UKdiver

I had two J Avios redemption tickets issued by IB for MIA-MAD. Ticket was originally for 4 Feb and subsequently changed for 10 Feb. We received new confirmations and ticket numbers. Today, I happened to review the booking and noted that it cannot be pulled up on IB's website. When we called IB, we were told that for some reason seats have not been allocated to us and no redemption seats are available. The flight is operating, normal fare buckets in J are being sold for the flight but IB is unwilling to open additional seats to accommodate us. Instead they offered us a refund or a change to unacceptable dates. Neither is acceptable. What are our options?

LupineChemist

Wait, I don't understand that you have valid tickets though? Something seems off. I'd call again and see if you can figure it out.

UKdiver

Thanks. It was really wierd. When we made the change of date from the original redemption ticket was reissued with new ticket number but reservation could not be accessed via iberia.com. It appears that there was a few minutes' schedule change and ticket was not properly re-issued yet again. Fourth agent we spoke to (the first one who did not hang up midcall or tell us to call another department) assured us that our only option is to cancel for a refund or accept another date on which there was Avios availability. HUCA. Fifth agent had no problem in restoring the booking.

A couple of new developments:
- There is an upgrade in the call handling. Now the automated system recognises if you had called before on the same booking and asks whether you wish to follow up on it. (I am not sure if that is a cue for the system to direct call to a better trained agent.)
- On IB redemption tickets in blue, regular or premium cabins in the past there was no charge for seating regardless of your status on IB. Now on the J redemption tickets MIA-MAD there was a fee of $40-50 for seat selection 'a la BA.' As the original booking was done before the new policy, we were able to get our original seats reinstated.