PHEW, that was exhausting. I have been trying to book an AA flight from PHX to AUS with Iberia Avios for the past 24 hours lol. I know the seats are available because I checked AA website and BA website. I tried last night on safari and google chrome, got to the pay now page and was hit with the "Unable to connect to the system Scorer". Remember this, the cost of the flight on the Iberia website was showing 34,000 Avios and $40 in fees for 2 passengers. I thought it could also be a Credit card issue so figured i'd go to sleep and try again in the morning. Tried in the morning, and again the same error. Tried a different credit card, no luck. Decided to call and wow Iberia's phone service is awful too! The first few times i got bounced around and told to call back and tell the automated system something specific ("iberia plus" then "avios") to get to a different department because they couldn't transfer me directly, SOS. The first time i got to the Iberia plus Avios department the gentleman told me to use Firefox browser, tried that same error. Another rep told me their system is down right now so they can't book on the phone and to try again later, probably lies(it was, just getting me off the phone) but fine. Now I did some research and I find this thread and a few others, seeing some patterns here. waited til this afternoon called a couple more times, and somehow I got to only Spanish speaking reps, the 2nd one said their is a system error and to call back in 20 minute, more lies. Called again got a hold of an english speaker, she tells me to try to book on Iberia.com, I tell her I've tried multiple times, days, credit cards and internet browsers. She suggests calling American Airlines to book, knowing from my research and common sense, I tell her that won't work either. She then tells me, her system does not allow her to book AA flights for customers. So I ask to speak to a manager to see what else I can do or if I can get my Avios back, because i did have them transferred from my chase Ultimate Rewards. The games begin. I go back and fourth with her and she never connects me to a manager but does start asking me questions about my flight. She says again, she can't book this flight for me because it is operated by AA, its not possible to do on her system. So I request for the manager again. She asks more info on the flight, we keep going back and fourth and eventually she has all the info and puts me on hold for maybe 5 minutes. Comes back and says She can book it for 48,000 Avios... I didn't even comment on the fact that she said she couldn't do it but now she can amazing! I tell her no, I am on your website and I see the price 34k Avios + $40, and i had to give her the business a bit here because honestly it is ridiculous. Back onto hold I go. She comes back, and it was like deal or no deal, she doesn't even say how many Avios at first but says the taxes and fees are 60 Euros which is about $75. I was dumbfounded, I asked is this a negotiation?(It was come to find out, and I won! go me). I had to lay into her again and ask her what she isn't understanding, I'm not willing to pay more than what was shown on the website, I kept asking to speak to a manager. I'm on hold again and the 3rd time, she says 36 euros which is 40 dollars and 34,000 avios, let's make a freaking deal lady! But wait there's more, I give her my credit card info to complete the transaction, back on hold for 10 minutes. She returns and says my card was declined please call the bank to approve the transaction, I didn't really believe her because it is a travel card and I was in Europe literally last week and used it in 5 different countries with not one issue. But I sure as hell wasn't going to get off the phone with Iberia, call my bank only to have to them tell me there is no issue and go through this mess agin.. I had another credit card ready just in case, that one worked! Nightmare almost over. It appears my flight is booked on the checkmytrip app and on american airlines I was able to find my reservation pick my seat and add my TSA precheck number and Iberia charged my card. I see some people have said that they did get a confirmation number then a few days later it was cancelled, so if that happened to me I would not even be slightly surprised.
This is my first novel hope you all enjoy it. this is my first post on a thread like this as well. Just want to help people because it is confusing and a pain in the .... Moral of the story is call them and be relentless. I did read that allegedly you can book on Microsoft edge/ Interest explorer without issue, I did not get to try that but I honestly don't believe it would make a difference. happy hunting!