Complain about a product or service

Iberia

Luis of Somerville MA (11/15/08)
My advice, dont even think about flying IBERIA. I fly at least once a month and I have used almost all the major airlines and have had issues but nothing compared to IBERIA. I purchased 9 tickets from Boston to Telaviv Israel 6 months in advance, this is what appended.

1. The price looked fine, 990.00 per person. The dates were Nov 17-25.
2. Three months latter, I got an email saying that the flight on the 17th Boston Madrid was canceled, without asking they put me on a flight on the 16th.
3. I got a hotel for 9 people for an extra day in Israel at $120.00 per person.
4. Than I got another email saying that there was no flight on the 17th from Madrid to telaviv.
5. They put me on a flight on the 18th from Madrid to Israel.
6. I canceled the hotel in Israel and reserved on in Madrid for one night for 9 people at $80.00 per person.
7. Than I got an e-mail saying that the flight from Madrid to Boston on the 25th was canceled.
8. At this time I called them, after a very strong argument they agreed to fly us on the 25 to New York instead of Boston and put me on a flight from new York to Boston.
9. Than I got an e-mail that each person had to pay 70 dollars extra because we had decided to leave from Spain the following day.

In conclusion, from my experience flying, this is the worst airline on the planet. Dont fly Iberia for you own sake.

Jose of Falls Church VA (09/30/08)
I was ready to go to Spain on September 25 of 2008 to perform A EXECUTIVE PROTECTION TRAINING (BODYGUARD TRAINING) But I lost my Flight because the IBERIA AIRLINES they change my flight with diferent date and time, also without of make me any notification for these changes.

1.- I lost 8 days permission of work to go to Spain for this training. 2.- Lost my money which I paid for my training. 3.- lost the money for my Flight tiket 4.- Emotional damages to my self because that training was something of my dreams and wishes to have done, but was imposible for this negligence of the IBERIA AIRLINES that make me any notification of these changes. 

Nabiha of Bethesda MD (09/29/08)
they change the time of my flight from casablanca morocco. therefor i missed my flight, and they asked me to pay $ 200 extrat to get on a nother flight. they also made me get a ticket to spain where i have no visa therfor i had to spend the night in the airport.

emotional damage, fainancial damage and phisical

Tomer of Valley Village CA (09/29/08)
My wife, child and I were flying from Tel Aviv to Spain. Our stroller came on the plane with us but when we arrived in Spain the stroller was knowehere to be found. Knoweobne wanted to help us and finally we did speak to an individual and he assured us it would arrive in Boston our destination. In boston we filed a claim on June 8th. I called the airline two weeks later and they had told me our stroller was found and it was being delievered.

2 weeks go by and I call again and now they tell me they didnt find it and theya re missing information. they wanted me to write a letter with my passport info, ticket # etc, which I did. I have been calling since and they do no want to direct me to a supervisor or tell me what is going on with my claim. It is now 4 months and I don't have a payment or a stroller.

I told them I will seek an attorney if I don't get help and the told me to go ahead if I wish nothing they can do. I was told it would take 4-6 weeks to receive payment which they supposedly approved and now 4 months later still nothing. The person I keep speaking with Jose will not give me any information or direct me to any supervisor

Harvengt of Gembloux OTHER (09/22/08)
I took a plane between Tenerife Sur and Brussels airport, and stole [from] me in my luggage. I put a new parfum bottle in my bag and give it under Iberia responsability. When I come back home, my bag was properly closed but the parfum was missing. I was wondering about the control of our luggage with Iberia flights.

Sandra of Beavercreek OH (09/17/08)
On a trip from Washington DC to Barcelona, I had to make a planned stop in Madrid. Once I reached Barcelona I found that my suitcase had not made the connecting flight with me. I stood in line for about an hour with many other people who had experienced the same problem. I was given a case number and told to call iberia that evening or the next day for an update. I left Barcelona hoping that my bag would be delivered soon and began making phone calls that evening. Each time I would call, the automated assistance would hang up on me.

Finally the next morning I had a friend in the USA call the toll free number. He was told that the bag had left Madrid but had not been confirmed to have arrived in Barcelona yet (although the flight is only 50 minutes) After I finally got through I was told the same thing each day. I had to attend a wedding so was quite anxious to get my bag because EVERYTHING I owned was in there. I never received any calls or any updates and the website was no help. Finally on my second to last day in Barcelona we were told that two attempts had been made to deliver the suitcase but that nobody had been home. We new this was a lie because we had made sure that someone was home at all times.

The morning that I was supposed to leave Barcelona I got to the airport early and went to the lost baggage claims desk. I was told once again that the bag had left Madrid but had not yet gotten to Barcelona. When I explained to the woman everything I had been told by each person I had spoken, to she told me that i could go ahead and check to see if I could find my luggage in their storage room even though she doubted it would be there. When i walked in I immediately saw it sitting in a large pile of suitcases. The woman could do nothing but apologize and said that it had been placed in the pile without being scanned in. She also said it was in the pile that hadn't had any attempted deliveries yet.

At that point she said I could get reimburesed for the things I had to buy while i waited for my bag, which included a new dress for the wedding. Of course you have to keep ALL of your receipts which they fail to tell you on the phone. I still have not heard anything back from Iberia after mailing and faxing them a copy of all of my receipts. I spent approximately 420 Euros and dont know when I will see that money.

Low of Singapore OTHER (08/20/08)
On 17 May, 2008 , we were supposed to board Iberia IB 6650, 1955hrs from Lima, Peru connecting to IB 3516 in Madrid, Spain, connecting to QF 6 in Frankfurt, Germany arriving home to SINGAPORE on 19 May, 2008. We arrived at the Lima airport 3 hrs prior to our departure time, checking into Iberia counter and that was the start of our hellish nightmare.

We were told by Ms Ana P that we were not allowed to board IB 6650 as we needed a transit visa to transit at Madrid and Frankfurt. We explained our case telling her that SINGAPOREANS do not need a visa to travel into Europe. She insisted we do and even claimed that was what the TIMATIC system said. We took further pains educating her that we flew into South America using the same route (on 30 April, we flew Singapore Frankfurt Madrid Rio De Janeiro) without any.

Her reply was atrocious. She said flying into S.A. is different from flying out. And she said, within the time span (30 April 17 May), the visa requirements have changed. We were shocked and told her that perhaps she may wish to check with her supervisor. After another few minutes, she asked her supervisor, Ms Ilda G over and told her that we do not have a visa and hence, cannot board the plane. We were appalled when Ms I agreed and even claimed that there was a Singaporean diplomat who was sent back to Peru having arrived in Madrid without a visa last week.

In the midst of our disbelief, we even showed them our passports, with past chops into Europe many times without any visas. Both women insisted we still need a visa and told us we were not allowed to board the plane. We tried all avenues, getting our Peru travel agent to speak with them on the phone, coming down to the airport personally to explain our situation, we called our Singapore embassy, called our Singapore travel agent, called our travel insurance agent and even the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but Ana refused to listen to any of these, insisting that they are right and we are not allowed in the plane.

Finally after more than an hour of argument, we asked what are the alternatives for us and they rudely said that we needed to go apply for transit visa on Monday 19 May at the Spain Embassy, extending our stay in Lima for 3 more nights (with only US$10 cash left). We had to ask a few times before both of them said maybe there is another flight out (surely that should have been the first suggestion for us). What disgusted us was there was no tinge of empathy or kindness in the entire episode. They were not only unhelpful but very rude.

Finally they told us there was another flight out that day but there was no way we could afford it as it cost US$6000 each. There we were, two Singaporeans from a far away land stranded in a foreign land. It was shocking enough to hear that we were not allowed to board the planes due to the incompetency of the ground staff. What was appalling was the attitude that was shown. Not only have they caused us severe emotional distress, till this day, we've gotten a phobia of travelling and not being allowed on planes. We have tried all means of communication and this must be the worst travel experience we had being well travelled since a young age.

Because of Iberia, we had to look for last minute hotel, rebooked our flights, incurring additional US$2,500 each. The most interesting twist of the story is that we miss our flight and due to the rebook of our flight with LAN Peru, LP643, the flight was cancelled and LAN Peru rebooked us on the next day flight flying from Lima to Madrid on LAN Peru LP0706, Madrid to Frankfurt on Iberia IB3512 and from Frankurt to Singapore on BA7306. We flew through the exact same route without a visa at all!!! This proves that Iberia is definitely in the wrong. The whole incident is totally uncalled for but due to the pure ignorance and stupidity of the ground staff, we were made to go through this entire trauma.

2 additional tickets costing USD 2,500 each, not including the work and wage losses due to the 1 day delay in boarding another plane

Christine of Bath, U.K. (08/16/08)
I travelled from Toulouse to Caracas via Madrid on the 21 July 2008 with Iberia Airways. At the luggage check I was told that I could not take two jars of sesame paste as hand luggage and was told to check them into the hold. I was anxious and flustered and forgot that I had left a gold and a silver necklace in the bag. When I opened up my bag in Caracas airport both necklaces were missing and a bag of ear-rings had been scattered throughout the bag, two of which are now missing.

I e-mailed Iberia customer service at the first opportunity, through their ridiculous complaints form.

I explained that they have a thief in their employment who needs to be investigated. At no time have they asked for my report and it is only through my persistence have they continued any correspondence otherwise I feel that they would have swept the whole thing under the carpet..

They have not accepted any responsibility even though they were the only carriers involved. I have not been notified of any serious investigation that should have taken place and at no time have I been offered compensation for the theft of my jewelry. This action will continue ad intinitum to other people unless the thief is caught and sacked and this incident should be taken far more seriously than Iberia appear to be doing. I will never travel with Iberia again and would advise my friends to also give them a wide berth.

