The bad things they say about Iberia.Airlines are true

No this is not unique to Iberia Airlines

No this is not unique to Iberia Airlines

I agree, happened to me a couple of times with British Airways. You should get a refund fairly quickly if there isn't a reason for the cancellation that they might try to weasel out of, I've had two extremes with BA, one where they swiftly paid out compensation whilst another they made all sorts of excuses not to pay and another that was months prior to the flight that we were offered an alternative flight or a refund. We took the refund and found a cheaper, albeit more uncomfortable flight with Easyjet.

Iberia is no different from any other major airline. Better than some, worse than others, but probably about average. Flights get canceled on every airline. Don't take it personally. It's a shame you had a bad experience but all airlines have their bad days.

I'm not so sure that Iberia will give compensation as they booked you on another flight, which in most airlines' world, means their TOS have been met. And no it's not just Iberia, I've had cancelled flights on BA that have only given notice the day before as well as Southwest Airlines rebooking automatically on a flight I could never make.

If you're looking for good customer service, it's hard to find nowadays. Everything seemed to turn out fine, you found a fluent Spanish speaker to intervene on your behalf and were rebooked. Hope you enjoyed Morocco.

Abruptness and lack of customer service is the new normal. I’ve been on some hellish plane trips with Iberia, Delta, Air France, etc.

I'm not so sure that Iberia will give compensation as they booked you on another flight, which in most airlines' world, means their TOS have been met.

They are liable for compensation despite putting them on another flight. My last cancellation was with BA, they placed us on alternative flight but we still received our compensation. There are the rules set by the government and there are rules set by the EU, airlines have to abide by both.

David, you mentioned "don't take it personally". I kind of understand what you're saying, but why shouldn't she take it personally? After all, it is HER life that they interfered with, probably caused her anxiety, worry, and stress, and who knows what kind of seats were booked for them on Maroc. For all we know, Rosalyn had awesome seats at a perfect time frame for her, and maybe she was given lousy seats on Maroc with a horrible take-off time. If it were me, I would be pretty mad if that happened to me (it actually has happened to me).

There are the rules set by the government and there are rules set by the EU, airlines have to abide by both.

Yes, the compensation kicks in if the new departure or arrival time is too much earlier or later compared with the booked time. How much is 'too much' depends on how much notice. For less than one week that is one hour and two hours respectively.

but why shouldn't she take it personally? After all, it is HER life
that they interfered with, probably caused her anxiety, worry, and
stress, and who knows what kind of seats were booked for them on
Maroc.

The short answer is that an airline ticket is a contract, not a promise made by a friend or family member that was reneged. You can take the latter case personally over hurt feelings and so forth, but the former doesn't respond to emotion or taking things personally (a business is not your friend, your relationship is transactional). A broken promise with airline tickets rely on diligence to hold the other party accountable for fulfilling the contract terms. Airlines are not on the hook for freeing people from worry or anxiousness...they just owe them a trip from X to Y, or limited compensation if they don't. They can cancel flights, change planes, or alter itineraries because they write the terms of carriage contracts, and those are one-sided. They don't need to get into the weeds of exactly how a cancellation is going to affect each individual's personal life. As for getting compensation, each passenger has to figure out how to exercise their rights under EU rules, even if the airline's customer service isn't helpful.

I just don't think OP should be expecting a big cash or refund payout for compensation. Perhaps if it was an American company but Spanish companies are very different. You can try but it might cost more in effort than it's worth.

I just don't think OP should be expecting a big cash or refund payout for compensation. Perhaps if it was an American company but Spanish companies are very different. You can try but it might cost more in effort than it's worth.

Nope, no matter the country European airlines are subject to this law
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_Compensation_Regulation_261/2004

I have filed and gotten the max

I agree with the above post. The EU rules are not country or airline specific within the EU territories. That's the point of common rules across a single market. EU compensation, from the limited instances I've seen, is pretty generous.

I find it interesting that so many people were unable to comprehend what I thought I had explained clearly. So, to clarify, Iberia offered nothing. No substitute booking, no compensation, no refund, just a non-operative phone number. The situation was resolved by a hotel staff member who knew what to do. We are in Morocco, as I write.
Where the idea arose that I was “taking it personally” came from is anybody’s guess; and, in my opinion, a silly* one. The poster who said a ticket purchase is a contract got it exactly right.
Here’s a contrasting tale of airline behavior. For the same trip, I booked a return flight CMN > CDG > SFO on Air France. A couple of months before departure, I received an email stating that the CMN > CDG leg had been cancelled for the day of our trip. Therefore, we were rebooked on a 6:30 a.m. flight. That would have meant arising in the middle of the night. Not very appealing. I called Delta (we booked through them) and got through to a human being very quickly. When I explained the situation, she immediately offered me the choices of the original itinerary a day earlier or a day later. So three possibilities, and I got to choose. Kudos to Delta/Air France, rotten eggs to Iberia.
* I have refrained from using a stronger word for fear of offending the webmaster.
@David
If you look on the airline rating sites, you will see that Iberia fares very poorly. The point is not that other lines don’t cancel flights. It is that Iberia did it without giving out any clues as to what I could do. Not even mentioning a refund.