Originally Posted by
stephem
Yet another example of that certain kind of person who likes to show up on a thread and act as if they are the supreme arbiter ;-
I'll concede that people often expect to much, but given all of the terms of the offer and the reassurances by Iberia at least those of us who booked in good faith for trips we plan to travel on should have been given the 9k points and not a run around. And while it's great that you have read a court case or two, there are things aside from court that we have at our disposal. I've gotten pretty good compensation from a non-US airline through the US DOT for failure of that airline to honor its end of a bargain, admittedly under the current administration I don't have high hopes for that. Plus, your suggestion that airlines have unbridled discretion to give or not give miles, even where a passenger met the terms of an offer may or may not be true. It certainly wont endear Iberia to the public, I have always passed on them because I am not a fan of their business class seats, I think this will make me avoid them even for intra EU flights.
I didnt "show up" on the thread. I've been here since the beginning. And theres a difference between being "supreme arbiter" and sharing information you dont want to hear.
And yes, under the current state of the law, there pretty much is unbridled discretion as to whether to award miles and/or terminate a members account. But even if it isnt, buying tickets with no intention to fly them is pretty clearly within the grounds of an airlines ability to terminate under the T&C of the airline program. (The language here that you may quibble with, but is pretty broad, is " The Programme reserves the right to recall your card, cancel your account and hold you responsible if you make improper or fraudulent use of the Programme or do not comply with the rules and procedures contained in these General Conditions.") Again, I'm not saying this is right- I'm saying this is what it is.
We've been through this before many times over the past decade. Most of us realize theres a risk a promo that sounds too good to be true won't be honored. If it is, great. If it's not, and we have no out of pocket loss (or even a small one), we move on and wait for the next one. Invariably, someone rants about a class action or chargeback and moral superiority. The cycle happens quite often.
Oh, and I have read far more than a court case or two. (I cited the most on point recent Supreme Court case about ADA preemption and mileage programs.) Perhaps instead of being dismissive, maybe recognize that some people actually do have greater knowledge of the law.
I'd be curious to see if the people who are having problems are those who simply bought 10 one-ways with the same origin and destination, which seems far more irregular than had you say, bought a variety of tickets. If you actually planned on flying some of them, I think that puts you in a different scenario than others--- which is one reason class action treatment wouldn't be appropriate.
Finally, I never said that Iberia shouldnt honor the offer. I simply pointed out why neither a chargeback nor a class action is an appropriate remedy. And that buying tickets with no intent to fly them raises some unclean hands issues. As to endearing Iberia to the public, I don't think the vast majority of the "public" is going to have their travel preferences impacted by a couple dozen people who wanted a windfall and didn't get it. When I talked to non-points people about the promo, they actually seem to think that people like us are schemers.
I've gotten millions of miles over the years. I've never threatened a lawsuit, never initiated a chargeback. I dont think it's because I'm lucky. Sometimes it's a game, and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.