May 3rd, Amsterdam Airport - Iberia employee indicated a refund was due to cancelled MAD-BRU flight on April 18th but request had to be made thru travel agent.
Travel agent notifed me May 30th - "...We sent your refund request to the airline as the flights MAD-BRU was xxld due to volcanice eruption, and we have received a response. We regret to inform you that the airline has denied a refund. ..."
Just wanted to warn any potential customers of the Iberia policy on cancelled flights.
Edwin
I'm confused. Why were you told in Amsterdam two weeks later about a refund? When your original flight from Madrid to Barcelona was canceled, were you eventually put on a later flight out of Madrid? If yes, then the airline does not have to refund your ticket but they may owe you money to cover any extra housing/food expenses?
The EU mandated that all passengers on flights that were canceled or delayed due to volcanic activity must be compensated for additional housing/food expenses.
If there was no substituted flight you are definitely owed a refund. I've seen this before. It's not Iberia refusing to pay...it's the travel agent playing games.
I once had a family on one of my tours from Australia. The tour they had booked was canceled and the travel agent was notified weeks in advance. Only the travel agent didn't want to lose his commission so he didn't tell the passengers. They flew half way around the world to be told no tour. Luckily we had a similar tour leaving a day later they could join.
Sadly, there are some travel agents who aren't completely honest.
Now, regarding rule 261/2004. It does come into practice here but with some modifications made due to the volcano. Here's the press release from the EU:
Volcanic Ash and EU Passenger Rights
Iberia Airlines never provided an alternative except to cancel the flght. No notification, no flight alternative, no lodging, nothing period. Their records show that the flight was flown (curious since no flights to Brussels were flown on that day by Iberia Airlines).
The travel agency (www.vayama.com) indicated that they contact Iberia Airlines and that Iberia Airlines indiated that they will not provide a refund for a cancelled flight due to volcanic eruption. The travel agency (www.vayama.com) declined to provide me a copy of the communications from Iberia Airlines.
Edwin
Curious....how did you get from Madrid to Brussels in the end...and how much did it cost you?
Call Vayama back and demand a copy of the communications with Iberia, or you'll report them to the BBB. The idea that Iberia would not refund the money of passengers whose flights were cancelled is absolutely ridiculous.....thousands of Iberia passengers were affected, and there would be blood in the streets of Madrid if Iberia refused to refund them.
When you talk to Vayama again, ask them if Iberia refused to pay because your "flight" actually did go. Iberia hired hundreds of buses to get passengers to cities where airports were closed. If you didn't cancel your flight before it's "departure" and you didn't find out about the bus replacement, chances are you show up on Iberia's records as a "no show/"
Made my way to Brussels via 3 trains + 1 taxi at my expense.
Only this one segment of 5 was cancelled. The other 4 segemnts were taken.
No flights were operating from MAD-BRU on that day. Iberia records show they flew the flight from MAD-BRU on April 18th. Brussels Airport was closed all day April 18th.
Flight cancelled by airline. Not notified by Iberia or Vayama. No alternative flight offered by Iberia or Vayama. No assistance from Iberia, Vayama, or the Iberia agent at the airport (no bus alternative, etc.). No financial compensation received for this cancellation. Not offered the choice between a re-fund OR a re-routing to BRU.
Refund request through travel agent was declined by Iberia Airlines.
Calls to Vayama only added that Iberia is not refunding cancelled flight since it was only part of the itinerary.
Iberia never offered any alternative or refund. I elevated this to the Customer Relations at Iberia. While waiting for Iberia to respond I will be elevating to EU commission, BBB, and my credit card company.
Edwin
Again, did you check with Vayama or Iberia to see if they did run a bus on that route? That's why the flight might have been shown to have been "flown." How did you find out the flight was cancelled? What did you do when the Iberia agent told you there was no alternative? Why would Iberia care how many segments you were flying?...unless they were all on one day, they're separate flights as far as the airline is concerned. It sounds like Vayama is trying to stiff you on this one.
Vayama is playing games with you. Legally, Iberia must refund that portion of the ticket if they could not offer you either another flight or another form of transportation.
It doesn't matter that it was one segment in five. Each segment is priced out.
What I'm reading is that no one told you the flight was canceled but you went to the airport and they refused to help you? If that's the case, you are entitled to a refund. Did you happen to get the name of the person who refused to offer any help?
This is one of the reasons why I always try to deal with airlines directly an not involve a third party. For most online travel agencies, there really is no one you can deal with. You are at their mercy if there is a problem. And should you need to deal with "customer service," chances are it's been outsourced to yet another company.
The only times I've ever had problem with tickets, flights, etc, is when I involved a travel agent.
Hopefully you have already filed a dispute with your credit card company.
Hi Edwin -
Please send me an email at feedback@vayama.com Attn: David. Include your vayama Trip ID and a contact number where I can reach you. I'll get on this right away and find out what's TRUELY going on. I can assure you, vayama has no benefit in "playing games" with any of our customers.
Regards,
David
Vayama Customer Relations Manager
Received the below email from Iberia Airlines after filing a complaint with their customer service organization (only a portion is provided since the entier message would not fit in the text box for this forum).
Madrid, 01 de June de 2010.
...If you decided not to fly with us and obtained a full or partial refund on your ticket or part of it, we are not liable for any other incidental cost(s) you may have incurred, in accordance with the rules contained in the aforementioned Regulations.
...
I called Vayama up and forward the entire email from Iberia to Vayama.
A couple of hours later Vayama called me and indicated that Iberia Airlines will now provided a refund of $35.
Not to happy with either Iberia or Vayama as a result of how much of a hassle it was to get this resolved.
Edwin
It's a sad situation Edwin. Sorry you had to go through it. Unfortunately, most govts allow the airlines to weasle out with "force majuere" or "act of god" clauses - most of them are not dumb enough to use them, thank goodness. (It's something we really need to get fixed!). Glad you got some money back!
