A LoyaltyLobby sent us a rather interesting question about an Iberia booking that they had to change. They ended up in a lower cabin, and the fare difference was not refunded.
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You can access Iberia here.
Reader’s Question:
I recently purchased a business class ticket for a flight from Latin America to Madrid. However, due to a change in plans, I needed to move my flight up by a day. I had booked the airline’s most expensive fare, which allowed for changes or refunds without penalties.
When I changed my flight online, I didn’t realize there were no business class seats available, so I ended up downgrading myself to economy. It wasn’t until I tried to select a seat later that I noticed I only had an economy option.
I contacted customer service, but they informed me that since I downgraded myself, I am no longer eligible for a refund or a change. They now consider it an economy ticket, and the only solution offered was to pay the fare difference to switch back to business class. While I understand I made the downgrade myself, there was no clear disclaimer warning that I would lose all my business class benefits.
What’s troubling is that my original business class ticket cost €4,000, but my new ticket is now valued at €1,500, with the airline acting as though I never purchased business class. It feels unfair – if I were upgrading from economy to business, I’d always have to pay the difference, but downgrading doesn’t result in at least any refund difference. It feels like the airline is pocketing the €2,500 difference and not acknowledging the change.
I’ve already paid to upgrade for the new flight, but I believe this is unethical and wrong. I’m considering legal action against the airline.
Has anyone experienced something similar or have any advice on how to proceed?
Let me start by saying that I despise Iberia’s website almost as much as I do BA’s, and they both belong to the same company, IAG.
It is beyond my understanding why they don’t pool all of their IT resources and make something that works for ALL IAG-controlled airlines rather than putting out crap continuously.
I don’t understand why Iberia’s website didn’t refund the fare difference if the reader changed to a lower fare that was mistakenly in the economy if the original business ticket that was purchased was fully flexible?
I believe that this is something that the reader can argue about.
The problem here is how the reader can get anyone’s attention at Iberia who is capable of understanding the issue and has some critical thinking capabilities, which are both rare.
It is unclear where the reader is based, but the flight originates from South America. Some of the region’s countries have good consumer protection, so I would start by filing a complaint with a local regulator.
Another option probably is to get a lawyer to pen them a demand letter in Europe.
What suggestions would you have for the reader? Please comment below.
Conclusion
This is a very unfortunate situation, and you should always be extremely careful when buying or changing something on airlines’ websites.
It is not always clear what the cabin is and if it is available for the entire trip or only a short-haul segment. Full fare rules are not often available or very conveniently hidden.
If you change to a restrictive fare, the new ticket obviously follows the new fare rules, but how can the airline keep the difference between the flexible and nonrefundable fares?
You could argue that this is unreasonable and borderline, if not outright fraud.
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