IB to drop JNB from end August
 

From Iberia Agencias:

1.- Direct flight Madrid-Johannesburg gets cancelled due to lack of profitability. The Commercial division will announce flexibility and relocation conditions for affected passengers. Last flight will operate the 31st of August.

Increasing LIM to 10x/week and SJU going year round, 3x/week.

I never understood why IB thought there was a business case for JNB. Too much European competition and no long haul to long haul connections.

More SJU would be nice. One of the sweetspots for TATL using Avios...

I have two biz return Avios redemptions booked for October.
Anyone know what my options will be for refund or change of carrier ?
I would MUCH prefer rerouting on a different carrier as have a shed-load of accomodation, tours, cars, seperate regional fights all booked.

I will call Iberia once I am back in the UK (in Sicily at the moment) of course but am reaching out on FT for any info, experiences or advice.

Cheers.

This far in advance... IB+ are only required to offer a refund.

At best you might get a re-route on BA if there is award space available. It's highly unlikely that IB+ will rebook you into a revenue bucket on another airline. (regardless of IAG, BA is still considered to be a separate airline)

Doesn't EC261 stipulate that passengers must be offered a refund or rerouting?

There is no obligation to re-route on another carrier more than two weeks out. So if an airline drops a route entirely, EC261 only guarantees a refund.

Obviously 5k J paid fares are treated rather better than award tickets when it comes to the agent making an effort to re-route as a gesture...

Nope, EC261 guarantees a refund OR re-routeing (See below). However, that doesn´t mean they have to book you on a different carrier or on the same day or on a flight you want to. The regulation is very vague.

Article 5
Cancellation

1. In case of cancellation of a flight, the passengers concerned shall:

(a) be offered assistance by the operating air carrier in accordance with Article 8; and

(b) be offered assistance by the operating air carrier in accordance with Article 9(1)(a) and 9(2), as well as, in event of re-routing when the reasonably expected time of departure of the new flight is at least the day after the departure as it was planned for the cancelled flight, the assistance specified in Article 9(1)(b) and 9(1)(c); and

(c) have the right to compensation by the operating air carrier in accordance with Article 7, unless:

(i) they are informed of the cancellation at least two weeks before the scheduled time of departure; or

(ii) they are informed of the cancellation between two weeks and seven days before the scheduled time of departure and are offered re-routing, allowing them to depart no more than two hours before the scheduled time of departure and to reach their final destination less than four hours after the scheduled time of arrival; or

(iii) they are informed of the cancellation less than seven days before the scheduled time of departure and are offered re-routing, allowing them to depart no more than one hour before the scheduled time of departure and to reach their final destination less than two hours after the scheduled time of arrival.

2. When passengers are informed of the cancellation, an explanation shall be given concerning possible alternative transport.

3. An operating air carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation in accordance with Article 7, if it can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.

4. The burden of proof concerning the questions as to whether and when the passenger has been informed of the cancellation of the flight shall rest with the operating air carrier.


Article 8
Right to reimbursement or re-routing

1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered the choice between:

(a) - reimbursement within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), of the full cost of the ticket at the price at which it was bought, for the part or parts of the journey not made, and for the part or parts already made if the flight is no longer serving any purpose in relation to the passenger's original travel plan, together with, when relevant,

- a return flight to the first point of departure, at the earliest opportunity;

(b) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity; or

(c) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later date at the passenger's convenience, subject to availability of seats."

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-cont...lex:32004R0261

IB has to give you three choices: cancellation with full refund, rebooking as soon as possible or rebooking at some other point. Also, if you have to spend an extra night or more in MAD (or in JNB on the return), then IB has to provide meals and a hotel room for you during that time.

If you are not rebooked for a flight on the same day, then IB has to provide a hotels and meals until the flight departs. If you insist on claiming these benefits (even if you are stuck in your hometown), IB has good reasons to rebook you sooner rather than later as hotel costs will be piling up.

I can tell you what IB is offering:

• Full refund, or
• Fly IB on an earlier opportunity (before 1st September), or
• Same dates but with BA.

