Iberia

After another tight transfer in Madrid requiring running I arrive in JFK but my bag doesn't. I check my email and have an email from Iberia saying my bag didn't fly with me and will be transferred to JFK asap. After this the following fiasco occurs: I arrive at the baggage office in JFK and see 15-20 other people from my flight also missing bags. (This says a lot - someone screwed up big time.) After a long wait inform the agent that I am driving back to Ohio the next day. She says that is fine and asks for the nearest airport to me and informs me that they will get it to JFK then transfer it on another flight to Cleveland and it will be delivered to me likely within 24 hours. She also stated I will be able to track it online.

2:30 hours later I have no bag and I check the link provided with my case to check my bag and find no updates. I make approximately 10-12 phone calls to Iberia and nobody is able to tell me where the bag is. They say they have to send "internal communications" to the airports involved in the transfer and wait 24 hours for a response. During this entire process I was treated rudely, uncaring, and hung up on 4 times. They also refused to transfer me to a supervisor - first saying they didn't have one then saying it was their policy to not give customers direct access to their supervisor.

During this process all I get is the information of the flights the bag was scheduled to be on but nobody can tell me that an airline. Agent confirmed that the bag made it on the plane and again "you just have to wait until the airports involved get back to us with confirmation." After being fed up with this I decide to drive to the Cleveland airport and speak with the American Airlines baggage desk who is supposed to be receiving the bag. After speaking with the very friendly agent there who at first says he can't find the bag tracked in the system and that I have to keep trying with Iberia. However after hearing my tale of woe continues very professionally to try to help me.

After determining they added an expedite tag number to the bag that was being used to track it all along in their "world tracer" system (why Iberia didn't know this all along is beyond me) he was able to tell me that JFK was late in getting the bag out (not surprising for an airport that big) and that it was boarded on a flight this morning that just landed in Cleveland and would be unloaded onto the baggage claim right outside the baggage office door in about 30 minutes. So 45 minutes later (after profusely thanking the competent, friendly and professional staff the at the AA baggage office) I head home with my suitcase with all the olive oil and vinegar etc intact and ok.

Bottom line this spoiled my experience with Iberia and it will be my first and only flight with them. However it redeemed American Airlines as well after they broke a wheel off of my suitcase a few years back and didn't replace it because they "don't cover wheels and handles." I am ok with that as long as you can keep track of my bag and treat me like a human being. Which they proved they can do both.

Is this some kind of joke. Then why would he ask me to call back. Out of frustration when I said why the hell he asked me to call back, he was giving me etiquette lessons by saying, "see now you are saying what the hell". It's very disappointing how Aniruddh, showed least empathy towards passenger's situation and is simply asking to refund the ticket and offer refund before departure, when pax has actually booked tickets to go to a wedding. First rule of customer service is empathy. Try to put yourself in passenger's shoes and try and understand the situation they are in, because of the airline schedule change. Based on the service received from Iberia agent Anirrudh, I have doubts offering Iberia to our customers in future. Very disappointed.

Well I booked my flight. 121 Euros. Mallorca. Brussels with the usual stop in Barcelona or Madrid. Guess what? The confirmation email came. I was supposed to be in Madrid instead of Mallorca. Because Iberia decided so. Because They have schemed a Crap website where you can enter the data. But oh Sesame the data is miraculously converted in Iberia Currency. So I entered Palma like a thousand times for many years but Iberia website manages to glitch data. I tried to change the flight. No way. The site is a trip to Dante's Inferno. You end up exactly case 0. As I need to be in Brussels in March and best rates are gone, I had to book with the impeccable Norwegian Airlines. With a stop in Danemark. Never was there ever. I took the risk to lose a ticket should I wake up completely depressed. It happens more and more. Europe is turning into a Albanian Macedonian trap.

In total, I will survive. I just know I lost 121 euros because the dishonesty is such you can't cancel the flight but in eDreams. I never booked with eDreams or TripAdvisor. I do go directly to the right place. Iberia is Iberia. Do not fly with these modern Thieves. Do not fly with Vueling. Fly with serious companies. So far, Norwegian and Easyjet never failed me. Air Europa can be ok but do not rely on their crap website. Call them. Buy at airport. I will contact Iberia. If they do not refund me, I will write the most impertinent review ever written. I had enough of the Spanish Pains in the **. Spaniards are the new European Chinese. Same flag. Same frame.