Ann of Brooklyn NY (08/01/08)
My daughter was going to Spain to teach english, the ticket agent looked at her and said you look like you are going to be trouble, well our bags were over weight and we were running out of money he made us run back and fourth,to the cashier and then he over chged us on the over weight and the cashier reviewed the chg and sd he over chged us on the luggage. The agent Larry almost made her miss her flight and as she was going on the plane he took her carry right out of her hands. Had I not been standing in the airport and waiting to make sure everything was ok. He would have stolen her stuff.

The agent made her cry, he took her stuff right as she was going on the plane and I had to run back to the ticket corner to get her stuff and the mamger at the counter was one of the nasties people I ever meet and made everone who checked in upset. We checked in on 7/31/08. I want to reimbursement of my daughter's ticket and stress.

Walter of Columbia SC (07/31/08)
My wife and I bought etickets from Iberia while we were in France on June 29. We were intending to fly from Tangier to Paris and the tickets we found online were cheaper than taking the train. However, on July 11, the Iberia staff in the Tangier airport wouldn't honor them (and they would not tell us why). They wouldn't look at our receipt, nor would they consult anyone via phone about our reservation. We were sent upstairs to talk to the Iberia managing representative who then tried to overcharge us (or steal from us) for 2 more tickets and make us pay for them in cash.

When we said that we could only pay by credit card, he said that the credit card machine didn't work. We told him that cash was not an option and then he relented to letting us use a credit card. The ticket price was miraculously reduced by 300$, which I believe was revealed the actual ticket price minus his effort at skimming from the top. However the cost of these tickets was still 800$, which was 400$ more than we had spent online!

The representative was hostile and my wife spent about an hour in his office crying while him and I were on the verge of blows. When I asked him for his name so that I could reference the experience when I got home, he through his name badge at me and became even more hostile and melodramatic.

Later we discovered that our etickets had been cancelled due to Iberia agent error in Casablanca on July 2nd. On July 2nd, my wife and I were in Barcelona and had no computer access. Despite these facts, their customer service remains completely unhelpful in the resolution of this matter. I've not been able to receive help from anyone and Iberia customer service has been extremely nonchalant about the whole thing.

My wire and I spent about 800-900$ which I believe should be refunded in full. As well, the ordeal was extremely stressful for the both of us (she spent alot of time crying in the agent's office and I was so angry I was shaking).

Judith of Bath OTHER (07/15/08)
We flew iberia to costa rica, from madrid on 16th June and were very disappointed with the complete lack of care shown bt the cabin crew. They did as little as possible to make us comfortable, did not make water available without actually asking or it. When snacks were available they did not make it known, it was only seeing other passengers with food that we knew it was there. Loud passengers were not asked to be quiet. The flight home was even worse, we were practically ignored for the whole flight, my armrest controls did not work so i had no TV or radio. I buzzed for cabin crew for over 45minutes and no one came. There were 2 drunk men talking loudly during the whole night flight home and no one asked them to be quiet.

I was exhausted when we arrived at Madrid for our connection to London, but worse was to come. A party of spanish school kids were on our flight and were allowed to run riot. They abused a lone female traveller, verbally, and by putting chewing gum in her hair. They climbed over seats, shouted, ran up and down the aisle, and at no time did the cabin crew seem in the least bit bothered by the danger posed to other passengers, or their obvious distress.

I eventually asked a steward to do something, which they half-heartedly agreed to do. The adult in charge of them was asked to intervene, but 5 minutes later, they were just as bad. I complained as i disembarked but again it was treated with a shrug and 'what can you do?' attitude. I will NEVER fly with this airline again

I was exhausted after a very long flight with no sleep, and had to have extra time off work to get over it

Maribel of North Miami Beach FL (07/05/08)
Coming from Madrid to Miami on what it supposedly was a direct flight, the plane made a stop in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I compiled alist of 30 people who sign up for a collective complain, still waiting for an answer.

Amy of Los Altos CA (06/22/08)
On April 13Th, 2008 I was suppose to fly from Tel Aviv to Madrid for a business meeting, I confirmed my flight and seat a day before the flight, Iberia insured me that every thing is ok. When I arrived to the Airport, Iberia denied me boarding for overbooking the flight, I took another flight by British Airways to London and from London to Madrid, the flight took almost 8 hours, I missed the business meeting and my damage was enormous,

The following day I had a flight from Madrid to Chicago, I was very upset that Iberia is offering me $250 voucher for my damages which I will not settle for. I am asking Iberia to compensate me for at least $600 for lost business.

Megan of Montclair VA (06/20/08)
We flew Iberia airlines to Roma, Italy on June 14th. Flight went very well. I arrived in Rome and the luggage of my family was recieved and hour and a half after we had landed. My luggage wasnt there. Filed a complaint and lost baggage claim, however, nothing has been done. I have been in Rome for a week and have been checking the tracking website twice a day. There is no information at all on my luggage. I have every intention of filing suit on the airline and charging them for every penny of what was in that bag. I imagine the bag was stolen due to the expensive clothing on the bag.

Juline of Erda UT (06/18/08)
I too was on the flight from with luggage left in Madrid that did not make it to IAD. I am glad to hear SOMEONE has gotten some luggage! I had the same problem (no incident number given) and have been calling continuously. I actually had a customer rep hang up on me....and I was being rather reasonable and was NOT yelling. They can not tell me if my bags have ever left Madrid. They were supposed to be on a flight two days ago not to Miami and then on an AA flight to Dulles.

We live in Salt Lake, however, so a lot of good that will do me. They did say they would get them to SLC. That said, they can't tell me if they ever left Madrid (although they admitted they had them there at one point) and say they cannot tell me anything until they reach their final destination and they claim AA is not responding. Convenient.....I am not hopeful.

Lost hundreds of dollars worth of stuff in these five bags, including medical supplies that are having to be replaced at exhorbatant costs. Luggage was locked, so if we ever get it will be interesting to see if anything is missing.

Nicholas of Miami Springs FL (06/18/08)
I have a claim for damaged luggage and Iberia has become inaccessible to follow through with their responsibility. It has been impossible for me to send them the message because none of their Email addresses works. I have filed a complaint for damaged luggage and want Iberia to pay for the damages. This has been a terrible inconvenience.

They should repair or replace my damaged luggage. Iberia is irresponsible and undependable.

Julia of Williamsburg VA (06/14/08)
Flew from Madrid - Barajas to Dulles on 10 June, 2008. Upon arrival, I was told (along with 10 or so others) that my bag had been left behind in Madrid but would be put on the next flight over. Was given a report to fill out, but no case number.

Problem was further aggravated by the fact that Iberia had printed out an incorrect boarding pass for me in Madrid which had another passenger's name, seat number, and ticket number on it, and no one in security or at Iberia caught it until we both tried to sit in the same seat. Therefore, my missing bag was in this person's name as well. I was told to go home and wait, and the bag would be delivered to my home.

After several battles with Iberia luggage on the phone, I was finally informed that the bag would be arriving in the US on Thursday, 12 June, and would be FedExed to me the next day. At 5 PM Friday, the bag did arrive, but upon opening it, I found that it had been heavily rifled through - all the zip pockets were open, contents scattered. Oddly enough, it appears I was lucky in that only two things were missing, but one of them is probably the most precious thing I was carrying - 2 memory cards for my camera that included 3000 pictures from my month overseas. (The other missing item is a magnet shaped like the Eiffel Tower - why on earth anyone would steal that is beyond me)

I immediately contacted Iberia's luggage dept again, and was told there was no chance of getting it back, and no legal recourse (the operator literally repeated over and over Can you prove it?). I even tried to offer a reward for the return of the memory cards, but the operator laughed at me. I have been unable to contact any Iberia personnel at Madrid airport or Dulles, and e-mails sent to the Iberia website have gone unanswered thus far.

I do not understand how a company with such frequent instances of blatant and personally invasive theft can be allowed to continue to do business.

I of Barcelona OTHER (06/09/08)
i lost my items my baggage delayed for weeks iam no able to attend the wedding coz the gown is in my baggage!

i am not able to attend the wedding, thats d only reason why i flew! unfortunate to choose iberia!

Walter of Riverhead NY (06/08/08)
our flight from Barcelona to new york jfk flight#6251 on june 1 2008 time 10:15 am.our departure was delayed for two house's described on our tickets barcelona to new york was a direct flight but it was a stop over to Madrid then to jfk.upon boarding from madrid flight to jfk there was about 40 people who were partying and drinking heavily on the airplane during our flig sitting three people into two seats along side of my wife and i. standing in the aisle's through the airplane i complained to the flight attended all they did was put the fasten the seat belt sign.they would return to their seats for about ten minutes then go right back.this continued through out the entire airplane flight.

we had a very bad experience

Robert of Albany, Australia (06/05/08)
Between them edreams.com and Iberia have charged ou card for eight tickets to Spain from Australia instead of four. Iberia are denying it every happened, despite having bank statement evidence to the contrary and edreams are giving the kinds of runaround that costs hundreds of dollars in overseas calls to answering machines then refuse to answer anymore e mails. We were told having tried to book four tickets online that to counter possible fraud they could not take the card, as the cost was over 3,000 euros.

We were told twice by phone that the booking couldn't be accepted and each time the customer service operator got angry with us for asking for an explanation and hung up. Two e mails as well, telling they could not accept the card, even though there was nothing wrong with it. We re-booked each person one by one using two cards. These went through successfully and we received emailed confirmations and e-tickets. Then we went into the bank and found that eight tickets had been charged for. So, we have 12 days left until departure, four tickets after being charged for eight and no one willing to talk about it let alone take responsibility.

Stress, possibility of having to cancel trip for the four of us if it isn't resolved quickly and no chance of getting the money abck for the tickets we do have. Stay calm, breathe, take it step by step and hope one of these people have a little customer service background and a tiny bit of common sense, because this is not acceptable!

