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Bought a cash ticket Man – Mad with Iberia, originally departing 11 a.m. now altered to depart 18.20 so rerouting available via BA under EU 261
Was planning on upgrading to Business Class using Avios (10k)
As the new route will be MAN – LHR – MAD. This will mean more Avios.
When I phone up for the re-route would they charge based on the original or the new route
Thanks
I imagine that you wouldn’t be able to upgrade the existing flight now without first accepting the schedule change, and once you’ve done that you would lose the option to reschedule. The other way round, if you reschedule first then any upgrade would be based on the new flights.
If they let you upgrade then still offer a free change you could pick any expensive flight with no reward seats available, which seems somewhat unlikely (regardless of your intentions or current availability on the intended alternative flight).
Exactly my thought about having to accept new T & C’s etc
Actually noticed that they have cancelled the original flight (new flight number) re-route even with layover. at LHR will get me to MAD before new departute time
I will see what will happen
Thanks
Is the new 18.20 departure time out of the question? Having to transit LHR unnecessarily adds a lot of time and inconvenience to a journey, and BA’s track record of leaving MAN (and LHR!) on time is not great. You also have to transfer terminals at MAD on arrival which will make the day even longer!
We flew this route a couple of weeks ago on IB Express, and it arrived in MAD bang on time. We had exit row seats, and being only a 2-hour hop, business class was pretty redundant.
*Just seen your 2nd post!
Could you accept the reroute and then afterwards just upgrade the LHR-MAD sector?
How soon are you travelling? If within 14 days you could potentially be due compensation as your original flight was cancelled. Depends on the reason for cancellation and it is Iberia, not best known for paying up.
That’s a nasty reroute. They’ve just wasted you a day! To route you via LHR adds so much time and hassle it’s brass neck of Iberia to call this a reschedule. Even from your first post it was clear it was a cancellation.
If within 14 days of the flight then you’re owed £220 under EU261. There is advice on many threads here about pursuing this and Yes I would – and in the UK -where you can legally pursue it as your booked flight started in the UK. If you’re not up to potentially having to go to MCOL – likely all judged on paper submissions – but with the decency of operation of the UK court system behind you – then see if one of the major claims handlers will pursue it for around one third of the compensation amount forthcoming.
Iberia seems to have the Spanish regulator asleep most of the time on EU261 claims but luckily this is not the case in the UK so of course you use your good luck that your flight is from the UK so you claim in the UK system instead.
You could ask Iberia or look on flyertalk to try to find out why it was cancelled. Sounds like commercial reasons though which is not one of the very few that gets them out of paying.
Personally I’d stay MAN-MAD and do it on another date of your choice especially as being an involuntary reroute, 261 says you’re not restricted to flights with Avios seats available. Though you may have to argue this with some Iberia agents.
Not sure of your reasons for upgrading but Yes on IB No on BA for me on this route.
@LL, this is totally typical of IB. I’ve got several cheap cash bookings with them this year and all but a couple have been changed or cancelled – it seems to be pretty standard for the MAN-MAD route to be changed by 7/8 hours when IB finally settles on a schedule. I’ve now come to see them as cheap and convenient but don’t book anything else which might be derailed by one of their changes!
I don’t know how much success the OP would have trying to get re-routed on an LCC to MAD, he’s entitled to it but would probably need to be very persistent (or even litigious) to be reimbursed by IB.
In IB’s defence, however, I will mention that the 4 flights I’ve taken with them over the past fortnight have been 100% on time, and we were even upgraded on one of them (and that one was an avios booking!)
It’s not just MAN-MAD @NL it seems to be IB thing to view schedules as all flexible on their side and s*d the law about compensating people when you really mess up their plans.
Iberia would be really convenient for me to fly but each time I start then stop thinking about booking them. They royally nerfed my Transatlantic trip one Christmas and were absolute b*st*rds about fixing it.
Even when after many calls I found a good agent and handed them the, miraculously avios-available (even though this should not have been strictly necessary) flights to reroute me on a plate. after an Iberia cancellation would have left me stuck at Heathrow for 3 days over Christmas with no flights out and missing appointments in the States, if I’d flown their disastrous alternative.I do believe the OP would get paid out following the procedure in the UK though. Assuming flight qualifies ie within 14 days and no valid exceptional circs.
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