Dear travel problem solver: I recently canceled a flight with Iberia Airlines and the airline offered me a $4,005 ticket credit valid through November 4th. However, after I tried to book a brand new flight, Iberia rejected the ticket voucher code. After several calls to the client service department, I received an email saying that the voucher had been blocked “for security reasons.”
Iberia instructed me to file a grievance on the web site, which I did. I received an email saying I might hear back in seven days, but that didn't occur. Since then I actually have revamped 11 calls to Iberia. Representatives kept promising me a substitute voucher but never sent me one. In the meantime, I paid $3,952 for a brand new ticket.
I would really like Iberia to pay me the total value of the voucher or refund me the worth of the brand new flight and issue a voucher for the remaining amount.
ANSWER: Iberia wasn't fallacious to suspend your ticket balance, nevertheless it must have restored it quickly.
Why do I support the airline's decision to freeze your ticket credit? Because loads of shenanigans occur with ticket vouchers, gift cards and loyalty programs, and airlines are right to be cautious. But once they punish the fallacious person – like you probably did – they should quickly turn around and apologize. And that didn't occur.
What actually happened was months of waiting, although Iberia had assured you that it will restore your credit. The guarantees ranged from “in a few hours” to “next week” to “in a few days.”
To make matters worse, you had canceled your flights because of medical treatment. Some airlines will issue a full refund in the event you can provide a medical certificate. Therefore, Iberia should even have refunded your tickets, which were in business class.
By the way in which, you need to never accept an airline ticket voucher unless there is no such thing as a other alternative. As you've discovered, ticket credits can expire or be revoked, meaning the airline keeps your money without providing you with anything back. This is an ideal deal for an airline like Iberia, but not for you.
A fast, polite appeal to a manager at Iberia may need solved this problem for you. I publish the names, phone numbers and email addresses of Iberia customer support representatives on my consumer protection page. Elliott.org.
I actually have contacted Iberia in your behalf. True to form, the airline initially ignored my advocacy team's requests. But after repeated requests, a voucher was finally issued that’s valid for 14 months. To be on the secure side, you tested the code on Iberia's website and it really works!
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