I used a travel certificate and made a mistake booking online, immediately called their Reservations who told me to cancel and rebook with reissued refund certificate. I waited weeks for the certificate to come, then was told there was a reissue fee which was almost as much as the value of the certificate - which was a refund certificate issued after having to cancel the original flight due to illness, which I had to wait over a month to arrive. This is an outrageous violation of the 24 hour refund law established exactly for cases like this where a mistake is made. I have flown for 50 years and will never fly them again. Beware as they are not an ethical or professional airline, I wish I would have read the review which are the worst I've ever seen in 50 years of flying.
Posted by
Wengen
3242 posts
What 24 hour refund law?
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7821 posts
Iberia has been around for a very long time. It’s a decent lower cost carrier with regard to amenities and its employees are generally very ethical and professional.
Hopefully you read any cancellation and change policies prior to buying the original ticket. Those policies should have delineated procedures for customers to follow in cases like yours. Whether you fly with it again is up to you, but it won’t notice one fewer passenger.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
12678 posts
Info on the '24 hour' rule
https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/notice-24hour-reservation
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
9431 posts
I understand your frustration. I wonder if part of the issue is that you were booking with an airline credit instead of with cash? They may have a policy that the second time you cancel there is a reissue fee.
I hope that the rest of your trip goes smoothly.
Posted by
Republic of Texas / U.S.A. / Magyarország / Budapest
23214 posts
According to one RS person, Iberia is one of the best in Europe. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/flightright-index-2025-ranking-of-worst-european-airlines
But you might look into using that company.
Posted by
new york
618 posts
Iberia is a major European carrier; it is not by any means a "low-cost carrier."
Prices are in line with those shared by American for the same routes--sometimes lower, sometimes higher.
I travel to Spain often..usually three times a year and I always try to book with Iberia.
I wish I could help, but...
....what is the "certificate??" Do you mean Avios?
Posted by
Chicago
978 posts
Iberia is just as ethical and professional as any other airline.
But, their IT can definitely leave something to be desired compared to US airlines. But
I could make that statement for a lot of non US-based airlines.
In these kinds of situations, there are usually 2 sides to the story and you have given
us your side.
WIthout more detail, I suspect your mistake was not having Iberia cancel your flight.
The fact that you ended up getting a refund certificate and not a cash refund leads
me to believe that the way the cancellation took place did not invoke the 24-hour
rule.
Have you attempted to write a concise, non-emotional letter to Iberia CS (with cc
to US DOT) and explain their mistake and explicitly request what will make you
happy? Letting off steam on this forum is fine but we cannot fix your issue.
Posted by
Washington DC
29196 posts
With regard to how honest Iberia may or may not be: We've had at least two (maybe three) reports on this forum from folks who were issued Iberia credits that were somehow used by other people before they had a chance to use them. Speculation was that there was an insider with access to credit information, sharing it with (or selling it to) others for their own use. Only one of our posters managed to get his credit back after writing to the CEO; otherwise, the company stonewalled, saying there was nothing they could do about use of credits by people to whom they did not belong.
What happened in walkdmx's case I am not in a position to judge, but knowing that a credit could turn out to be worthless is enough to keep me from flying Iberia if I have a choice.
Posted by
297 posts
Where were you planning to fly? I don't think there is any 24h refund law on European routes.