Gil of Dallas GA (06/02/08)
I flew from Atlanta - Miami - Madrid - Gran Canaria on 5/26/08. Upon arrival at the Atlanta airport, the AA agent (I flew on AA from ATLMIA)informed that my bags (6 of them)would be checked all the way to my final destination in Las Palmas Gran Canaria on IB. When I arrived in LPA on 5/27/08, not one of my checked bags had made it in. As a result, I filed a lost baggage form with the IB agent. That night, I received a call from the local IB baggage office in LPA. The agent (I must say was extremely nice and helpful) informed me that IB had located 4-of-6 bags at the MIA airport. For some reason, AA did not transfer my bags to IB in the time required to make the conncections. He also added, that he would work with IB in MIA to locate the other 2 missing bags.

Again, that night, I received a second call telling me that the two additional bags were found. I was told that all the bags were enroute to MAD and they would arrive at LPA on IB834 on 5/28/08. On 5/28/08, I met IB834 MADLPA and in the process of getting my bags, I noticed that the largest piece I had checked seemed very flat. Upon further inspection, I noticed that the TSA approved lock was cut. Upon lifting the bag, I noticed that it seemed light. Once I opened the bag I noticed that about 80% of the content checked were missing.

Needless to say, I felt totally confused, humiliated and angry about the whole situation. The local LPA IB personnel seemed in disbilief and very apologetic. Because some the items taken were very personal (e.g. underwear, electric shaver and socks)IB gave me a care kit to make due and provided phone and fax numbers for their main customer care office in Madrid. Currently, I've sent a fax to IB main office in Madrid Spain detailing all the missing items with corresponding value. I've yet to receive any responses but I'm hopeful the proper compensation can be made asap.

By the way, the IB Reservations agents have told me there is nothing they can do to help me in tracking my complain from the US. Basically, I must continue dealing with their main offices in Madrid which mean that I would have to pay for long distance calls. Please, I would appreciate hearing from anyone that may have experienced similar situations.

Loss of personal and gift items Damage to bag

Estela of Flagstaff AZ (06/01/08)
Customer service at the check-in counter is horrible! I was on a flight of the Romanian airline company TAROM from Barcelona to Bucharest, Romania. The check-in counter was served by Iberia employees, because Iberia operated the flight, and the employee did not provide name tags (which are required by TAROM). She actually said she WON'T get them. Also, she did not know what a frequent flyer number is or how to use it. She said I don't know [what it is] and I don't care.

I lost those miles and can't get them back! She refused to show me her badge. She actually hid it under the desk while we were talking so I couldn't get her name to complain. At the end of check-in, she did not even point out the way to the gate. This was the most frustrating interaction I've ever had at check-in. The employee was completely incompetent and incredibly rude. Her English was bad for international communications, and she didn't speak the language of the airline she was serving (and of the customers on that flight)-Romanian.

I was very frustrated because I was prepared, but because this employee couldn't speak English or Romanian, and because she didn't care (as she said herself), I lost the miles.

Dolores of Chatsworth CA (06/01/08)
One piece of luggage has never arrived and we are furious. We received one piece ten days after arriving at our destination on March 28, 2008 and were told that the 2nd piece would follow shortly. It is now 2 months later and no luggage.

Royetta of Chesterfield MI (06/01/08)
lost all our luggage (5 bags) for (6) days we were on a {8 } day cruise starting in Barcelona spain. we got are 5 bags after 6 days in Rome. we missed the big dress events It made us very sad, a once in a life time trip messed up, it made us upset with each other we call it the trip from hell.

it made us depressed not to be able to dress like others. Hopeing each day for our things and papers that were needed it changed the course of the rest of trip. ifeel we should be compincated for this mess up.

Rick of Baltimore MD (05/21/08)
Iberia cancelled our flight from washington dc to madrid with no notice to our agent or us. I found out the flight had been cancelled (not due to weather) when I called to confirm the flight. After spending an entire day fighting with the airlines, I think I finally got them to refund the airfare, but they tried everyway possible to put me off, or discourage me, including misdirecting me to other phone numbers, placing me on hold for over an hour with each switch, and simiar tactics. I am still not sure if or when I will recieve a refund of about $1600.00

Fees for cancelling hotes totalled 180.00. Fees for cancelling train in Spain, total loss at about $500.00, fees for returning Euros purchased, $200.00, Entire vacation ruined, as Iberia could not put me on any other flight for more than 2 days. I planned and paid for most of the trip months ago when I booked.

Miriam of Baden, Switzerland (05/16/08)
I have a complaint with Iberia because even when I have being writing to them i have just received 3 identical answers by email with an automatic response. I flight from Zurich-Mxico (via Madrid) reservation number Z5VK9P traveling me and my husband, I aslo make a reservation because i was traveling with my dogs on their kennel so everything goes well until i have to take the flight back from Mexico-Zurich (via Madrid) !!!!(IB6402 Mex-Madrid y IB 3474 Madrid-Zurich) when the person in charge in the mexican airport, told me that i have to paid more than triple the fee that i had paid for my dogs, I told her it was impossible, i had paid 240 euros from the Zurich-mexico route and I was not going to pay 607 euros to come back on the same airline, the same dogs, the same kennel and the same route. She was very aggresive and said if you don't pay this amount your dogs will not travel at that moment I had not option but to pay the 607euros. Now that I am back home I tried to complain with the airline and get my money back, because is just not possible to have such a differece in price for the same service, but the have just answer me with this automatic response that i could also read in their internet site. so i am not getting any money back not even a we are sorry answer!!!!

Fee paid Zurich- Mex 240 euros fee paid Mex- Zurich 607 euros

Volkan of New Rochelle NY (05/07/08)
I flew with Iberia Airlines from New York to Madrid and to Istanbul, round trip. Overall, I had great experience with Iberia; the service was outstanding, there were no major delays, the personnel were helpful and the food was great.

I have only one big problem: Some of my personal belongings disappeared when I arrived to Istanbul. I checked in 2 pieces of luggage in New York. I got both pieces when I arrived to Istanbul, but I realized that the side pockets of my sports bag were opened and many personal belongings were taken out. I immediately went to the lost Luggage? office that represents Iberia (CELEBI) and reported the damage. They took down some information and told me that I should be getting a call within the next 24 hours. I havent heard from Iberia for 20 days. I e-mailed the airlines twice and faxed a document a few times and got no answer. Eventually I got a hold of someone from the corporate office after I sent a letter to the CEO of Iberia. The person reviewed my file and told me that I had no claim but as a good faith Iberia was willing to offer some money; less than 1/3 of the actual value of my missing items. They told me that the reason for offering so little was that I didnt declare all the items at the lost luggage office in Istanbul. I tried to explain to this person that I was told by Iberia staff the following OK, dont worry about your missing items, just fill out this form and someone will call you in 24-hours and they will take your statement. You can give them to full list of missing items. We dont need a list from you.

I had horrible experience with Iberia customer service. They would not transfer my calls to the managers; they would not give their names or ID numbers. IBERIA JUST DOESNT WANT TO HEAR THIS. AFTER 5-MONTHS THE CASE HAS NOT BEEN RESOLVED.

$1600 for my missing personal belongings

David of High Wycombe UK (04/14/08)
Bounced off a flight from Valencia to Menorca on 30/7/2007. 261/2004 procedure not followed. 2 of family stuck at airport for 11 hours. On return to UK complained, Iberia denied any compensation was payable, in January they phoned to offer half the minimum payable, initially in Iberia card points, then as a voucher, then as cash - all refused. Since January - nothing. ATUC absolutely useless

Ruined first day of 5 day holiday in Menorca.

Lynn of Ostend, Belgium (02/21/08)
1st Poblem: missing luggage So it all started on June 6th 2007. I went from Brussels to Madrid and from there to Lanzarote (Canary Islands). On arrival at Lanzarote my luggage wasn't there. It had been lost bij Iberia somewhere along the road.. I Immediately went to the luggage service where a spanish man asked my TACK number and pasport. He had switched my familyname for my first name. So my file was not Yserbyt, but called Lynn.

The second thing he asked was a description of my luggage. I carefully described it. I filed a complaint with my boss (I was entertainer and worked in a team) who spoke spanish (Cuban). No news after 3 days so I went back to the airport.. they didn't know or couldn't tell me anything usefull.

So I called my school and they started calling Iberia. I called Iberia many times during the time my luggage was missing. The only language they know, Espanol, nada mas. My mother called about 15 times. Nobody ever awnsered. Most of the time she had to give up calling. The waiting time for somebody to pick up the phone at Iberia luggage service is about 20 minutes. And even then they didn't speak English on a understanding level.

So we called back to the school and they too were fed up, so they hired a lawyer. He called the company went to the airport in Brussels.. In the meanwhile I was told to make a list of the objects that were in the luggagep>. I did it so carefully that I actually didn't miss anything out (the stolen goods were on that list as well). The lawyer probably scared the hell out of them (Iberia), because after 21 days my bagage turned up at my hotel. During those 21 days Iberia had promised us a compensation of 52 euros (+/- 77 dollars) for each day I was without it. 52 x 21 = 1092 (1617 dollars). When I received my luggage several objects were missing including some expensive branded clothing, my new basketball, shoes, tops, shirts, etc.

Next problem: compensation and damage claim So the luggage was returned to me on June 27th 2007. I stayed in Lanzarote for about 6 months, untill the end of octobre. During that time I made lists and copies of pasport and stolen objects. Really I must have sent the list of stolen things about 4 times. And the asked a copy of my pasport about 8 times. (They must have a master genius working that administrative job)

Mother kept calling now for the compensation they had promised us. Everytime they would talk Spanish or little English. They couldn't even understand numbers! So Mother called about 20 times during those six months and everytime she was told we would het payed in about 2 weeks, 1 months, the next time it was 3 months ... I eventually arrived home on Octobre 1th 2007. Still no compensation. Mother called back, they needed ANOTHER copy of my pasport!!! Again we take a copy we fax it. We also faxed an angry letter to them, believe me I was really agitated. Mother called 1 day after to know if they had received the faxes. The awnser was YES, and we were told to expect the compensation (again) by the newyear or just after newyear.

