Complaint Rating:

Lately, this advisory from your office arrived on the day of the flight. The internet advised us to arrive at the Madrid airport 45-55 minutes before the departure time. We, 5 passengers traveling together, arrived 50 minutes early where we learned the flight had been closed 5 minutes earlier. There were signs posted at the airport indicating that 55 minutes were needed for flights leaving a certain terminal. Expecting service similar to other airlines, we then asked for available seats on a later flight. The Service Desk told us that our fares were forfeit but they would offer us the favor of buying a standby ticket for an additional fee.

Obviously Iberia Airlines is more interested in collecting fares than serving passengers. The lines at the Standby windows were the longest in that part of the airport. The policies of Iberia apparently traps hundreds of passengers a day to pay additional fees for air travel on Iberia. I am sure that Iberia would never reimburse passengers for a late departure. That is not their policy. My original trip was from Costa Rica. My wife and I had a unique opportunity to visit Spain and first reviewed travel costs from San Jose. The cost to fly to Madrid on Iberia was 25% higher than we paid traveling from San Jose (On US Air) via Phoenix to Madrid (On British Airways).

I would never recommend anyone use Iberia Airlines until they demonstrate a better service policy. I would be happy to retract any part of what I have said about Iberia should they prove any part of it incorrect.