Iberia adventure today, what will they do?
Jul 31, 2006, 6:42 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Palo Alto, CA, USA
Posts: 104
Iberia adventure today, what will they do?
Writing from the Iberia lounge at MAD - S terminal, which by the way is very pleasant and not too crowded, with a very impressive selection of drinks and plenty of internet computers. Not a bad place to get stuck.
The story is I showed up this morning for a leg of a OW150C to CMN, only to find that my flight was delayed 4 hours for a ¨crew rotation¨, which given the gorgeous weather sounds kind of like ¨we didn´t plan well¨ or ¨someone called in sick¨ perhaps in conjunction with ¨all the other flights today are more important¨. I´m ok with it, Iberia has made me happy so far. Curiously, though, the agent at the counter in the lounge when she told me about the delay seemed very dubious with her demeanor that we´d actually leave within 4 hours ... and big surprise, just when I thought I´d waited things out, we got pushed back another 3 hours.
My questions are:
(1) Has anyone experienced this Iberia ¨crew rotation¨ phenomenon, and have a point of view on whether we´ll actually get out of here today?
(2) Sadly the food selection here is good for snacking, but not what I´d consider adequate for a meal. Any idea whether it would be appropriate to ask for a meal voucher of some sort to use in the airport, or is that just an American phenomenon?
(3) If I get stuck in MAD tonight, will they pay for a hotel and taxis?
My espanol is worse than the agent´s english, and I´m not convinced I´d get the actual answers to these questions if I ask.
Thank you and best regards
The story is I showed up this morning for a leg of a OW150C to CMN, only to find that my flight was delayed 4 hours for a ¨crew rotation¨, which given the gorgeous weather sounds kind of like ¨we didn´t plan well¨ or ¨someone called in sick¨ perhaps in conjunction with ¨all the other flights today are more important¨. I´m ok with it, Iberia has made me happy so far. Curiously, though, the agent at the counter in the lounge when she told me about the delay seemed very dubious with her demeanor that we´d actually leave within 4 hours ... and big surprise, just when I thought I´d waited things out, we got pushed back another 3 hours.
My questions are:
(1) Has anyone experienced this Iberia ¨crew rotation¨ phenomenon, and have a point of view on whether we´ll actually get out of here today?
(2) Sadly the food selection here is good for snacking, but not what I´d consider adequate for a meal. Any idea whether it would be appropriate to ask for a meal voucher of some sort to use in the airport, or is that just an American phenomenon?
(3) If I get stuck in MAD tonight, will they pay for a hotel and taxis?
My espanol is worse than the agent´s english, and I´m not convinced I´d get the actual answers to these questions if I ask.
Thank you and best regards
Jul 31, 2006, 10:44 am
#2
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Portland OR Double Emerald (QF and AA), DL PM/MM, Starwood Plat
Posts: 19,589
IB does this all the time (though less often this year than in the past, so they are improving). There is a reason that IB is famous for its incredibly bad ground handling, particularly for irregular ops. Most of the staff treat award tickets as 3rd class citizens, so expect to have nothing offered to you and have to ask for everything.
The EU passed regulations about a year ago which gives all pax specific legal rights, and these apply to you equally. These include:
"If you check in on time for any flight, including charters:
• from an EU airport, or
• to an EU airport from one outside the EU, when operated
by an EU airline,
and if the airline operating the flight expects a delay:
• of 2 hours or more, for flights less than 1 500 km,
• of 3 hours or more, for longer flights within the EU, and for
other flights between 1 500 and 3 500 km,
• of 4 hours or more for flights over 3 500 km outside the EU,
the airline must give you meals and refreshments, hotel
accommodation when necessary (including transfers) and
communication facilities.
When the delay is 5 hours or more, the airline must also offer
to refund your ticket (with a free flight back to your initial
point of departure, when relevant).
If you do not receive these rights, complain immediately to
the airline operating the flight."
You can print out a copy of the government brochure with these rights at http://www.cph.dk/NR/rdonlyres/FA775...ngerrights.PDF
You should also be able to get a copy of these passenger rights from IB at the airport.
The EU passed regulations about a year ago which gives all pax specific legal rights, and these apply to you equally. These include:
"If you check in on time for any flight, including charters:
• from an EU airport, or
• to an EU airport from one outside the EU, when operated
by an EU airline,
and if the airline operating the flight expects a delay:
• of 2 hours or more, for flights less than 1 500 km,
• of 3 hours or more, for longer flights within the EU, and for
other flights between 1 500 and 3 500 km,
• of 4 hours or more for flights over 3 500 km outside the EU,
the airline must give you meals and refreshments, hotel
accommodation when necessary (including transfers) and
communication facilities.
When the delay is 5 hours or more, the airline must also offer
to refund your ticket (with a free flight back to your initial
point of departure, when relevant).
If you do not receive these rights, complain immediately to
the airline operating the flight."
You can print out a copy of the government brochure with these rights at http://www.cph.dk/NR/rdonlyres/FA775...ngerrights.PDF
You should also be able to get a copy of these passenger rights from IB at the airport.
Aug 2, 2006, 3:03 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Palo Alto, CA, USA
Posts: 104
We got out
Was out of reach for a couple days ...
After another delay of about an hour, we got out of MAD about 8 hours after scheduled. Within minutes of my post on FT, they served us a meal at the airport restaurant as well, so that was good. So, all ended much better than it could have, though it cut my time short in CMN by about a day.
After another delay of about an hour, we got out of MAD about 8 hours after scheduled. Within minutes of my post on FT, they served us a meal at the airport restaurant as well, so that was good. So, all ended much better than it could have, though it cut my time short in CMN by about a day.