Iberia Denies Avios Due to Booking Inconsistencies
Last week we covered a deal offered by Iberia for up to 90K Avios that everyone seemed to be really excited about. Dubbed “the deal of the year” by many. But like all amazing deals, it has not been without issue. First, accounts are still locked (mainly for those who created an account to take advantage of the deal). Although, not exclusively as Shawn reported issues with his established account also being locked. Now there may be another issue with Iberia awarding the 90,000 Avios.
Yesterday, One Mile at a Time posted a report from a reader along with an email from Iberia stating that although he correctly provided proof of identity as requested by Iberia, they would not be able to honor the promotion due to “inconsistencies in his bookings”.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, it seems this traveler did what many of you have done, he booked 10 one way tickets that fall within the parameters of the deal terms. Hopefully there is something else that caused a red flag on his account, but without more data points it’s hard to say for sure. Up until this news, it did seem that Iberia was honoring the deal as long as people followed the terms and conditions set forth by Iberia.
Please let us know if you have successfully unlocked your account and what types of flights you booked to meet the promotional terms.
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I highly recommend anyone that does not get this promotion to dispute all charges with the credit card company. Iberia will charge fees if you cancel the flights and I refuse to give them a dime for this bait and switch. Give em hell.
I had no problems with this promotion. Caveats..I had an existing account with a few miles left in it, and had flown Iberia on points and also a smaller cash flight.
i had the same thing happen.
1. I opened a new account (1 account only) to book the tickets with and booked them under the terms & Conditions of the promo
2. I had my account locked after they started processing the promo
3. I sent the required form, proof of identification, and ticket receipts per their request to have my account unlocked and avios posted.
4. I got the same email that they were denying my avios due to “booking inconsistencies”
Would love to get some advice on how to fight this. It seems very illegal since there are numerous confirmations that this was a valid promotion.
Yes, I knew it was going to be abused, so I also took a pass.
Too much effort, and too big a chance of having your account closed.
I personally passed on this offer because I knew that there was a strong possibility of “problems” getting my points. Had I been able to buy the extremely low airfares (like the first participants did), I would have taken my chances. But otherwise, when a deal is “too good to be true” but extremely odd and complicated, the risk is too high when you have to fork over real cash to play.
++1
+2
I might have taken my chances earlier on (but was travelling). Later on I realized it was way too popular and that there was likely going to be a fight to get my points (I have been down this road before) so I stayed out. Glad I did.
Did he get his money back at least? I created accounts for 2 and booked 10 tickets and my accounts were locked. I sent in our passports and received a message stating they would contact us shortly.
How long did it take to get a reply saying they received your passport?
3 days. I have not heard from them and the miles have not posted, so I will call tomorrow. I think it was worth a shot to try this deal, it was not that much work or cost for what you get. I hear people are getting the miles or getting flights canceled and their money back.
Got mine, but not my wife. I had created accounts for both of us and actually transferred 1000 points to each account and my points hit a few weeks ago and hers hit the weekend of the promo. I used my points to book Bus. Class to Madrid from Chicago and then two flights from Madrid to Dublin in economy with one being Iberia and the other BA. Iberia says be patient and it was to take up to 10 days.