Cristina Hodgson
THE Commercial Court number 2 of Malaga has ordered Iberia to compensate with €2,400 plus interest and legal costs to disgruntled passengers.
The incident took place in March 2018 when a couple, along with their two children, were not allowed to board a connecting flight, causing them to arrive more than eight hours late at their destination.
The couple were travelling with the airline from New York to Malaga with a connection flight in Madrid.
Whilst in New York, the couple received an email and an SMS message indicating that there had been a delay, so they would not arrive on time to board the Madrid-Malaga flight.
On arriving at Barajas airport, they went to the boarding gate of the second flight to check if they were still on time to board and found that the plane had not yet left.
However, Iberia ground staff denied them access to board, claiming that the delay of the previous flight prevented them from flying.
The perplexed couple were handed their luggage and instructed to go to the company’s Customer Service counter to get an alternative route.
There, they were offered the possibility of boarding a flight the following day, an option that was not viable due to work obligations.
Finally, the couple made the journey from Madrid to Malaga in a coach, which took over eight hours.
Due to Iberia’s refusal to deal with the passengers’ claims, the couple turned to FACUA Málaga (Consumer Action) who filed and subsequently won a lawsuit against Iberia.
According to the law established by European Regulation 261/2004, users who were delayed for more than three hours on a flight are entitled to automatic compensation.
Additionally, Article 7 of the regulation provides compensation of €600 euros for non-Community flights of more than 3,500 kilometres, as was the case of the affected passengers, tallying €2400 for the four family members.
