Iberia Airlines -Take the money and run! Munich-Barcelona

I had booked a round trip ticket with Expedia.com on 7/2/09 From Munich, Germany to Barcelona, Spain on Iberia Airlines and paid $355 for the ticket. I missed my connecting flight to Munich and immediately telephoned Iberia from the U.S. which was 11 hours before I was supposed to get on the Iberia flight informing them that I could not change flights, I would be losing my airfare but could receive my prepaid taxes and fees as a refund. ($196.50). This is typical in my experiences with airlines, so I accepted it. When I got to Munich the next day, I went to the Iberia Airlines ticket counter to confirm the refund. The lady at the counter said that I would be receiving a refund for the $196.50 right away on my card. I felt comfortable with that knowledge so I proceeded to buy another ticket on Iberia for the same round-trip flight. Talk is cheap.

After two days had passed that my credit card was not refunded, I began to call and complain to both Iberia Airlines and Expedia. It was a classic case of finger pointing between these two customer service mega-disasters. On my bank statement, Iberia was the one charging me. Nonetheless, the customer service reps at Iberia insist that they didn't have my money, that Expedia has it despite unmistakable evidence to the contrary. Expedia insists that they don't have it and point to my bank statement that clearly shows Iberia charged my card. Neither of these two scheming companies will admit any responsibility for their bungling and more importantly, my $196 refund is still floating out there. Escalting to the top at Iberia only leads to transfers that are disconnected and call backs to the same person are impossible. As of today, 11 days after the fact, nothing has come of this situation.

I would avoid using Iberia or Expedia at all costs.

Sky
Los Angeles, California
U.S.A.