For the next 15 days, I would be making daily phone calls to their helpline. By the way, they only allow you to call the "call centre" but the people here cannot really help you - they don't know what's happening on the ground, neither can they make any decisions regarding your request. I asked them to send my baggage to Cusco where I was - call centre people said "yes, we will leave a message for the airline to do so". But every day I called up the luggage would still be in Lima and the call centre people kept saying "yes we will leave the message...". This went on until my final day when I was in Lima to fly out of Peru and there, I picked up the luggage myself (after a very convoluted process at the airport in itself).

Needless to say, I made a claim to Iberia for delayed baggage compensation. They issued only half the amount of what their policy says I should be entitled to, and despite my question as to why, they informed me that the case was closed without giving any reasons. Now in order for me to make a claim through my travel insurer for the additional expenses I incurred, I would need a letter from Iberia stating simply the date they returned the luggage to me and the final amount they compensated me. But despite me sending several emails to the helpline email address requesting this, they refuse to give me that letter. This effectively prevents me from making a claim to my insurer to cover the costs incurred by me as a result of this airline's **. The worst airline ever who does not give a ** about their customers.

No good for me as I then left Rome to meet my sister in Tuscany - in the clothes I stood up in. On my return to Rome my bag was there. Then on the return flight I was horrified to see that three teenage girls (friends of crew?) had been allowed in the cockpit during the flight. This was reported to the CEO with no action. Again in Madrid the connecting gate was a mile away and again I only just made the flight. NEVER AGAIN - A HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE which soured my reunion with my dear sister.

Of course, the attendant couldn't accompany her into the jetway from the gate to the plane, which was quite a long one. My mother told the Iberia people at the gate she wouldn't be able to walk all the way in holding her walking stick and bag. She had already walked the entire distance (not short even for a non-octogenarian). Once again, one of the attendants volunteered the same as before and (I stress) not an Iberia employee to help her walk into the plane. But at that point, the shift manager I mentioned before went ballistic. She stopped the poor kid, grabbed my mother’s bag, tossed it halfway back up the jetway and screamed that she would prevent mother (who must be all of 5 3, thin, retiring and prone to shaking like a leaf when attacked) from boarding since she endangers the flight.

By now, my mother was in tears and the flight attendant drawn by the noise looked out and took refuge in the cockpit. My mother decided to take a stand and continue on her way. At that point the flight attendant came back out and informed the shift manager that the pilot demands that my mother be allowed onto the plane. Once aboard, both the pilot and the flight attendant swore they would report the matter to management. But things didn't end there. Upon arriving in Madrid, my mother and 5 other wheel-chair bound passengers were simply left to fend for themselves, sitting around, waiting for help. One of them actually missed her connection.

My mother's connection, thank god, was with American Airlines. However, one of her suitcases came late. It had been delayed for security reasons. We have since received apologies from American Airlines, through whom the flight had been booked, and British Airways, which handles Iberia in Israel. A month or more has gone by and not a word from Iberia.

When we arrived MADRID at the customer service of IBERIA was a long line of passenger. Although we were very tired we joined the line, we were waiting there for 2 1/2 hours and when we arrived the clerk he took the voucher and check at the computer and said that it's written that they paid us already at GRANADA. We couldn't believe that lie. It was crazy. After my husband was furious the clerk call the manager and she said someone at GRANADA possibly did a mistake and she tried call GRANADA but they didn't answer at 21:00. We explain that we are flying the next morning out of the country So she took our email and promise to try found out what happen. IBERIA didn't call us the next morning. It was exhausting experience and we lost the few hours that we have planned at MADRID it felt Kafkaesque.

