Iberia flight cancelled.

[xcalx]

Iberia cancelled our SJU – MAD flight as they moved the flight from a Sunday to a Saturday, as we are on a cruise until the Sunday it was impossible to take this flight. The only other alternative offered was an Iberia flight on the Wednesday which had avios availability which I have reluctantly accepted. I don’t suppose I have any claim for the 3 night hotel costs.

I also have avios BA booked flights on Iberia metal from MAN-MAD and MAD-MAN one which has been moved back a day the other has been moved forward 3 days, these were direct flights with no other same day flights. Before I phone BA would I be allowed to change to a BA MAN-LHR-MAD or even Ryan air direct. I would like to know my options before I call.

Thanks.

[SamG]

You have the right to be rerouted to a comparable flight at the earliest opportunity or ar your convenience, regardless of Avios availability. But as you’ve accepted the option then you don’t get another go at it. If Iberia have flights before Wednesday then you could now keep an eye for Avios availability on those.

Duty of care should still apply, keep receipts and send them in after. However based on my dealings with Iberia it’ll be a big challenge so don’t spend what you can’t afford to wait a long time to get back/eventually give up trying to get back!

BA will be fine to reroute via Heathrow. They won’t reroute you on Ryanair but again that is your right. You can just not touch the BA/IB booking, buy the Ryanair flight (in comparable conditions so including the bags you need) and ask Iberia to refund you for it. Again, won’t be easy to get them to do it! But you’d always have the “cop out” option of getting a refund and I doubt you’ll be much out of pocket on that one

[meta]

Make sure you pay any hotels on a credit card that you paid you taxes on. You can then do S75 claim on the credit card for duty of care (the credit card is jointly liable). The wait will probably be shorter as well.

[Lady London]

Just to be specific @xcalx even though you’ve accepted the Wednesday flight so you’ve removed your chance to now ask for a reroute on a better day on someone else if necessary, your duty of care rights are to all accommodation and all meals, plus transport to and from the accommodation, for the extra time you now have to wait.

I hope you do persist with claiming this with Iberia and to legal means if necessary but sadly everyone’s right this will be needed as Iberia’s rep is they are $hits in trying to avoid their obligations here (it’s an open and shut claim you’d win though).

EDIT Ah..just seen @meta says you can get duty of care costs from card you paid taxes on if UK credit card. Obvs easier if as @meta suggests you put those costs on same card. @meta do you have experience of s75 working for duty of care? This would make life a lot easier for @xcalx

[meta]

Only second hand experience from a friend. He did a S75 claim for duty of care with Austrian Airlines a few years ago and then magically a few days later Austrian contacted him to say they agree to his claim.

It’s worth a shot. The worst that can happen is that cc company refuses. Just make sure that you give Iberia opportunity to respond and that you document everything.

[xcalx]

Thanks for all the advice.
I have provisionally booked a HIX on points for two of the 3 nights, no other point options available, this will give me time to decide what to do. Iberia does have a flight on the Tuesday but the refused to put us on that as no avios availability.

Re choosing the Ryan air flight. As the Iberia flight was booked with BA (Avios) when I contacted Iberia they told me changes had to be offered by BA. If I decide to book the Ryan air flight what do I need to tell BA.

Thanks

[Lady London]

Xcalx SamG answered this at the end of her post early above?

The operating airline that cancelled remains responsible for your rerouting on their own flight or another airline’s. If I were you then provided it’s clear to an airline if you’re not taking any flight they might have reserved for you, I’d get myself hime then sort it out.

Not sure why you’d want Ryanair when they use Stansted whicg is a long and arduous jouney out of London. Easyjet use Gatwick if they have anything which is not quite aa bad as Stansted in terms of logistics for a lot of people.

Try again around 36 hrs before the flight you want and then again within the 24hrs before as since you were cancelled you do have a right to any seat being sold in your cabin- free of charge and it legally does not have to be an avios seat in this case.

[xcalx]

Thanks again LL
Iberia were adamant that any chages to the MAN-MAD iberia flight booked through BA had to be dealt with by BA and on manage my booking on BA it says to call them. I will try BA and see what they say in the next few days as still around 4 weeks before flight.

Sorry I should have been clearer the Ryan air flight is from Manchester, the only direct flight that day. I was looking at that as an option as I have mobility issues and was thinking of it been less hassle than changing at LHR.

[SamG]

xcalx wrote:

Thanks again LL
Iberia were adamant that any chages to the MAN-MAD iberia flight booked through BA had to be dealt with by BA and on manage my booking on BA it says to call them. I will try BA and see what they say in the next few days as still around 4 weeks before flight.

Sorry I should have been clearer the Ryan air flight is from Manchester, the only direct flight that day. I was looking at that as an option as I have mobility issues and was thinking of it been less hassle than changing at LHR.

The fact you booked with BA probably did you a favour here – I’m almost certain they’ll put you on flights via LHR amazingly they are actually easier to contact than Iberia (which is virtually impossible most of the time!)

Personally I’d still plump for the Ryanair flight – from what I understand BA have some strange operating arrangement at Manchester landing into a closed terminal which involves a lot of walking (though you can request assistance of course) + going via London for a 2hr direct flight seems like a hassle. I’ve flown Ryanair a lot lately and say what you want, they get you and your bags where you need to be on time and at a reasonable cost – which is a lot more than can be said about BA in recent weeks. If the cost is much higher then you can ask Iberia for a refund of the cost of the Ryanair ticket instead of a refund. Will be a battle though I expect