San Sebastián instead of Bilbao, if we miss our connecting flight?
Sep 23, 2014, 8:37 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 122
San Sebastián instead of Bilbao, if we miss our connecting flight?
Later this week, we are flying on Iberia from JFK to Madrid, and then from Madrid to Bilbao. We will then take a bus from Bilbao to San Sebastián, our final destination.
It's a legal but tight connection between flights and there is a good possibility we will miss the flight to Bilbao. There are additional flights to Bilbao later in the day, but if we miss our original flight to Bilbao, it would be more convenient to get rebooked on a flight to San Sebastián. Not only is it our final destination, but the connecting flights to San Sebastián are earlier than the next flight to Bilbao.
What would it take to convince an agent to rebook us on a flight to San Sebastián instead of Bilbao? Are the two considered partner cities?
It's a legal but tight connection between flights and there is a good possibility we will miss the flight to Bilbao. There are additional flights to Bilbao later in the day, but if we miss our original flight to Bilbao, it would be more convenient to get rebooked on a flight to San Sebastián. Not only is it our final destination, but the connecting flights to San Sebastián are earlier than the next flight to Bilbao.
What would it take to convince an agent to rebook us on a flight to San Sebastián instead of Bilbao? Are the two considered partner cities?
Sep 23, 2014, 9:04 am
#2
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Join Date: Aug 2011
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If you don't speak Spanish you have zero possibility in my experience.
Even if you do speak Spanish, Iberia agents have virtually no discretion, so changing the final destination just because you want to is highly unlikely. (it would possibly be different if the only remaining flight of the day to the Basque Country was to EAS)
But you can try to think of an excuse why having missed your flight to Bilbao will cause you to miss something important in San Sebastian and that you need the direct flight to still try and make it. (of course you might then be asked why you didn't just book EAS in the first place...)
Even if you do speak Spanish, Iberia agents have virtually no discretion, so changing the final destination just because you want to is highly unlikely. (it would possibly be different if the only remaining flight of the day to the Basque Country was to EAS)
But you can try to think of an excuse why having missed your flight to Bilbao will cause you to miss something important in San Sebastian and that you need the direct flight to still try and make it. (of course you might then be asked why you didn't just book EAS in the first place...)