One Iberia assistant tried to help us, we were all booked on Latem to Frankfurt with a connecting flight from Frankfurt to Dubrovnik. We were delayed for 3 hours because of bad weather conditions at Frankfurt, just to miss our next connecting flight to Dubrovnik. Arriving at Frankfurt, 2 of us, my name and one lady from New York names could not be found, Latem assistant tried to assist, and eventually we were also allowed with the group to go to the hotel, and booked by Latem through Lufthansa to depart the next day to Dubrovnik. When arriving at Frankfurt Airport the Monday checked in at Lufthansa, we were not booked in by Latem at all. Only one person of the group was booked. We all had to purchase new tickets just to start our planned holiday in Croatia. We ended at Dubrovnik 3 days late for our planned trip.

Our luggage was almost lost, we found it at Dubrovnik, lost the accommodation which was paid beforehand, as well as the car rental car and deposits. Since we came back from the trip we've contacted the Customer Care division of Iberia telephonically and various emails they "claimed" they refunded at least the additional air ticket, R356 was paid into my bank account, what a joke, the total costs was R11 500!!

NEVER EVER TAKE IBERIA, RATHER FLY EMIRATES and you will take longer, but actually it won't be longer, because you will arrive on the planned time. Worst airline and no service. A disgrace, we've met more people in Croatia who was reserved on the same flight, they said 25 of them were driven in a cargo from one port to another who also could not found the terminal, they were dropped off just in time for the flight. The poor people from America had to be in Croatia for a wedding, having the groom's wedding ring. They took a train that evening from Frankfurt and another flight from Germany and arrived in Croatia the Sunday morning a hour before the wedding without any sleep for 48 hours.

The only reason I can see for this was that one elderly man was getting a little mouthy. They said that they had no vouchers, transportation, or places to stay. When pressed, they lied (twice) about reimbursing ground transportation that we found. I loaded my exhausted children into a taxi at 2 AM and ran up a $680 taxi fare after Iberia shirked responsibility. When I called the next day, they said that they were not responsible and would not pay. They should be sued and/or have their license to operate in American airports revoked. Iberia Airlines is a poorly run, INCOMPETENT LAZY AND DISHONEST COMPANY!!! Do not fly with them and refuse any carrier who pawns them off on you, or you may get screwed like I did.

Updated on 01/12/2018: This is a continuation of the complaint about a flight 6 Months ago (see my previous review). Iberia told me in October (2.5 Months ago) that a payment would go out in 20 days. Approximately 50 days later, I get an email asking for my bank routing. It is from a no-reply address with no contact info, no instructions and containing broken website links.

I call Iberia and use my case number. The operator can't find it. 6 minutes on hold and she says that I have to go back to the Iberia website and enter a NEW COMPLAINT, including the information. I asked specifically "Is there no one there who can help me over the phone?" and was told no. The website is entirely outdated and built to dissuade successful use. There is no help option. You have to scroll through every airport with no type-ahead. If you have an error, it gives no clue to what is causing it. There is no way to resume a claim and the site asks for all sorts of superfluous information that you will have to source to submit the form. For no apparent reason, the website times out your session.

This company not only LIED to me multiple times, but their customer service department has perfected the art of being completely unhelpful. P.S. I recently had a flight with Delta during the Atlanta airport power outage. After this experience, I feared the worst. Instead, Delta was professional and amazingly helpful every step of the way!!

After that, they told me that they cannot transfer the money to an account in a currency different than euro. However, the account is in euros. So we send the letter again. Hence, they said that they cannot transfer overseas... So we send the letter again. Again and again. Finally, I gave them a friend's account in Spain but they say that I have to send my friend's DNI copy to check the signature (what signature? My friend was not supposed to sign the letter). And that was so ridiculous that I told them to keep the euros. They always gave another excuse but never a solution. Be careful. Fly with Air Europa, Lan, American Airlines, even a low-cost is better.

Needless to say, the points didn't go through so tried to contact Iberia again and went through the 15 minutes explaining to be told there was no offer even though it was on their website. This then prompted my being cut off again. Managers refuse to speak to you and no one takes ownership. Terrible terrible customer service, I hope you never need to call them!

On September 28, 2016 I began calling the Miami Iberia reservation number (800-772-4642). It was extremely difficult to get thru since as the recording said "all agents are assisting other customers". All probably meant the only one agent on duty. I would hold and listen to the scratchy awful music for up to 27 minutes sometimes. Call after call, I got the same damn recording.

