Source: Iberia

  • New flights have been assigned to 36,621, or 80.2%, of the 45,641 passengers affected by the cancellations
  • Cash and voucher refunds were processed for the 4,900 travellers who requested it, 10.7% of those affected
  • Iberia requests that all travellers check in ahead of time through the airline’s website and arrive at the airport with more time than usual

The strike called by the unions for 5, 6, 7 and 8 January, coinciding with the Three Kings holiday, forced Iberia, Iberia Express and Air Nostrum to cancel more than 400 flights, affecting 45,641 passengers. However, the Iberia Group provided a solution to 90.9% of affected travellers.

Since the start of the unavoidable cancellations, Iberia, Iberia Express and Air Nostrum worked intensively to relocate as many passengers as possible on other flights, so that they can travel as planned.

So far, alternative travel options have been found for 36,621 travellers, 80.2% of those affected, and the airline continues to work to relocate the rest, depending on the options available given the complexity of the post-Christmas period, and the high flight occupancy factor.

In addition to relocating passengers from cancelled flights, the airline handled the requests of 4,900 passengers (10.7%), who chose to change their travel dates or claim a refund to avoid the inconvenience caused by the strike.

“Once the strike was called and ratified after the failure of mediation at SIMA, we were forced to cancel flights from last Friday, and, even if the strike were to be called off at the last minute, it would be impossible to reschedule them, due to the time required to handle the technical complexity of rescheduling and to the fact that passengers have already been provided with new flights, or have requested a refund of their tickets. The mere call for a strike, without any justification from the perspective of labour issues, therefore caused very significant damage to thousands of travellers, but also to more than 90 airlines, including Iberia itself and all the airlines in the IAG Group, who have been forced to cancel hundreds of flights,” says Juan Cierco, Iberia’s Corporate Director.

Customers who wish to do so can still process any changes through Iberia’s website, the travel agencies where they purchased their flight, and the airline’s Customer Service Centre, where additional staff will handle their requests, but where the wait may nonetheless be longer than usual. The Customer Service Centre’s telephone number to call from Spain is 900 111 500. For those calling from outside Spain, the telephone numbers can be found on Iberia’s website.

Given the problems that are expected to take place at airports due to the strike, Iberia requests that its customers check in ahead of time through the website and arrive at the airports with more time than usual.

Once again, Iberia thanks all its customers for their understanding and patience and apologises for the inconvenience caused by the strike called by airport services unions.