We waited. and waited. 2 weeks after newyear still no news. Mother called again. oh yes, they needed another copy of my pasport. How cool is that?! I've never made so many copies of my pasport in 4 years! Eventually we got 2 letters from Spain Iberia. A lettre to let us know that we are not going to be compensated for the stolen goods. And a second one to inform us that we get 147 euro out of the 1092 euro (218 out of the 1617 dollars) that was promised us.

It is simply discusting how they postpone it so that eventually they don't have to pay you. They just kept us holding and holding and holding. I will never ever travel with Iberia again! They absolutely don't have customer care service and no luggage service. I have never been put ashamed like that! And I never will again. I will discourage people travelling with Iberia.

Robert of Celbridge OTHER (02/21/08)
Having successfully made an online purchase of a ticket (Madrid to Sao Paulo Guarulhos, Sao Paulo Guarulhos to Madrid), have seen the value of said ticket extracted from my VISA account, and with printed copy of email confirmation in my person, I approached check-in desk but was informed that presentation of passport together with printed email confirmation of the purchase would not entitle me to board the flight without the presentation of the credit card with which the purchase was made. I was then referred to the customer information desk where I was told that I would not receive any compensation for the purchase of the flight which I had been due to take, but would have to forego it. In my experience of flying with other airlines, the requirement of presenting a credit card at check-in has never been stated! I was then told that if I wished to reserve a ticket on the same flight, I would have to purchase the issue of a new ticket for an available seat; that is, I would have to pay again!

Not carrying my VISA card on me, and not in possession of any chequebook, I would be thus obliged to make such a transaction in cash. Given that no ATM machine in the vicinity was equipped to dispense to me the 720-odd euros of cash in transactions over the duration of one day, I was unable to make this new purchase in time for my desired flight. I would thus have to purchase a ticket for the next departing flight for my destination. Besides the inconvenience and loss of time incurred (I eventually managed to purchase a ticket for the same scheduled time but on the following day), my overriding grievance is that 720 euros were transferred from my bank account to the airline for a service which was never provided. In ethical terms, this is tantamount to embezzlement! As for the legality of this policy, I would like Iberia to explain on what lawful grounds they are still retaining my money.

Dr of Phoenix AZ (02/18/08)
In June 2007 I bought 2 tickets Marrakech-Madrid and Madrid-Lisboa for my wife and me through Iberia, by Internet in Canada, and paid with my visa card. Everything was fine and I got a reservation confirmation dated Wed, 6 June 2007, at 10:45. The departure date for both flights is Aug 21/2007 and the total sum was 5814 MAD ( in Moroccan currency). No other instruction was given. Since for all airlines we know, the electronic ticket is practically reduced to the reservation number, and the ticket purchasing process is successfully completed once your credit card is accepted, we believed in good faith that our purchase was in good order, and that our seats would be waiting for us.

About a week before departure date, I emailed to the address that sent me my flights details, to confirm our intention of flying, but had no reply. In fact, it was very surprising that there is no answer at all and on the site : www.iberia.com, there is absolutely no space to write to the airline, contrary to what Iberia claims. When we showed up at the Iberia counter at Marrakech airport on August 21, and showed the paper copy of our flight confirmation, we were told that that reservation was canceled and these seats were no more available. No reason was given why, and naturally we were completely unaware of it. Since the representative from Iberia/Royal Air Maroc refused to consider our case, and because I had to be present at the International Statistical Institute Meeting in Lisboa to deliver my lecture the following day, we were then forced to buy 2 other tickets at the nearby counter handled by Royal Air Maroc, at the total price of 18330 MAD, i.e. more than 3 times the price we paid in June. Then we were allowed to board the same flights that we should be entitled to at the start.

On the first flight, there were at least 9 vacant seats that could have accommodated us, and similarly, for the second flight. I just do not understand why this was not done by the Iberia supervisor in charge. Upon landing in Madrid we have immediately filed a complain at Iberia office at the airport. We bought the tickets in good faith, and never suspected, at any time, that Iberia could cancel our seats, after accepting payment from my credit card, and issuing us 2 reserved seats for each flight. Is it a scam to force unsuspecting passengers to disburse much more for their seats? This incident could have been the result of an unwanted failure somewhere in Iberias Internet booking system. But, in any case, we feel strongly that we are innocent victims of Iberia, and wish to have the sum of 18330 MAD minus 5814 = 12 516 MAD refunded to us.

We had to disburse $1760 US more for these two tickets, beside the anguish caused to us at the Marrakech airport

Edwin of Hendrik Ido Ambacht OTHER (02/17/08)
For three days I have been trying to contact the Iberia passenger desk at Juan Santa Maria airport without any success. Phones were ringing (not busy) so should have been answered properly. Instead, no one responded to my calls for urgent change of flight schedule from Madrid to Amsterdam. Please note that I am very much upset off with their service and will inform friends and relations about their way of service. Hope they will be able to improve.

Now I have to wait for nearly 5 hours for my connection to Amsterdam. What a waste of time which could have been solved easily.

James of Sao Paulo OTHER (02/10/08)
On the 3rd of Feb. 2008, I traveled on Iberia airlines flight 3735 from Cairo to Madrid. I boarded the plane and found that all the overhead compartments were full, as passengers had been allowed to carry excess carry on luggage. Consequently my carry on luggage was put on a vacant seat.

On arriving in Madrid, I found my bag on the floor. Thinking nothing of it I disembarked from the plane. On arriving at my final destination in Brazil, I found my camera had been broken when I went to download the pictures a few days later. I believe it was Iberia's incompetence in not making people check in excess carry on luggage that caused my camera to be broken when it fell off the chair, and I believe they are responsible for the damage. However I have travel insurance with Cover More, and I was informed by my travel agent that I need to get a statement from Iberia airlines in order to make a claim. Thank you for your assistance.

Debi of Jerusalem OTHER (02/04/08)
On the 3rd of October, I purchased 6 tickets with IBERIA, from Tel Aviv to Marrakech, via Barcelona, leaving Tel Aviv on the afternoon of the 7th November 2007, and leaving Marrakech in the evening of the 12th November. After having received confirmation of our flights, and having received the actual tickets, Iberia changed all 4 of our flights (2 in each direction), claiming that the flights between Barcelona and Marrakech were canceled. This claim was completely untrue; all of the so called canceled flights did in fact exist. In addition to this, in both directions, the changes that Iberia made to our tickets were not in the system, so we did not appear in the passenger manifest on the original flights or changed flights. Because of this, Iberia changed our flights again. Each time the local representative called me, by the end she was cross with me and put the phone down in my face.

We chose to fly with Iberia (and not with El-Al and Royal Air Maroc at a cheaper price) specifically because the flight times enabled us to work on the day of departure, and enabled us a full day in Marrakech before flying home. The changes made by Iberia meant that both of these requirements were not met.

Due to these unnecessary changes: We wasted 11 hours (from 12:00-23:00) in Barcelona airport on the outward journey, and eventually we were put on the so-called canceled flight from Barcelona to Marrakech! We wasted more than 7 hours in airports and transit (from 17:00-00:30) because Iberia re-routed us through Madrid instead of through Barcelona. On the return journey they wouldn't allow us to use the lounge, even though I am a One World / BA Gold card holder. They would only let me use the lounge with 1 guest. Six people each lost a day of work on the 7th of November (had to leave Tel Aviv at 08:15 instead of at 16:40); 6 people each lost a day of vacation on the 12th of November (had to leave Marrakech at 14:10 instead of 19:10). Four of the travelers did not have a Kosher meal from Madrid to Tel Aviv, even though it had been booked weeks in advance We had the aggravation of nearly being stranded in 3 foreign airports. We were held to one side, like criminals, for over an hour, in Marrakech airport. We had to search for ground staff to help us continue our travel. Our vacation was completely ruined by the changes made by Iberia. I also faxed my complaint to Iberia head office, customer complaints (after it took me hours to find their fax number). Since my letter, I received a letter from Iberia in Israel saying they have forwarded my complaint to head office, who will contact me in due course. No one has contacted me since then.

Joanna of Rahway NJ (01/09/08)
June 2007: Booked Christmas Flights to visit my family in Spain. November 2007: Receive an e-mailed itinerary changing my outbound flight without changing the connecting flight, and canceling my Jan. 1 flight back to the States.  On November 5-7: After being told all Jan. 1 flights were canceled (a lie--Iberia was selling our flight for $1300 instead of the $1400 that we paid). We were grudgingly given a return flight on 30th Dec and a 9-hour lay- over on our flight out. This was instead of a refund that would have prevented us from being able to buy Christmas flights so close to Christmas at a price we could afford. On Dec 21: The flight was delayed for 12 hours, and I spent two nights in an American and Spanish hotel before I could be flown to my destination.

Dec 24: Finally arrive at our destination minus our luggage. Dec 25: Luggage arrives. Dec 30: Get our flights home without a hitch. Result: Five whole days with my family (one day with my sister) who I hadn't seen in one and a half years. Our original trip would have given me 11 days. I will never book or waste my money on Iberia again. The customer service was very rude and put the phone down. The customer really isn't valued. Unfortunately for Iberia, my parents who live in Spain won't be flying with them either, as well as all the people we share our story with.

Our trip was cut by six days that I would have spent with my family.

