Iberia downgraded me to economy class. Where’s my refund?

By Christopher Elliott Advance Troubleshooter Q My husband and I were downgraded from premium commercial sector to market on an Iberia flight from Chicago to Madrid We booked with Avios miles and paid in taxes Under EC the European airline consumer protection regulation we re entitled to percent of the ticket value as compensation That s roughly Avios miles But Iberia only gave me miles and ignored my husband s claim saying he lacked an Iberia Plus account I filed multiple declares cited EC and even emailed executives using your contacts No luck Did Iberia violate EC How can we get the compensation we re owed Christopher Long Chicago A Getting an unexpected downgrade from premium commercial sector to commercial sector can be painful and frustrating Spending eight hours in a tiny airline seat with almost no personal space is no way to start a vacation And if you paid for a higher class of amenity you deserve to get your money or your miles back You re right Iberia should have refunded percent of the fare for your downgraded cabin under EC Since you booked with miles the compensation should reflect the fare s value in Avios points The airline also failed to address your husband s claim properly Requiring a loyalty account for compensation is not a valid reason to deny a customer s rights You did everything right by citing EC and escalating to the Iberia executives listed on my consumer advocacy site Elliott org Your husband should have filed a separate claim even without an Iberia Plus account and created one if required Inevitably keep a paper trail as you did it s critical for proving your development When an airline fails to follow regulations there is a way to light a fire under it You can file a complaint with the country s aviation regulator In your situation that would have been Spain s Agencia Estatal de Seguridad A rea AESA which is responsible for enforcing EC in Spain You had an excellent paper trail with Iberia and you cited the correct regulations An AESA complaint might have nudged it into doing the right thing By the way this is the first time I ve seen an airline make a loyalty venture membership a prerequisite for EC compensation But it kind of makes sense Iberia s program is to return the miles to the ticketed traveler How could Iberia have compensated him with Avios points if he doesn t have an account Iberia is following a playbook I ve seen several times in my career as a consumer advocate An airline offers you take-it-or-leave-it compensation And you have to decide Take it or leave it I contacted Iberia on your behalf and it refunded percent of the miles you and your husband spent on the flight Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems Email him at chris elliott org or get help by contacting him on his site