fizban

Hello all,

I purchased a flight from ATH (Rome) to TXL (Berlin) (sold by Iberia but is on Vueling metal) but something has now come up and won't be able to make that flight as I will no longer be in Rome at that time.

I only purchased it about 8 hours ago. It was purchased on my Chase Sapphire, US currency, US address, etc. On the ticket it says:

Place of Issue: USA
Issued By: IBERIA LAE SA Operadora Unipersonal
Registered Address: 5835 Blue Lagoon Drive suite 350 Miami, Florida 33126

So, since this ticket was actually sold by what looks like a US subsidiary, does this flight fall under the US DOT 24-hour cancellation rule, even though it is between two foreign cities?

There was no option for a free 24-hour hold (had to pay to do a fare lock).

I have pretty much read all of Iberia's site including all the FAQs and customer service fine print, but could only find a reference to being able to cancel TELEPHONE bookings within 24 hours. There is no mention of cancellation Website bookings (I booked this on Iberia.com).

Thanks for your help in advance.

fizban

As a followup to this, I was able to call 1 800 772 4642 and they did refund my ticket, minus a $25 service charge. I was too tired to argue about the service charge. Only one $25 service charge for a reservation with two people on it, so not too terrible.

David-A

As I think you know from the way you worked through it in your post:

Card issuer = irrelevant.
Currency paid = irrelevant.
Address of purchaser = essentially irrelevant.

Where the sale occurred, and who sold it to you - very important.
(Strictly speaking, the ticket place of issue could also be irrelevant, it would be the transaction details that mattered).

I've no idea if USA DOT regulations are limited to flights that have a USA city involved, but the place for a definitive answer would be a general USA orientated section of FT.

Not trying to be blunt, but a very small subset of the people who look in this section will be able to answer.

fizban

Another update: Despite saying they would charge me a $25 service fee, the refund came through on my credit card without any fees deducted.

So it would seem, if you purchase Iberia flights through its US subsidiary, the DOT 24-hour cool-off rule does apply, and you should be able to cancel your tickets for free within that period.

callum9999

Iberia does normally have a free 24 hour hold option - I've used it several times.

Though I couldn't see the option when I just checked for a Vueling flight (but there was also no Farelock option?). Is that a deliberate policy, or am I just not seeing it?

warakorn

Please leave your US-centric view of the world.
The US DOT has no jurisdiction over European airlines, flying between two European airport.

I would guess IB had also some kind of internal grace period.

more4less

In Vueling there is still the 24h Farelock option with a cost of 2€.

Often1

If you look at the # of EU residents who believe that EC 261/2004 applies to their domestic US segments, you would understand what happened here.

The DOT rule applies to all US carriers and to non-US carriers on tickets which originate/terminate or otherwise include a US segment.

This is not to the exclusion of the fact that more and more non US carriers have adopted a 24-hour cancellation refund as a matter of internal policy.

mikew99

Actually, the DOT requires any airline who has flights that touch U.S. soil to have a customer service plan that incorporates the 24-hour reservation requirement. The DOT also implies that airlines who market their flights to consumers residing in the U.S. must also follow U.S. law, in which case the actual flight segments don't matter for the purpose of the 24-hour reservation requirement. (References: Rule Two: Amendment Concerning Baggage and Other Consumer Issues; Guidance on the 24-hour reservation requirement)

pvgman

Just ran into this issu with IB, basically they say that because I book my flight using avios, I have to pay 25€ to cancel my flight, despite being within the 24h of booking for a flight to the US (they don't consider the 130€ of taxes paid as a payment...).
I tried to escalate the issu challenging them with their own T&C but they wouldn't bunch, they also refused to send me any link to their website related to this exclusion.

I got BA to refund me totally some month ago over a similar issue, how to get something out of IB?!

Not sure I will push it further if it gets to complicated, it is only 25€ but they really get on my nerves with their pathetic excuses and self authorized unpublished exclusions.

Arsiniee

pushmyredbutton

dilvala

Do you know if the rule also applies to Avios booking? I find the taxes way to high.

Yllanes

Possibly the payment had not been finalised yet and the ticket issued, so they just cancelled it. This has happened to me a couple of times with European arilines. Most recently, on a ticket with Austrian airlines where I mispelled my own name.

In general, IB offers free 24-hour holds and 5 € 72-hour holds (which are deducted from your purchase if you confirm), but I do not believe this applies to Vueling flights.

radioactive

I just called to cancel an intra-European ticket (Spain-Germany), the agent said the 24-hour cancelation policy only applies to tickets issued in USD. Tickets in other currencies do not qualify, and had a €30/pp refund fee.