Francis of Hoboken NJ (01/04/08)
We took IB3703 from Casablanca to Madrid, with a connecting flight (IB2606) from Madrid to Barcelona. Flight 3703 was almost 90 minutes late and barely made the connecting flight. The luggage never arrived in Barcelona. It's been 4 days and the customer service people have been hopeless. It is difficult to get through, and they do not provide much information once connected. The flights themselves were cramped (worse than any plane I have ever flown on), they charged for all food and drink (including water), and have been singularly unhelpful in retrieving the lost luggage.

Lost a week's worth of clothing, keys to my apartment, office, and car.

Beth of Key West FL (11/08/07)
My ederly parents traveled with a group of friends to Spain. My Mother booked the trip to celebrate her All Clear sign from her year long battle with cancer. Unfortunately, a couple of months before the trip she was informed the colon cancer had come back. Her doctor advised that if she felt okay she could go ahead and go on her trip scheduled for Sept 7th.

My Stepfather who is 75 and my Mother who is 67, decided to go ahead with the trip. When the plane took off from Miami four hours into the flight my Mom started to get sick. They called for bags from the flight attendant and asked for water. She yelled at my Stepfather to Sit Down, and he tried to beg her not to make a scene, and pleaded please my wife needs help she didnt want to vomit all over the plane. She would not even let him speak and when he switched to Spanish she threatened to call the air marshalls on him.

Some nice passengers grabbed a bag for him but the stewardess was flat out rude she never came to ask if my Mom was okay or anything. They never did get the water. The passengers on the flight teamed together to help my Mom. And they were outraged and were asking the stewardess to please give this woman food and water and she ignored them. Its hard enough to be sick in front of people but to be treated with such a lack of respect is indecent!!!

They ended up leaving Spain on Sept 12th. They used Frequent flyer miles to get back home on American Airlines. Iberia has charged them over $2,000 dollars for flights not used. We were given customer service numbers to call and they hang up on us!!! They play a game of sorry cant hear you, hanging up now.

Feb of Edmonds WA (10/19/07)
My daughter and I flew Iberia from Chicago through Dublin to Malaga, Spain on 9/30, returning to Chicago through Madrid on 10/9. What a complete nightmare.

My daughters luggage never arrived in Spain - they claimed American Airlines didn't transfer it to them in Chicago. AA claims they did, and that they can track the bag to Iberia in Dublin (Iberian can't track the bag at all). When I went to the lost luggage in Malaga, Spain - they feigned that they didn't speak English or Spanish (They were not happy to discover I speak both) they told me they couldn't help me and that I'd need to file a report on the luggage contents, which I did.

They said we had an allowance of $225 while in Spain to buy clothing to replace her lost luggage (give me a break, the 5 pairs of jeans in her suitcase cost more then that, not to mention the other contents). Well, when I got back to the airport for my return trip, they said I couldn't be reimbursed there, that I would need to wait for Iberia to contact me for receipts to be reimbursed. Well, we're home now for 4 days, and guess what??? Still haven't heard from Iberia. I tried to call them. Wow, what a joke. Got nowhere.

So, I called AA to see if they could help me - got a rude woman on the phone who says that because AA was not the flight that got me to my final destination - they are not responsible for my luggage and that I cannot file a claim with them. Note that when I checked my luggage all the way through from Seattle to Malaga - it was with AA!! I asked her how they could say they are not responsible for my luggage since they checked it all the way through - she hung up on me. Still getting no where with them. I'm on the verge of filing suit against both airlines and see who the courts believe is responsible. $250 doesn't even begin to compensate me for the lost luggage let alone the incredibly bad experience I've had.

Add insult to injury, the flight crew was horribly rude, their translations into English on the flight were so disgustingly slaughtered that I had to interpret for everyone around me (maybe they should pay me for my professional time as well), the food on the flight was not eatable, the plane was filthy, the dropdown screens for the inflight movie didn't drop down uniformly so we were required to crane our necks in odd directions to see a screen further up and to the right - and then.........the movie is Die Hard 2 - hardly appropriate for the children on the flight - and because it was being shown on the main screens and not on individual movie players, there was no way for me to not expose my child to the movie.

All in all, it was the worst travel experience I've had. Bear in mind I travel for work about 30 weeks out of the year - and never have I had an experience like this before. I will do my absolute best to not travel with Iberia again.

My daughter is out about $500 in clothing, misc and I am out an additional $250 for replacment clothing which of course we've never been reimbursed for.

Tracy of Berkeley CA (10/19/07)
On July 5, my husband flew from San Francisco to London on British Airways, and then transferred to Iberia from London to Barcelona. His luggage did not arrive in Barcelona. We called every day and sometimes more than once a day in Barcelona and spoke with one unsympathetic employee after the next with no news about the bag. We were told to save receipts for replacement items and clothes we were forced to purchase in Barcelona, which we did. We spent precious time during our week in Barcelona dealing with this huge inconvenience.

Upon returning home, I continued to call the lost luggage center but still no news of the bag. Finally I was told to write a letter with the bag description and itemized contents, receipts for replacement items, copies of the lost luggage paperwork, boarding passes, luggage claim, passport etc which I did sent to the Madrid headquarters August 27.

To date we have heard nothing from Iberia. When I try to call the lost luggage center now, I am placed on hold for 3 minutes listening to hideous music and then the system disconnects. I've called the reservation line trying to find alternate means of contacting these people, but they are entirely unsympathetic and say I must keep trying and that when they try to call the number they are able to get through.

The alternate number I was finally given for the Madrid was of no help and they referred me back to the lost luggage center I cannot get through to. The whole system seems to be impentrable. I have never encountered such inconvenience, stress, frustration and been met with such utter contempt by airline employees. We will never fly this airline again, and I would appreciate any tips for other ways I might contact the necessary representative of this company in order to be properly reimbursed for this entire ordeal.

Chris Harding of Bentleigh, Victoria, Australia (10/11/07)
Flight IB 6801 from Madrid to Rio the crew served food 1.5 to 2 hours into flight approx 2.00pm , the next food was served 5.5 hours later with nothing in between.You had to go and ask for a drink or biscuit! The crew were more interested in looking after an Iberian employee that was flying as a passenger. He had preferential service and the stewardess talked to him for a main part of the trip, I hope never to fly with Iberia again an will attempt to avoid this in all circumstances.

I went to the crew and explained my wife was a daibetic an needed to take her insulin with food and how soon woul it be available, it came about 70 minutes before landing. We i prepare an have our own food but not for 5.5 hours!

Ali of Spring Hill FL (10/11/07)
My wife wanted to bring her 2 sons and her brother to Costa Rica ...The Costa Rican Immigration Department gave them all visa.s I purchased tickets from Iberia Airlines I ask them about the new visa issuance from Costa Rica and showed them the document allowing them to enter Costa Rica ...

They are Georgian Citizens so they traveled 35 hours from Georgia to Istanbul turkey by way of bus went to the airport and went to go check in ...well 1 lady she would not give her name did not allow my family to board the plane we made phone calls in fact the ticket agency was also there at the airport he went to the counter and explained that he showed Iberia airlines the visa document 1 month before ,they told him to have the passengers come on the day of the departure.

Well I also called the toll free number for Iberia airlines and spoke to a supervisor in Miami ,yes I do have his name and I did a 3 way call ....they hung up the phone in our face,would not speak with us at all... It did not help they my family members either lost what little money they had or was pick pocketed at the airport,so the travel agency gave them money to return to their Hotel in Istanbul.

My Travel agent went to Air France counter and showed them the visa document and Air France told him ,yes they can Board the plane with that document however the next flight ??? 1 week later.

Now I must run to the local Western Union office and wire them money, To top this whole ordeal off they kept 20% of $4260 that was my penalty for doing business with their airline.I have tried all day to get some answers however all I get is a { i,m sorry Sir } make a complaint sure only via e-mail ,cannot speak to anyone live ,forget about it

The lady at the Iberia Airlines counter to add insult to injury took pictures of their passports and the visa document as well and smiled and said ...don't call us we,ll call you,and did not even take the hotel,s number.

So after 35 hours by bus and 1 night at the hotel my family gets penalized $800 and sent back to their hotel.And yes they have a Visa for Costa Rica, their Passports and other official documents but was still turned away.

Bob of New York NY (10/09/07)
After traveling from Ibiza Spain to Barcleona on August 29; I realized my luggage did not make the trip with me. I had tried to avoid checking my bag in Ibiza b/c I had heard stories about Iberia and their terrible customer service and lost/stolen luggage. Sure enough that is what happened to me. I had to spend the rest of my vacation in Barcelona w one pair of shorts and flip flops because of Iberia's complete incompetence and subsequent terrible customer service in find my bag.

I am convinced as other ppl hve suggested that Iberia has a major problem with employees stealing luggage as I had close to $2500 US worth of clothes, shoes etc in my garment bag. I was forced to call a hotline for the nxt 3 days while in Barcelona which no one answered. Finally when i returned to the US I also had to call the hotline # where they told me i would hve to wait 30 days before they would consider reimbursing me for my lost luggage. Suffice to say it is now 10/9/07 and I still don't have my luggage.

I will take the person's advice on one blog that i read and simply take Iberia to small claims court as I do not get any feedback and I get different answers every time i am able to get someone on the phone. This seems to be their MO. Frustrate customers until they get tired of following up and hope they will go away.

Close to $2500 worth of clothes lost/stolen. Major inconvenience/stress associated with whole sitation.

Beth Gordon of Portland OR (10/09/07)
6/07 trip on Iberia Airlines. Lost luggage, took 3 days to be received I was leaving the next day. Per CSR at Iberia at the airport in Madrid, I was told to buy clothes/cosmetics, etc., and I would be reimbursed. I sent receipts per their instructions ($150 US) and here we are 4 months later and I have never heard back from Iberia. Per Post Office tracking, the packet with my receipts was received at the Iberia office 7/12/07. Their phone system disconnects after 3 minutes and their website does not allow for a complaint. I realize I may never see the $150. As an Executive Platinum flyer on AA, I can honestly say Iberia is the worst airline I have ever flown.