About 3 days later, I got lucky and a real live person answered. I gave my booking number, explained that I needed to change my return flight. The agent then put me on hold while he tried to figure out the change fee on my ticket. After about 15 minutes he came back and said he could not find the change fee amount, so he has to send a request to Spain. They would get back to me in a day or two. On the fourth day I called back and again was tortured with their music on hold endlessly. Finally when I got thru to a live person, I was told they had a reply from Spain. I didn't care what the change fee was, I just needed to move forward. I stated that I did not have a new return date, so was it ok if I called back when I did. The agent said no problem.

On October 1, 2016 I tried to reach Iberia to make the change only to have to be put on hold ENDLESSLY!! I arrived in China on October 8, 2016 and immediately began calling Iberia Miami to confirm my new return date. Finally, on October 13, 2016 I decided to hell with Iberia, I will dispute the charge on my credit card. I called my card company and the lady asked if she can call Iberia to try to resolve my issue in order to avoid the dispute. I said OK. She was able to get Iberia agent on the line in a jiffy. I confirmed my China contact telephone number with Iberia and my card company and I was put on hold. After listening to music for 32 minutes, the call dropped. Since then, no one has called me back to finish this ordeal.

My conclusion is STAY AWAY from IBERIA. If you want to book online, first you must check if they offer changes/cancellation on their site. If not, you will have to make calls and listen to awful music as I did. IBERIA is NOT QUALIFIED to DO BUSINESS in the USA. I hope I can help save one of you out there from the agony I experienced.

It turned out that my daughter's flight was the next flight, flying out at 8:55 PM. We came for 5:30 PM flight because I brought a wrong printout. :( Now I'm trying to get a refund for my unused ticket but after a month of messing with me, Iberia just refused to pay without any explanation. Customer service at Iberia is the worst service among all the companies I know. What they did is a plain thievery.

It never showed up! Tried to call them the number that was given was invalid! We were leaving Rome the Next morning, got back to the airport, get there early 5am and of course no one is working in lost and found at that time. We search through what suitcases we could find and there was no sign of the suitcase! We had no option but to get on the flight to Croatia that we had already booked and through Facebook, which was my only point of contact I could tell them we have moved on and give them another address to send the case. This happened for 2 months of traveling. They had no idea where the bag had gone, no phone numbers were working, no sign of the bag, no compensation had been given.

Getting back to Australia, I have made contact through phone a few times, but they keep saying that lost luggage is not their department and they will call me back! They are in Spain and I am in Australia, they will never call me back! I have made claims and sent all claim information by mail and through email! All the emails we have received are no reply emails, and they are very blunt! They still have no idea where the suitcase has gone and they have told us that they have sent a cheque in the mail, that was almost a month ago and we have received nothing! I have sent everything through registered post and been calling and Facebook messaging them as much as I possibly can!

Apparently the cheque they have sent is only worth 700 Aus dollars. If this is the case this does not cover the suitcase and is pretty insulting. I have and will be trying to pursue this and get what we are owed even if according to the 'Montreal's convention' it's not as much as we deserve, they don't deserve to be an airline if this is how they are going to treat their customers from around the world. I have been harassing them and I know they are not enjoying it as they ended up blocking me on Facebook! It's not good enough and the airline should be ashamed of their actions. I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle but I will keep on fighting!

After explaining my position, the personnel showed no interest or concern. They repeated, "the next flight was back to (BCN) is at 840 am in the morning." There happened to be another passenger there with the same problem. After asking to be put up at a hotel for the night, then she started making calls, handed us a slip, and told us take a taxi outside. She told us, "They will know where the hotel is." We both went on a taxi line, which was a 45-minute wait. It is now 1 AM. Once we got there, the man informed us we were at the wrong address because the name was spelled wrong. The man called another taxi for us to take us to the right location.

After arriving at the second location, I tried to get in touch with my family because they had not heard from me in almost twenty-four hours. My phone connector was located in my suitcase but I did not have it in my possession. I borrowed a connector from the hotel and subsequently incurred roaming charges on my cell phone because the hotel has no Wifi. I had no personal items with me, due to me not having my suitcase. The next morning, I called a taxi and headed for the airport, which was one hour away. I was told would be given back my taxi expenses at the airport, but there was no one there to handle the claim.

