Iberia, never again
Want to hear a travel horror story? Try this. On Tuesday, passengers for Iberia flight IB4580 from Barcelona to Munich suffered one of those nightmare experiences that leads people to vow never again to fly with the Spanish national carrier.
After enduring long waiting lines at understaffed and inefficient check-in desks, the passengers thought that all they had to do was sit and wait to board their flight at 15.55, which was scheduled for departure at 16.20. A hint of what was to come arrived with the announcement fifteen minutes before boarding time that the flight would be delayed by half and hour. After this period had elapsed, an unhappy looking young ground hostess had the thankless job of informing the impatient travellers that more information would be available at 17.00. Time went by and the next announcement promised boarding at 18.00. Rumours swirled, exchanges became heated and people sought alternative flights. One group of four businessmen discussed hiring a car and driving to Germany.
Appearing to be on the verge of tears, the ground hostess departed and left the would-be passengers to contemplate a screen displaying an "estimated" boarding time of 18.45. At this stage, passengers with mobile phones had contacted family, friends and colleagues who informed them that the Munich airport web site was showing the flight as cancelled.
At 19.00, two Iberia ground staff arrived to say that there was no crew available to fly to Munich and that the flight had been cancelled. The wretched passengers then had to exit the departures area, find their luggage, line up to get new tickets, go to another counter to get a coupon for overnight accommodation and await transport to a hotel. At 9 p.m., seven hours after many of them had arrived at the airport, the exhausted travellers found themselves unwilling guests of Iberia in hotels along the coast, south of Barcelona.
Those I spoke to were convinced that Iberia had known all along that the flight would not leave the ground that day and their anger was compounded by the suspicion that the company fed them misinformation throughout the entire ordeal. They felt that there had been no effort made to communicate the true nature of events and were appalled that helpless ground staff were left on the front line to cope with the anger and frustration. Any company that treats its customers with such contempt deserves to go out of business, many said. And as this story from Wednesday's La Vanguardia shows ("Nueva protesta contra Iberia por la p鲤ida de maletas en El Prat"), Iberia's problems in Barcelona are not new.
For those who lost time and money on Tuesday, those who missed connecting flights and those who were late for work the next day, a radical restructuring of Iberia cannot come quickly enough. But until that day arrives, try to use an alternative airline for travel to, from and within Spain.
Comments
Hi there, 2 years later, I have a very similar story to tell! Restructuring...? I don't think so!
I wrote the following letter to the Iberia customer service, and did not get ANY reply. I am not surprised!!! IBERIA? NEVER AGAIN!
Here comes the letter to Iberia:
Dear Sir or Madame,
I am writing you this email because I would like to complain about the treatment the passengers of the above mentioned flight had to suffer and also about the information politics of Iberia.
I know it is long, but PLEASE read the entire mail.
Here comes my story in detail:
My flight from Teneriffa aiport (Norte) on 28.11.04 was scheduled for 11:25 a.m.
I was at the airport around 8:45, checked in my
luggage, and waited for the boarding.
At around 11:15 a first announcement over the
loudspeaker came: "The flight is delayed due to
technical reasons and next information will follow
within 20 minutes."
Around 12 o clock the next announcement over the
loudspeaker : "The flight is delayed due to technical reasons and next information will follow within 30 minutes."
Around 12:30: "The flight is delayed due to technical reasons and next information will follow within 55 minutes."
Around 13:35: "The flight is delayed due to technical reasons and next information will follow within 2 hours."
Around 14:30: "The flight is delayed due to technical reasons and next information will follow within 55 minutes."
..... do you want me to continue???? Do you know how many times we heard these messages? Uncountable times!
I was in the airport building until approx. 6 p.m., during this time, not ONE person apologized, not ONE person offered help or information - there was NOBODY who got in touch with the passengers. At the Iberia counter there was a long line and the information we got there was NONE!
Please consider, that there were about 300 passengers - the whole airport was full with people!
During my 10 hours in the airport building I was
offered:
1 water (0,5 liters)
1 sandwich (I am a vegetarian, and there was NO
sandwich without meat, therefore I couldn't eat it! I asked for cheese and I was told: "no, sorry")
1 small bag of potato chips
Around 16:00 another passenger (not an Iberia
representative) told us that there were lines forming downstairs at the check-in counters and we should better go there and get in line. We didn't know WHY or WHAT FOR. There was NO announcement over the loudspeakers - NOTHING! There was NOBODY to ask whats going on.
We got in line and it took us about 2 hours to get to the check in (the proceeding was so slow,
unbelievable! And next to the counter there were 3
counters with Iberia staff, that had almost nothing to do, they were chatting with each other and laughing, when asked to pleeeeease assist, they told us: "we're sorry, we don't know anything"!). At the Check In counter I was told that I would not be able to get to Munich within Sunday. I was offered a flight on Monday
and a hotel voucher. I accepted, because I had no
other choice.
This option was extremely bad for me, because I had to get back work on Monday in Munich! I lost a full workday.
I will now not get into details about how long it took us to get the hotel vouchers.... the slowness of the processes was incredible. In total I was in line about 4 hours. My feet were aching. Still nobody had apologized.
Getting to the hotel, we were offered dinner and
(again) the meal was with meat. There was no other
option, by that point in time I wasn't surprised
anymore...
In the middle of the night there was loud music from the opposite building, I couldn't sleep for hours!
The next morning, Monday 29.11.04, I went to the
airport around 8 a.m., my flight was scheduled for
11:25 a.m. and at the check in I was told I could have an earlier flight to Madrid at 10:00 a.m. (IB099R) and I agreed to that. At around 9:45 the boarding was called and all the passengers entered a bus to the plane. We stayed in that bus for around 50 minutes!!!!
There was NO information what was going on. Pleople were squeezed in, most of us could not sit down and NOBODY told us why we are here or why we are not brought to the plane. ALL of us were already unnerved, as you can imagine!
I got into the plane around 11:00 and the flight took off at 11:25. Until now, NOBODY was able to explain to me why I had a boarding pass for a 10:00 a.m. flight!!!!? Can you? Please do so!
Can you imagine that I feel that IBERIA was pulling my legs?
When I got to Madrid I was exhausted, due to the
missing sleep, the many hours on the airport the day before and also because I was hungry.
NOBODY had offered me any kind of compensation. No
free food, no drinks, nothing! I was booked in
ordinary tourist class. Nobody had apologized until that point. NOBODY. When I learned, that my flight to Munich (IB3538) is delayed as well, I lost my nerves.
I went to the IBERIA VIP lounge and asked for food and
water. I was told: No, we are sorry, you are not a
VIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can you believe that?
Could you please explain to me how an airline like
IBERIA can treat their customers like that?
Can you afford to lose customers??? With that
treatment, I get the impression: YES, you can!
Iberia did NOT care about us AT ALL.
I was in my house in Munich around 10 p.m., Monday
29.11.04. It took me 38 hours to get from my hotel in Tenerife to my house in Munich.
38 hours with 0,5 water and a bag of chips - and NO compensation in any form, not even an apology!!!!
Dear Sir or Madame, you must agree, this is not
acceptable!
I expect from you not only an apology but also a
compensation for:
1) One lost workday (Monday 29.11.04)
2) The whole recreation effect that I had lost within
24 hours due to :
a) A full day on Tenerife airport without
adequate food and drinks
b) A full day on Tenerife airport without any
kind of information - we lost NERVES that day, believe me!
c) A sleepless night in a noisy hotel room
Please get back to me.
Posted by: Regina | December 14, 2004 4:00 PM