Iberia travel voucher scam

Hmmm, I'd probably go ahead and contact www.Elliott.org a consumer advocacy website and see if they will take your case. Sounds like something they would enjoy getting in to.

Thank you for taking the time to respond we shall check this out.....

Wow, what a confounding situation! It’s not as if someone flying from Chicago to Spain would interchangeably make their way to Cuba somehow, and then decide to go (one way?!?) to Spain. It’s apples vs. roast beef, not even apples vs. oranges. Was your voucher not for a future round trip? And for just you, not transferable to Others?

Are they alleging that you gave your voucher number to your Colombian “friends,” letting them go in your place? None of that adds up, if that’s the argument from Iberia. We had a different problem involving their partner, British Airways. It took call after call, being on Hold for long stretches before the next person took the call, and no satisfaction, time after time. We eventually got someone who was able/willing to fix the problem, but it took many many attempts to get to that person.

How many complaints to Iberia have you made? Did you ask/demand to speak to a Supervisor? Are you able/willing to try some more?

And how did these other people get your voucher, and how is it that Iberia accepted it? And why did they bother to e-mail you that your voucher number was being used by somebody else, not you, and not for the same Chicago to Madrid route that you’d originally planned?

Hope you at least are recovered from the virus.

All just perfect questions.

Iberia is actually a partner of british airways. When you ask for a supervisor he is never in. Or she. Throw in a spanish accent trying to speak english and you can understand even more of our frustration.

We're not giving up. Thanks for your encouragement.

We have probably put in twenty working hours on this already. Twenty five hundred dollars is involved so we're not giving up. I even have the CEOs email address now.

But I love your apples to roast beef comparison probably will have to use that. Best regards, Ken and Karen

Depending on your credit card, you could also try going the route of contesting the charge (to me it is justified that you were denied service for that payment). It may be slightly less annoying than calling the airline over and over.
This is one of the crazier things I have heard happening with a voucher--good luck and keep us posted!

Thanks.

Another excellent reply.

Sure is making us feel better and more confident thanks everyone

All, We tried going via American Express and they would not help us. I see their point of view.

But Cyn, we love your wording THAT THIS ALL DOES NOT ADD UP, And we will be writing the Iberia contacts that Elliott has provided us with.

Right now I do not have the strength and stamina to make another phone call to Iberia. But I am not ruling that out down the road I am not giving up on this.

Kenbkb,
Wow, the same thing just happened to us today .
Have you resolved your case?
We had 2 vouchers issued for health reasons on 3/28 for a flight to Spain that we were scheduled to take yesterday 04/04.
Shortly after 12:00am, on 04/05 madrid time we received at our email address an email combining our 2 vouchers into one. Within minutes after we received a series of emails for a booking ticket confirmation, using the new combined voucher # for a Spanish guy from Bogota Columbia to Madrid.
I went on Iberia and could not access our vouchers. I called Iberia and they stated that a ticket was fraudulently purchased with our vouchers, but there was nothing they could do. The agent told me to file a police report, and then file a complaint at iberia.com
We think it might be inside fraud by a rogue Iberia employee.
Was your case resolved, do you have any advice for us?
Thanks, S&T

Oh my goodness! I would definitely contact Elliott (both of you). This has the makings of an important story and I think he might be able to get to the bottom of this and get some action that "mere consumers" can't.

I am so sorry for this frustration and theft that has happened to you.

CNN travel, too. Could be a gang rather than one rogue employee. You would think that knowing the day, time, flight and even the seat number of the illegal passenger, the local authorities in Spain could intercept the person with the illegal ticket upon landing and start investigating.

Here is the general EU passenger rights page.
https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm

The address for the Spanish enforcement body is at the bottom of this page. Agecoa Estata; de Segiodad Aérea. in English and Spanish with an online complaint form. National enforcement bodies are usually reactive. Be sure you keep all your written records to share.
https://transport.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2022-10/2004_261_national_enforcement_bodies-2022-10.pdf

Definitely sounds like an inside job. Iberia employee with access to the voucher numbers is selling them in Colombia.

I agree that this sound like an inside job, and not some random voucher stolen. Either the system is somehow mixing up voucher numbers, or someone in Iberia is selling them.

S & T,

OK, first let me apologize but I was going to come back here and respond to the fine members who assisted us with valuable insights. We finally did get our vouchers reinstated.

Secondly, here is what we did (with the help of people here) and here is what you will need to do.

The Elliott Group posts on their website the name of the CEO of Iberia and two Customer Service Contacts. Elliiott provides an email address for all of them (In fact, the CEO has three email addresses provided). The Customer Service email addresses both kicked out. But we did get a response from someone in the CEO's office within a day or two. She requested our phone logs for the time we spent with (worthless) iberia Customer Service. We provided this information and within another day or two the Iberia CEO's office promised us a response in 9 days. They responded exactly on the 9th day and provided us with two new voucher numbers. (We also sent them a (worthless) police report.)

It's obvious Iberia Customer Service either has their hands tied or they are in on it.

The person(s) who stole our voucher were also from Columbia and for this theft they flew out of Havana on a one way ticket to Madrid. Remember, we had two RTs from Chicago to Madrid.

Yes, we believe there must some sort of internal theft ring. Hope this all helps. Let us know if you desire anything else.

We are in the process of contacting the Elliott Group to inform them the two Customer Service names they have provided for Iberia are no longer valid. We are pulling for you. Ken and Karen Novak

Note, a good suggestion was made to contact the Credit Card company about the lost vouchers, I mean, stolen vouchers. But they would not touch it with a ten foot pole.

MR, I commend your faith in mankind but this is very obviously an inside job. It will be up to Iberia management to get to the bottom of this. After paying out X number of refunded vouchers they may eventually start to see a massive hit to the bottom line and dredge out who the offenders are.

PS. I would like to add the offenders who stole our voucher brought along some extra baggage charges to make their fees come within $1.28 of our original total of our two ticket prices. LOL

Note: They are called the Elliott Report, not the Elliott Group.

Glad you got your vouchers reinstated. I wonder what crimes the crooks pulled once they reached Madrid using the pilfered voucher codes?

It would be great if the authorities (Interpol?) were waiting at the off-ramp in Madrid for each of the Iberia passengers using the stolen vouchers. The one-way flights could turn out to be one-way trips to jail.

Cyn, good point about what happens on the other end. I would surmise this could be a longer tentacled fraud system in the works, perhaps even one extending to the end point in Madrid. Remember, ours were stolen as a ONE WAY TICKET to Madrid. At least they had he language in common, but working on a job and lodging would be obstacles to overcome.

Thank you so much for circling back and letting us know the outcome. I'm shocked that the same thing apparently happened to others! Wow.

You're welcome, Pam. They responded to us as they told us they would, in 9 days precisely. My wife and I got the sense this is happening a lot when they asked for our phone records which are easy to obtain these days right from your cell phone bill. We sense they are trying to nail down the individuals involved this way...

Hey guys,

I am in same boat. I had roundtrip with Iberia from Los Angeles to Barcelona and on cancellation, they provided voucher which is already used by someone. It is definitely voucher fraud. Can someone please help with step by step process to get full refund?
I already sent email to emails listed in above thread CEO and all other, but no response. What is the best course of action?

Piyush,

Please follow the instructions in this string. If you email the CEO you will get a response. The other two emails provided by the Elliot Report are not valid.

Let me know. If necessary, email the CEO of Iberia again.

There is definitely systemic fraud occurring and they need to be made aware. A second person posted the same scenario as we had, but they have not bothered to respond here.

kenbkb
Ken and Karen