Joanna Jamszolik of Blaszki (10/09/07)
On October 6, 2007, I flew on Iberia Airlines from Tenerife to Munich (thru Gran Canaria and Madrid). Unfortunately, my luggage did not. It is now four days later. They promised to delivery my luggage to my home but today I had call from airport in Lodz (it is town located 100 km from my home) and they said that I have to go there and receive my luggage.

I do not have my luggage from four days, I do not have my stuff and I have to go 100 km to get it back.

Donny of Rochester MN (10/05/07)
After reading all of these complaints against Iberia Airlines (which I wish I would have found before my Sep., 2007 trip to Barcelona, Spain, I would have cancelled my itinerary. What happened to all of these people is now happening to me. The airlines lost my large bag and also my wife's when we were en route to my best friend's wedding. My wife's bag showed up 3 days late in Barcelona, and it had been plundered like and stolen from - jewelry, clothing, cosmetics. About 60 percent of her stuff made it.

My bag, well, that never showed for our entire 8-day stay, and now it's going on 11 days (we're back home in Minnesota), and I'm having no luck contacting Iberia. I'm hoping my travel agency AAA can help me. Iberia Airlines appears to be more of an illegal thieving operation than a legitimate international airlines.

Stephen of Blacksburg VA (08/12/07)
My checked bag was lost July 5 '07 on a flight from Madrid to Washington Dulles. The baggage manager at Dulles was helpful, filled out an incident report and gave us his phone number (with some digits wrong, though). The PIR was never entered in the tracing system. The phone connections to the Iberia Service Center are so bad I can barely understand them. After a week, I got a fax number in Madrid to send pictures of the bag, but follow-up calls revealed it would take several weeks to process the fax!!?!

The web site doesn't let me make a claim (the menu option to make a claim leads to the make a complaint form) or give me an e-mail or FAX number. Every time someone from Iberia gives me a number, digits get reversed or mixed up, so I'm not even sure the PIR number is correct. I'm ready to take these guys to small claims court, since I don't think they'll let me know what their own process for filing a claim is.

We have receipts for a few hundred dollars' worth of contents. Also in the bag are some irreplaceable items of no value to anyone else - undeveloped film and a certificate for walking the Santiago Pilgrimage route.

Kenny of Hollywood FL (08/09/07)
On August 7, 2007, my daughter flew on Iberia Airlines from Barcelona to New York (thru Madrid). Unfortunately, her luggage did not. Upon arrival in New York she filed a lost luggage claim. It is now two days later and we have heard nothing. No one answers the phone in their baggage claim office and their on-line lost luggage claim look-up only says no information available.

Stephanie of Cape Coral FL (08/08/07)
My daughter and I went on a Norweign Cruise to Spain, italy and France. Iberia airlines was the carrier. We boarded the plane in Barcelona to return to the USA (thank god) and our luggage was not put on the same flight. A representitive of Iberia met us in the baggage claim at Miami International Airport, and told us the bags would be on the plane the next day from Barcelona. The bags did arrive in Miami however, I am still waiting on the bags to be delivered.

During the flight the attendents were very rude, and unprofessional to say the least! My daughter, and I were discriminated against because we are Americans. Iberia served lunch, and I requested a different entree and was told NO. When I complained things went from bad to worse, and the manager told me I had an attitude problem. I was not given food for the entire 8 1/2 hour flight. The restrooms were filthy and there was no hand soap to wash our hands.

Claire Howard of St Paul De Fenouillet, France (07/28/07)
During flight IB6403 from MAD-MEX on 14th July 2007, my companion and I sat in seats 7A and 7C. The seats would not recline and so we had to endure a 12 hour flight in the upright position, therefore losing out on sleep and arriving very tired to work in Mexico City. Although the steward tried to help he was unable to accommodate us. We filled out complaint forms and have heard nothing.

I also mentioned the complaint on my return flight IB6400 on 25th July 2007, but no-one was interested and again I have heard nothing. I am very disappointed in the customer services of Iberia Airlines.

My colleague also travelled back on 26th July and during which flight the IFE system broke down. Both of us would expect some kind of compensation from Iberia in order to encourage us to use the airline again.

Julie  of Wilmette IL (01/27/07)
I traveled to Madrid, Spain in November, 2006 to visit my son who was studying there. I flew on Iberia Airlines. I was to return to Chicago on Dec. 1. The night before I was to return, my son and his friends were brutally attacked by a gang of violent thieves in the Puerta del Sol. My son spent the night in a Spanish emergency room. His two most serious injuries were a concussion and a broken jaw. Doctor's orders were 24-48 hours bedrest for the concussion. My son returned to our hotel 2 hours before we were to leave for the airport.

Knowing that he couldn't travel, I called Iberia to switch our flights for the next day, or the day after. I was told by the reservationist that I would need to purchase a new one-way ticket to Chicago. Absolutely no changes were allowed on the ticket I already had - regardless that this was a medical emergency. I had never heard of an airline that doesn't make concessions for medical emergencies with documentation, but Iberia makes no allowances. The reservationist's supervisor confirmed that I would need to purchase a new ticket for about $700. I offered to send them the emergency room report and the doctors orders, but my pleas fell on deaf ears. To say they were cold and indifferent is an understatement. There was nothing I could do so I purchased the new ticket.

When I returned home, I wrote the Customer Relations Unit. I explained what had happened in detail. I sent copies of my original plane ticket, my newly purchased one-way ticket, the emergency room report, and the doctor's orders. I begged them to refund my one-way ticket. That was nearly 2 months ago. After reading the numerous complaints about Iberia, I have no hope of being reimbursed, or to even get a response from this rude and horrible airline.

Mauricio of Rome Italy (10/01/06)
I made a reservation on Friday, January 13 by telephone with reservations agent Alessandra (who said she works in the Iberia Madrid office). We called to enquire about a fare of 647 Euro plus taxes to travel from Rome to Medellin, Colombia from October 19 to November 19. The agent confirmed this rate and gave us 24 hours to decide before purchasing the tickets. We called again the next day, Saturday January 14 and asked to go ahead and purchase the tickets (2 adults at 813 each and one infant at 88 Euro for a total of 1,714 Euro). Our tickets arrived on January 18 and the amount we were charged for these tickets IS NOT the amount we were promised by telephone.

The tickets we received cost 943 Euro x 2 adults and 92 Euro for one infant for a total of 1979 Euro. This is 264 Euro more than we had agreed to purchase the tickets. We called Iberia offices in Italy and Spain at least 8 times and explained the problem. The agents have repeatedly refused to help us and promised that we would be called back by someone who would help us. No one has called us back and we have wasted countless hours calling, holding, and being ignored by Iberia employees. We have never been treated so callously by any other airline, and frankly we are shocked at how little attention Iberia has paid to our situation.

Once we finally gave up hope for a reimbursement, we decided to tackle the next issue. We are traveling with a newborn and wanted to ask for a bulkhead seat so we can use the infant seat. Sure enough, this can't be done by phone, and no one can help us except at the airport, where we will certainly encounter another rude employee who can't help us either. I am so disgusted.

Jesus Fort Worth TX (06/10/06)
I arrived in MIami on January 5, 2006 and I couldn't get on my next flight to Dallas with AA due to 90 minute delay coming to Miami with Iberia. When I went to customer service in Iberia to see what they could do or arrange, they all were gone until the next day. Funny, though that there is no one of Iberia 60 minutes after the flight is supposed to arrive. So if the flight is late for 90 minutes and it takes 60 minutes to go thru customs and you happen to miss your flight, you are on your own. After the complaint, Iberia sent me a letter stating that they have warned the ticket issuing company of regular delays in Immigration and that they should have put me in a later flight. What a lousy excuse.

Deanna of New York NY (04/14/06)
5 days without my bags in Barcelona: I arrived at BCN on April 1 with my partner. The board indicated that we should go to baggage claim C, but we couldn't find because it didn't exist. So, we went to the Iberia lost baggage counter to find ALL of our fellow passengers. There, we heard that our luggage never made it onto the flight because of "belts not working" at the Madrid airport (our connecting stop).

We completed a claim form and when asked for a phone number that they could contact me at to schedule delivery of my baggage, I attempted to give them my international cell phone number. They said they would not call long distance and it had to be local. Even though they lost my luggage, they wouldn't make the call. Since i was renting an apartment (not going to a hotel), I called to ask for the apartment rental contact person's cell number. Then, we were told to call the number on the claim form to check on the status of the baggage, however only twice in five days did I actually reach someone after numerous calls.

On the fifth day, I was at the airport where I missed a flight to Mallorca on Iberia (see below), so I went to baggage claim to look for my luggage myself. There, the agent told me that the belts in MAD had not been working for a week and all of those bags were backed up and being randomly shipped to BCN. They were not logged before being shipped from MAD, but rather just shipped in bulk to BCN where they were being checked by hand at Iberia's warehouse to be matched with their missing person via a claim form.

They still had no record of my bags and sent me across the street to the warehouse in case they had arrived and not been logged. There, a woman told me to go look for my bags myself in the storage room. I found them! On my way out the woman took a portion of my claim ticket and threw it on the table. They didn't even check the tags to confirm that I picked the right luggage up. Additionally, everyone I spoke to at baggage claim and on the phone were very flip about the entire situation. It was like customer service didn't exist at all at Iberia. I will never fly them again.

Over 100 euro in international cell phone calls (I had no phone in the apartment I was renting) and about $300 in clothing and necessity expenses. More importantly, I lost 5 days of vacation time due to having to stay close to the neighborhood waiting for arrival of bags, since I had to be available for whenever the delivery person would arrive. Since I rented an apartment, I didn't have the luxury of a concierge to receive packages. I was so stressed over the constant waiting that on the 5th day I was delirious and missed a morning day-trip flight to Mallorca on Iberia (arrived 15-20 minutes prior to departure and wasn't allowed to check in, even though I had no bags to check). They wouldn't let me standby for next flight, but instead asked me to pay an additional 180-440 euro for each person (2) depending on which next departure time I would choose. We didn't incur the additional expense and sacrificed the 145euro paid for the original tickets.

