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.
