Iberia messing me around 😪

[NorthernLass]

I am in the middle of planning a trip to Madrid and Lanzarote next October. So far I have booked some cheap cash IB flights, including MAN-MAD, continuing the next day to ACE. The ACE flight was at 0855, which would have got us into ACE at a supremely convenient time.

IB has now cancelled this flight, and the next one is 4pm which does not suit us at all (we’d lose the entire first day). I have got options to change so am wondering whether to pick the 2130 to ACE the previous day and have an extra night on the island.

Our MAN-MAD is due to land at 14.55. Am I safe to have an unprotected connection with 6 1/2 hours in between flights?!!

*I’ve had other IB changes, but only usually by minutes rather than hours. Is it likely that they’ll change my travel times again?!

[Jill Kinkell]

It’s so irritating when airlines muck up well laid plans. I’m sure others would say 6 1/2 hrs is fine. But… who knows! Weather, strikes, leaves on the runway!( always the train excuse for delays in my neck of the woods!) I’ve built in an overnight in Madrid before our Quito flight next year. Good luck

[NorthernLass]

If it was a long haul connection I’d definitely leave a night in between!

I was just about to book a BAH for hotel and car hire, went to check the flight times and saw the cancellations (both ways, but not so much of an issue on the return).

[AJA]

I assume you will have to exit and then check in again as the two flights aren’t on the same PNR?. If so I think you should be OK. Even if the flight departs MAN an hour late you will still have plenty of time at MAD. I would be less keen if the time gap was sub 4 hours.

[NorthernLass]

Yes, collect and re-check bags and change terminal. I’ll have a think as I really wanted to keep it to 2 short flights on consecutive days, might do 1 less night in Lanzarote instead.

[SamG]

I wouldn’t make any decisions this early , it could be something like switching flights between Iberia and Iberia Express and more flights will appear, sounds very strange they wouldn’t have a morning flight. Once you’ve made a change you can’t change again FOC

[NorthernLass]

Thanks – there are days when there’s no morning flight, so I’m assuming they’ve cut mine as well for some reason. 1600 and 2130 are very late though, unless that’s the only way they can manage the aircraft.

I will wait a bit longer, though I want to lock in a decent deal on car hire – 2 nights hotel plus 9 days car hire via BAH was astonishing cheap when I got a quote yesterday!

[davefl]

The yellow bus goes from MAD to ACE if you get desperate.

[NorthernLass]

Now there’s a thought, cheers! I’ll have to look at how much extra it’s going to cost for baggage (BAEC status would apply on IB, hence the original choice!) but the 1pm arrival time looks good.

The thought of asking IB to re-route me on FR has made me laugh out loud 😂

[JDB]

NorthernLass wrote:

Yes, collect and re-check bags and change terminal. I’ll have a think as I really wanted to keep it to 2 short flights on consecutive days, might do 1 less night in Lanzarote instead.

You don’t need to change terminals in MAD. You will arrive at T4S but collect your bags in T4 from whence your domestic flight should depart so no trek back to T4S or immigration. It’s only a short walk from the luggage belt to the departure check-in area. It’s always possible of course that you might be able to sweet talk IB into checking your bags through; I can’t remember though whether you need to clear customs in Madrid.

[NorthernLass]

Thanks for that, @JDB. Still wondering if I should take one for the team and try and invoke my EU261 rights to be re-routed on Ryanair 😂

[JDB]

NorthernLass wrote:

Thanks for that, @JDB. Still wondering if I should take one for the team and try and invoke my EU261 rights to be re-routed on Ryanair 😂

1) Ryanair won’t take a booking from Iberia, so IB is off the hook there and 2) where will you be exercising (or more importantly enforcing) your EC261 rights against Iberia?

[NorthernLass]

I imagine it wouldn’t be worth the effort for a £50 flight, @JDB 😂

[JDB]

NorthernLass wrote:

I imagine it wouldn’t be worth the effort for a £50 flight, @JDB 😂

Are you, as HfP royalty, allowed to say that in the HfP forums? Many nonsense well sub £50 complaints pursued even to an actual Ombudsman!

[Lady London]

I think @SamG’s got it right and Iberia is not done messing.

Future messes could include a change to or deletion of your flight from Manchester. So who has to be happy with 6.5 hours between 2 flights? Your insurance company.

SamG’s right, defo don’t accept anything till as long as you can. Personally I’d wait tlll new flights season starts if I could. Because whatever I accept from Iberia it could always still be changed by them again and mess up your arrangements. But less likely once in same flight season.

Yes it is worth asking IB to reroute you on any flight as close in timing as possible to your original cancelled flight due to your commitments at destination. And if they say they have no other flight then ask them to consider other airlines eg the Ryanair flight. This, for 2 reasons : (1) the amusement value and (2) so that you have a record of their refusal.

Other than that, book that lovely BAH ground deal quickly and ensure your insurance will cover IB’s potential future disruption. @Cat’s experience with a similar connection with IB in summer last year left her scarred ISTR.

[NorthernLass]

@JDB, chacun à son goût, but personally I have a tipping point at which I decide whether something’s worth the effort. If I can resolve an issue to my satisfaction (which is a very subjective thing), I’d rather not invoke official proceedings.

So, Creation free nights and points withheld, or BA refusing delay compo, that’s FOS/CEDR stuff (though I acknowledge BA has improved immeasurably in the past couple of years). But if I can just get my £50 back from IB and rebook with another airline for the same price, that’s what I’ll do.

@Lady London, appreciate the thoughtful advice! I’m inclined not to get into discussions with IB, however, if possible. They changed the time of another of my flights recently and put a message on my booking asking me to contact them to request a refund. I emailed them and requested the refund, only to be told that I was wasn’t entitled to one, because the timing hadn’t changed sufficiently. You can’t reason with these people 🤦🏻‍♀️😂