cancelled the MAD-ORY portion two months out and re-booked me on a flight leaving four hours later. I was getting nowhere with IB and their agents who barely speak English. One call to AA an amazing U.S based agent re-booked me on their own flights YUL-JFK-CDG, on their metal and ticket stock. This even though AA had nothing to do with the timetable change. I only booked IB directly as I got an amazing fare ( CAD 1500 return in J during American thanksgiving).

I also had the same situation this year after getting a great deal with Air France to JNB from YUL, booked on AF`s website. After a sched. change it was a Delta employee who re-issued my ticket on Delta stock and re-route me via ATL in DL Business Elite. I know that most overseas airlines might have a better product in the air but Americans are best when it comes to dealing with these situations ( and I`m saying this while I`m not even American).

craigthemif

Of course this might be annoying for the OP, but this is quite common. If there's no fare bucket availability - in this case I - for one of the legs, particularly a less important connecting flight, then the pricing engine will often opt for the lower cabin/class. The alternative would be pricing the whole itinerary (or one way of it) in a higher bucket, resulting in a much higher fare.

Although before purchasing you really ought to be made aware, in order to either choose a different flight (that does have the appropriate fare bucket available) or not proceed. But most people I suspect would prefer one leg in Y to paying a substantially higher price.

Calling AA is a good idea. They might be willing to force open a seat in I class and reissue your ticket.

Andriyko

I don't think that calling AA will resolved anything as the ticket was issued by IB. Judging from the images posted by the OP there was a downgrade between the time the OP selected the flights and the time the ticket was issued and e-mailed. When you look at the description of the flight it does say 'first class'. if there was no first class availability then it would say 'economy'. i'd call IB and explain that the ticket was issued not for the flights that I wanted/booked.