Chan of Hong Kong (04/10/06)
A first hand experience with Iberia Airline IBERIA is the worst airline in handling luggage. The recent survey of it having the highest baggage lost in comparison with all the European airlines tells the truth. I have lost my baggage two times in six weeks traveling between Cuba, Madrid and Hong Kong with Iberia. Besides the fact that it was incompetent in handling baggage, it has the worst communication capacity between its clients and the company.

An obvious case is the fact that they have a representative in the Havana airport to look after the arrival flights but they would not let you have his telephone number in case you want immediate assistance or follow up support. Of course in this way, you are not able to demand door to door delivery service after the bag is found. In my case, because of their lack of communication capacity or to be honest they do not care to communicate with their clients when they need emergency support from the airline, I was not able to get back my luggage after almost four weeks of it being lost.

Robin of Naples FL (04/06/06)
Flight from Madrid to Miami 4/3 flight#6123 was abruptly changed to 6523 Madrid to San Juan. Our entire flight was abandoned in San Juan at 3:30pm was not given a hotel room until 1:30am and then had to return to the airport by 7am for an American Airlines flight to Miami. Our luggage was lost and has not been found.

We had our most valuable collection of clothes, souviners, camera and more in this extra large piece of luggage that will never be recovered. Everyone at Iberia was rude and not helpful. They treated all of us very badly on the flight where they dumped us in San Juan. The entire group of 200+ passengers have equal complaints. I got sick and they were less than helpful. I have had to return to work without any of my business clothes or shoes. I have no money to shop with.  I was not the only one mistreated and had luggage stolen or lost.

Nicole of San Rafael CA (04/06/06)
On March 27, 2006, I flew Iberia (flight 6252) to Madrid. My baggage didn't show up for 4 days. I had to buy new clothes while waiting for my luggage. I have been trying to reach Iberia to ascertain their "mishandled luggage" policy for a week, and have not been able to reach anyone who can give me any information regarding compensation for lost/late luggage. Their "lost luggage" phone number is a dead line and cuts me off. Their customer service department says they can't provide me with any information.

Aside from the inconvenience and general annoyance, I incurred over $100.00 charges in new clothes and phone calls made to Iberia from my hotels in Madrid trying to resolve this issue. Since I returned to the states, I have wasted 2 full days trying to contact someone at their above phone number to no avail.

David of Glencoe IL (03/05/06)
1. Flight 6274 arrived late. Ground staff took 20 minutes to Open Gate (first day at Terminal 4 is not an excuse for basics)
2. No one waited to assist in reaching connecting flight. IB 6999 to RLV arrived 5 before departure.
3. I was nor allowed to board because I was not at gate 20 minutes to departure (IB staff wants to be accommodated by customer due to new terminal, IB staff forgets to accommodate customers
4. I am denied boarding and take El-Al instead. 6 hours delay and not a single phone to call Israel and alert business partners
5. The fact that I am Emerald on the One alliance and travel 200,000 miles per year means nothing
6. Arrived to Israel with El Al with No Luggage. It too one week for it to arrive in Israel. By the time it got to Israel I was in Chicago
7. IB flight 7510 departs an hour late. Suddenly we find out that both WC in Economy are broken (I understand one but 2?) the flight is one long line of people waiting for the Business Class WC
8. Despite late arrival I run to make the IB6275 I arrive 5 minutes before departure but again I am told that I should have been there 20 minutes before (this type of policy I had never seen in my life)
9. After a fight with customer service they send me to Chicago via BA and AA The agent takes 35 minutes to issue the new ticket as most printer don't work
10. I fly to LHR - at a gate an AA agent waits for me and 3 other passenger heading to ORD. He drives us through the airport from T4 to T3 and our flight!

Gal of Tel Aviv Israel (10/10/05)
Our family organized a business and pleasure trip to Equador. We were a group of 8 and we aquired 6 economy class tickets and 2 business class tickets. Altogether we spent about 15,000 USD on the tickets. Flying with Iberia was a nightmare. On the way back, when we got to the Airport in Quito we were told that our flight to Barcelona stops both in Guayaquil and in Madrid before reaching final destination. In Madrid airport we had no boarding information on the ticket that was issued in Quito and we were not given a new boarding card.

We were told orally that the boarding is at 16:00 and the flight leaves at 16:30. When I got to the gate at 16:00 the boarding was already finished and I was not allowed to board the plane. Although the plane did not leave and that 6 other passengers were also in the same situation. My family who did not want to board the plane without me was told that I’m taken care of and I’ll be on the next plane, with that assurance they agreed to board the plane. That was a lie because Iberia made no effort to assist me or to get me on the next flight. There was no announcement for me or about the flight because apparently Madrid is a 'quiet' airport.

When I got to the information desk I was given a ticket to a flight leaving from another terminal 1.5 hours later. I asked to call my family but refused by all Iberia representatives, my mobile was in my luggage and I had no way to call. I’m sure that with a little effort Iberia could have put me on the next flight that left the same terminal half an hour later – at 17:00 but it seems effort was the last thing Iberia staff were interested in providing.

The ticket I received was not a boarding ticket and after great difficulties I got to the right terminal and had to check in again. At any given point there was a huge queue for information and the directions I was given were never sufficient, usually it concluded in a node and a hand showing some direction. When my family has landed in Barcelona they tryed to receive information on my whereabouts from Iberia representative but they couldn’t get any information about me – they were told that it will be a breach of my privacy to tell them on which flight a member of their group is! So they had no information on which flight I might arrive or if I’m alive at all for that matter.

Of course I was all the time assured by other Iberia staff that my family is informed about my position, Another Iberia lie. As I got to Barcelona I landed in a different terminal than my family, I couldn’t find my family or my luggage, I had to go through security to the carousel to search for my luggage, since no one was kind enough to escort me I had to explain my case to the Spanish police in order to get through the boarding gate. By mistake I arrived at the carousel for Terminal A instead of Terminal B and I had to do this trip twice.

The lady in lost luggage in Terminal A refused to call her colleague in Terminal B to inquire about a lost suitcase arriving from Quito, so I had to go there myself. At several points Iberia representatives were telling me that it is not their fault that I missed my flight and that I’m giving them a headache, Sorry but,I am the customer in this case, and me and others like me are paying their salaries I presume? 6 hours later than expected I reunited with my family in the Hotel. I can assure you that after this nightmare of inefficiency and lies none of us will fly Iberia again. I cannot not recommend Iberia to any of my friends either.

Piedade of Patterson NY (08/17/05)
My group's flight started off in Lisbon Portugal on August 11, 2005. They flew from Lisbon and got into Madrid late, Madrid airport is very big and confusing, when Maria, who is a senior citizen along with Jason and Nicholas, who are children, arrived at their gate to go to their final destination at JFK in New York, they were 5 minutes late Only to find out that Iberia had already placed 9 people, who were on the waiting list, in their seats.

They then were told to go and speak to the red jacket people and were placed on the waiting list for August 12th on the 1 pm flight and on the 4pm flight. They were not offered a hotel, nor dinner nor anything and ended up sleeping the night at the Madrid Airport. August 12 came along and they were not accepted on the 1pm flight or on the 4 pm flight. I was here in the United States, I called the American Embassy, I called Iberia in Spain, I called Iberia in Miami, I called Iberia in New York  -- no one could help me.

The stange part is that Iberia sent all of the nine passenger's baggage on the 11th of August.

To make a long story short, I had to purchase 3 tickets back to Portugal, and 3 additional tickets to the United States. I had to lay out $3500.00 just to get my family here in a timely manner. This was our first time traveling on Iberia and our last. I would like to speak to Mr. Fernando Conte García and ask him if this is how he takes care of his customers.

Keith of Dublin, Ireland (12/21/04)
Flight from Santiago, Chile, to Madrid, Spain on September 15 2004 was delayed a number of times until the airline (IBERIA) finally conceded that it was cancelled, after all passangers had been processed through check-in, imigration and security and were waiting at boarding gate. Allegedly a broken windscreen, replacement which had to be flown in from Brazil .  All the passengers were then re-admitted to the country, and bussed to a hotel for 4 hours, for a shower and a "snack" then at 8pm bussed back to the airport, checked in again, (a 2 1/2 hour process) through immigration, security and then left waiting and standing around at the departure gate for 6 hours from 11pm to 5am the next morning, at which time the airline finally admited that the flight would leave at 2pm that day. (the 16th) a 24 hour delay.

The passengers were then re-admitted to the country, and then checked in again (another 2 1/2 hour process) , through immigration and security. The flight finally left at 2pm on the 16th. 24 hours late. During one of the check-in procedures, a few passengers had their flight coupons for connecting flights removed, which meant, in my case, when i arrived for my new connecting flight out of Madrid, that i was told i could not board the flight without a valid flight coupon, although i had a valid boarding pass for that flight. I was harrassed and threatend and told to pay 50 euro for a replacment ticket, or i would not be allowed to board my flight.

Stress, sleep deprivation, uncertainty, harrasment by iberia staff, 2 days work lost (1 day waiting in airport, 1 day to recover sleep) Missed meetings, family disruption and fear. oh and finally, my bag was broken when it arrived in Dublin.

Irma of Mohegan Lake NY (07/31/04)
My flight was scheduled to leave at 12:30 PM on July 19, 2004 the flight was postponed to 5:00 PM and did not leave until 7:00 PM. Then on top of that instead of landing in San Juan Puerto Rico in landed in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic there it was suppose to leave in 40 minutes and it was delayed for 2 hours. I believe I got into San Juan at 1:00 AM. After being in the Madrid Airport at 9:30 AM and arriving at 1:00 AM it makes you wonder whether you should do traveling again.