After arriving at (BCN), I once again inquired about my luggage. Still, there was no explanation for where my luggage ended up and so I was forced to put in a luggage claim. One bag finally arrived on Monday the 27th late in the evening and the other near the end of my trip on Wednesday the 29th. However, I was there for an anniversary celebration and was forced to buy more apparel. I was practically lost, with no personal supplies, and none of my necessary clothing. I am totally shocked by the behavior of the Iberia personnel who did not seem to care very much about their customers satisfaction.

There should be compensation for all the stress and items I had to purchase but it's without a saying there is no amount of compensation that will counteract this dreadful experience. The job is to hand you a slip - no apologies, no interest and give no reasoning to why things are done like this. I travel all over the world with different airlines, never called half an hour before the plane is schedule to leave to board, so the flight never leave on time. So there is always the chance of you missing any connection, only if it is about three hours away.

So I question why on British Airways online site where I book my flights, you are given an option to also book a BA coded flight with Iberia Express? My story is this. Yesterday evening 26/09/15 I flew back for the first time with Iberia Express from Palma to London Heathrow. This was the only available flight for me and I naturally expected the flight and service to be of a similar standard to that of BA's. When I boarded the plane I was instantly shocked by the seating. It made Ryan Air look like a luxury airline! The seats were tiny and the cabin looked like it had been designed to cram as many seats in as possible to transport an army of midgets.

The gentleman sitting next to me was 6'7'' and had wanted to fly in business class but had been informed that there were no seats available. His legs, which I've taken a photograph of (this will be sent to BA along with a further complaint) were crushed partly under the seat and partly out in the aisle. In my opinion and others sitting around us this must have breached what must be considered airline safety and also health and safety. This gentleman asked if he could pay to sit in Club Class when it became apparent that there was an available seat but was told by the senior member of staff, "No, we cannot do that".

When I stepped in and argued that that was not acceptable she seemed unable to get her head around the fact that he could not fit into the tiny seat and that he could easily get seriously hurt if the flight encounter turbulence. Her attitude was very trashy and dismissive. Thank you Iberia for employing such intelligent staff. I question how the airline staff would respond in an emergency?

And the other issue I'm seriously annoyed about is that the on-board service was similar to Easyjet. We had to pay for our drinks and snacks??? The plane was both old and filthy. I'm 5'2'' and my head was inches away from the seat in front of me and I was constantly assaulted by a dirty curtain hanging in front of my face which was suppose to divide business class from economy. The business class section looked very basic too.

Finally I'll now argue with British Airways that they should not sell Iberia Express flights on their website. The type of person that books flights with BA expects a good if not excellent level of service and Iberia Express are a basic 'run for the plane', trashy airline staffed and 'who wound up the elastic bands to take off' airline who should not be selling seats via the British Airways online site. I and just about everyone else on last night's flight were disgusted and stunned by such low standards. Needless to say I won't be flying with this airline again!

The sales agent said she should check my name on the flight since both Iberia and Vueling were operating the same flight. She came back and said I was not on the flight and that I must buy a new ticket. I did, with Iberia for 560 euro plus and insurance. She said that this was the only solution for me to get on the flight. I really was had to be sure I could go that day so I had no choice. I had already paid 250 euro with Vueling for the same flight.

When I came to the airport I found it was Vueling who was operating the check in. No Iberia staff in sight. I told the check in agents about the problem. When they searched their system they could only find the Vueling ticket that I never got confirmation for. They also said they were from another company, not Vueling, just a handling company so they could not do anything about my double booking. The Iberia ticket I just bought did not exist, they said. They gave me a boarding pass for Vueling.

I called the same minute, before departure, to Iberia customer service to tell them about the problem and to cancel the ticket that did not exist and give me back the money. The agent said he should file a report and call me back. He never called back. I called the next day and they promised again to make a report. I have since then contacted Iberia customer offices in Sevilla, Barcelona, Madrid and I have called many times. I have made a written report in paper and on internet. Thus far nothing has happened. I have paid over 900 euro for a ticket to Sevilla one way from Copenhagen. It was the sales agent of Iberia who did the mistake telling me I was not on the flight and forcing me to buy a new ticket!