Nope is a bit harsh. I am jumping beyond the specific drafting to point out that many airlines take the exact same "vagueness" you suggest to not re-route on a different carrier. Ryanair is notorious for this. (the refund hits your card before you can even call to enquire about rerouting on BA)

Although not IB, I had an award on ET ex-BCN, then they decided to drop the BCN-MAD-ADD route. When I called I was offered the option of refunding... or re-rerouting on a Star Alliance partner with award space open. (nothing available that worked) No revenue buckets.

Yes, I could have booked a revenue ticket then sued ET in small claims court. But I have better things to do...

I'm in the same situation. Booked return award tickets for Oct / Nov. Did you book using "standard" Avios or Avios from their buy 90,000 Avios campaign last year?

For the same dates with BA option, is the class of travel also the same? And do you have to start and finish with the same departure and arrival airports? Thanks.

Same dates, same class, same origin, same destination.

If you want to change origin/destination, they are not allowing it - in that case they'll suggest refund and book again.

Very reasonable of them.

Have had an email saying my booking has been cancelled. Not offered anything else :-(

Have you called back and requested? Remember HUCA.

Your bet for a nice rerouting is good agent and status can definitely help. My bets are on BA. As Emerald try to HUCA for QR :D

Rules are clear. Only re-routing on BA.

The rebooking policy is posted on Iberia Agencias:

Thanks for this.

Rang last night and changed the last week in Sept booking to 1st Sept with no issues, nor any extra Avios (original booking was Off peak, new booking is Peak).

Sorted.

I was told IB pulled out of LAD to fee up an aircraft to start the JNB route.

But IB did this just as DT started to professionalise under EK management and IB simply couldn't compete with DT who flew B773 with just 9 across in Y at dirt cheap prices.

Had no trouble at all changing even though I was on an Iberia Avios redemption. Respect to Iberia on this one. They made it nice and simple.

Its worked out rather nicely for me. Based in London.

Had MAD-JNB-MAD

Now have MAD-LHR-JNB / JNB-LHR / LGW-MAD.

With new Spanish law (late 2018) if you miss the first leg (MAD-LHR) then the remainder of your itinerary must stay intact. So I really hope something doesn't come up to make me sadly miss my MAD-LHR flight ;-(
Then on the way back having collected my bags at Heathrow I am bound to accidentally miss my onward flight out of Gatwick to Madrid ;-(

A great outcome for me when I expected the worst. Hats off to Iberia for doing the right thing and making it so easy to change. I hope everyone else has such a straight-forward experience.

Not a bad use of 85k (& £157 tax) of the 90k Avios I earnt / bought (!!) in the very reasonable and hopefully soon to be repeated 'Buy But Don't Fly' Iberia promotion last year.
Goes to show how ridiculous BA's Avios prices are and how offensive the surcharges are (BA want almost 4x the taxes & charges !! and 150,000 Avios !! LHR-JNB-LHR)

I hope that everyone can get sorted out easily.

(As an aside, trying to use just 85K Avios for the route on BA according to the BA Avios spend calculator a flight LHR-JNB can be bought for 42k Avios and £1018 and a flight JNB-LHR can be bought for 42k Avios and £858 so in total 84k Avios plus £1876........Not much of a bargain compared to Iberia's 85K + £157 (No, there's not an extra zero missing there) !!
NOTE: although that is comparing two one-way Avios redemptions on BA rather than a simple return, can't be bothered looking that up - or is it the same ??)

I really wouldn't mess around with skipping the MAD-LHR - law or no law - unless you have both a lot of time on your hands and willing to (temporarily?) fork out thousands to get to JNB / forfeit the trip.

I don't think we've had any reports of someone trying this new law with IB let alone applying it to BA...

Yes, it seems like a very bad idea to skip the MAD-LHR flight...

Has anyone skipped a flight from Spain / Italy to test this out ?

Seriously, what have you been .... ?

EC261/2004 is in place now for almost 15 years?

How often do I have to repeat that line.
The 14 day period of notice only applies to article 7 compensation.
There is no period of notice for article 8 rights. Article 8 covers the rebooking and refund part.
The airline cannot unitarily walk back from the transport contract. That is one of the major consumer safeguards in the regulation. Even if a route is suspended (and the airport is served by other airlines) it has to rebook.