Aleksandr of Los Angeles CA (04/28/04)
On March 31, 2004 we purchased 5 airline tickets to go to Barcelona, Spain there our tour begin. 1. Iberia's flight 7055 LAX- JFK was delayed for 1 hour and we came to the Iberia check-in at 5.12 PM. Iberia’s officer was told us that they had already closed the registration. We asked her for help, but she told us that they were overbooked. We asked her how is it possible to be overbooked if they know that 5 people were supposed to be on the flight. But she told us that this isn’t her problem.

We had to go around asking for help and finally somebody sent us BACK to American Airlines on which we had come to NY. The AA officer checked the schedule and give us tickets to the DL82 going to Nice, France and from there the IB8776 to Barcelona. Becouse of this situation we lost full day of our vacation and all tours that day.

Then we came to Barcelona, the airline had lost our luggage. We had to stay in the hotel 36 hours without clothing, underwear, etc. 3. We had a tour scheduled for 10 days on a bus. The last day of the tour, April 9th, we had to drive 700 km from Madrid to Barcelona, slept over in a hotel there and in the morning we went to the airport to get on the IB6275 to Chicago this was shown on the confirmation email to be a non-stop flight. But for some reason our plane landed in Madrid and we had to change planes again and to go to Chicago!

This meant that we spent our last day in Spain traveling from Madrid to Barcelona when we could have just stayed in Madrid, take same sightseeing tours and taken the Plane from there. But this was not shown on the conformation email and/or our tickets. Resume: -Trip delay/Missed connection -No help from Iberia staff -Lost luggage (luggage delay) -Itinerary was not the same as the one in the conformation E-mail -We lost 1½ days of our tour driving from Madrid to Barcelona, we spent money on to go on the bus, food and 1 night in the hotel in Barcelona.

Amr of Sukhai, Bahrain (10/13/03)
Words will never be able to express the amount of anger and severe devastation at the service and the treatment that I received from this so-called airline “Iberia” One piece of luggage was lost on my trip from Mexico to Cairo, Egypt via Madrid. I tried to locate it through hundreds of calls to Madrid and in Cairo, but in vain. I had to leave to Kingdom of Bahrain for a two year contract.

This piece of luggage arrived in Bahrain on October 1st. I knew about this by mere chance on October 13th. I haven’t started my complaint yet and to aggravate matters, I don’t know whether to start from the irregularity and inconsistency of plane schedules, changing routes without notifying the passengers, or the awful treatment in the numerous Spanish airports that we had to pass by. I don’t; know if I should start by the number of calls most of which are international ones trying and begging for any ray of hope or piece of information.

Should I calculate the money spent on these calls, or the precious time that I wasted or the pressure and tension that I had to go through because of the awfully exhausting anticipation for my luggage that traveled across half the globe. Eventually the day has come to see my lost items! Hurrah, today is the day to get reunited with my long lost bag! Yes, I received the bag, but not the contents!! More than half the items were stolen… not lost, but stolen!!

It is crystal clear that all the precious items were selected to disappear and the leftovers were there for me…. Now, I am not in Cairo, nor Madrid, nor Mexico. I am in a country that is innocent from all this tragedy, and when I called Iberia office, luggage claim Department, I was asked to make a police report and send it for a compensation. What should I tell the police officer? That my bag was usurped in one place but I need a favor of making me a report here? Now, assuming that I can do this meaningless move and send the police report along with all the other documents, how can I guarantee that nobody will claim that you receive nothing?

I am sorry gentlemen! I will not make any ridiculous reports. I will send only the information about the ticket and luggage claim made in Cairo and I demand a check as soon as possible with the amount of money estimated for the lost/STOLEN items included with this letter. I am not threatening nor am I the type that like to sound like one, but I swear that if I don’t get this compensation and AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, I’ll start taking all legal actions that I am very aware about. My action will not cease at this point. I’ll spend the rest of my life, if I have to,  even if this costs me the last penny that I have! 

Cristina of Union City NJ (07/11/03)
I flew to Spain to spend Christmas with my family, my Continental flight arrived in Madrid at 9am. My connecting flight was scheduled to depart at 12:45. By the time we went through passport check and got to the national terminal at Madrid it was around 11am. By the time someone was "available" to check our bags it was 11:25. We were told that we could not get on the airplane because it was too late. I asked the flight attendant if the bags could go on another flight because I needed to get to Santiago on time since I had no way to contact my family because they were allready waiting at the airport and she said that there was no way to get on the flight. I was told that my only option was to go to the ticket counter and get tickets to the next flight.

So I go to the ticket counter and the next flight is at 4pm (and we are put on a waiting list). I go back to the counter, and I get charged because my luggage is over by 5lbs, so I have to get back on the line for the ticket counter to pay for the excess baggage. Then she went on break so someone else helped us at the counter. I asked the guy that was helping us if he could check how many people were on the waiting list and I was told 3 including us. I also asked him how many people were going to miss the flight due to connecting flight delays and I was told 5. To me that means that I am definitely on the next flight but not to Iberia.

I had applied for my "frequent flier" card but I left it back in the US so the guy told me to just go to the iberia counter and that they would look it up for me. At the counter I was told that he could not find me in the system because my last name was "too common" and that I "picked a bad day to fly". Yeah I guess I was the one that overbooked the flights. It's finally 3:30 and we go to the counter where they are calling the passangers that were on the waiting list and our names were not the ones selected to fly. We are then told to go to the boarding gate and that they will put people in the aircraft as people are missing, by the time the aircraft was full there were still about 45 of us left over.

They told us that no other company was flying to Santiago that day (which we found out later was a lie). We eventually surrounded the customer service counter and they finally got a bigger plane for the 9pm flight but they tried to get us to accept a 8 hour bus ride on streets full of snow and ice instead. To make matters worse they never tried to get our suitcases out of the waiting area I went to make sure that they would be on the plane and I was asked "where did they tell you that they were going to put them", as if I worked there.

When we finally got on the airplane, they welcomed "Mr & Mrs Yamaguchi and family" who missed their connecting flight (with another airline company) and who they decided deserved first class seats. When we reached our final destination, our luggage was the only one there because we actually went to claim it. People that were offered a bus ride to another airport in Galicia found themselves without a bus and without their luggage. I ended up having Christmas Eve Dinner at 1am on Christmas Day and that is something that I will never forgive this airline company for.

Yi of Boca Raton FL (06/28/00)
I took the Iberia flight to Germany at the end of Feb. this year, my luggage was damaged upon arriving Munich. I bought a new one and claim it with Iberia customer relation in the USA as instructed. I faxed all the documents as they instructed and send a email to confirm with them if they received all the things needed, I never got any reply, so I kept on waiting. 1.5 month later I lost the patience and called them again. They claim they did not get my original receipt, I said I sent them email for verification, their reply was: "Why should we told you that?". So I sent the original receipt and another 1 month later finally got the payment.

Jesse of La Habra, CA:
Iberia's web page statement that they have over 24,000 employees dedicated to excellence in customer service" is a lie. On a recent trip to Malaga, Spain, Iberia's employees treated my husband and me rudely and with disdain!

On June 30, 1999 my husband and I embarked on our honeymoon in Malaga. After flying from Los Angeles, CA to Paris, France on American Airlines we were scheduled to connect on July 1 to Iberia Flight 3405 from Orly to Madrid, Spain and then to Iberia Flight 212 from Madrid to Malaga, Spain. (American Airlines provided the code shared Iberia connections)

Our problems began when Iberia Flight 3405 from Orly to Madrid was delayed. Upon arrival in Madrid we had to run to catch our connection to Malaga. When we arrived in Malaga, my husband's luggage did not arrive while mine did, even though we had checked in at the same time.

At the Malaga airport, we were casually informed that my husband's bag would probably be on the next flight. As we were unfamiliar with Malaga, we decided to wait at the airport hoping to retrieve my husband's luggage before checking into the pensi�n at which we had reservations. However, the bag was not on the next flight and in fact did not arrive until 7:30pm the next day.

Since we were traveling on a budget, we had previously made reservations at an inexpensive pensi�n in Malaga. By 2:00am the next morning we were completely exhausted (at this point we had been traveling for over 36 hours) and it was too late to check into the pensi�n as they did not admit travelers after 10:00pm. We then decided to try to find some other place to stay.

Iberia's staff actively declined to offer us any assistance in suggesting a place to stay or to help by at least providing us with a toothbrush (all our toiletries were in my husband's bag). When we specifically asked a member of their staff for help we were told "that it was not his problem and to leave him alone".

The only accommodation we could find at 2:00am was a very expensive hotel. We actually only used the room for a few hours as we returned to the airport at 7:00am because we had been told by another member of Iberia's staff that my husband's bag would arrive on the morning flight.

Of course the bag was not on that flight or on several others that arrived during the day. The bag finally arrived at 7:30pm.

However, because of the uncertainty of when the bag would arrive we could not check out of the hotel we were forced to use the night before. As a result we incurred another very costly night in this hotel. When we finally retrieved my husband's bag, no one apologized or offered any compensation for what we had been through.

Thankfully, we did not have to fly on Iberia again during our honeymoon. Upon returning to the United States at the end of July, the memory of how we were treated by Iberia's staff in Malaga prompted me to write a letter of complaint to Iberia's US Customer Relations Department in Miami, specifically addressed to Mr. Fernando Pollan, Manager.

It has been six weeks since I wrote to Mr. Pollan. To date, I have received no reply. All I was after was an apology. Evidently, Iberia's management shares in the utter lack of concern shown by its employees toward their passengers.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Back to the top | Travel