I had my flight cancelled by Iberia and was refused compensation.

They only offered to return me the ticket cost but not even the fee charged by their own webpage. I managed to get them back exposing the case on Twitter.

I made three claims and they were all rejected with different reasons:

* Flight was cancelled because the crew was sick and they couldn't find a replacement one so I had no right to compensation because they had done "all they could" (........)
* I had no right to compensation because I refused to take the alternative transport: a 8 hour bus trip as an alternative to a 1 hour flight. (super-........)
* I had no right to compensation becasue I had already got my money back (mega-........)

So I finally got tired of all the ........ and went to AESA, the government agency that controls passenger rights (www.seguridadaerea.gob.es), placed my complaint there and after some 6 weeks got a letter stating I was right and had right for a compensation. Iberia called me the same day saying "they" had approved my compensation. I picked it up on the airport in a pre-paid card which I chased out immediately on the first ATM I saw.

If I were you, I'd go directly to AESA. I know from Iberia employees that they have orders to deny ALL complaints.