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I bought tickets on an AA flight (PHL-MCO) with Iberia points. The booking confirmation email specifies:

Booking confirmed. You will receive your tickets in a separate e-mail.

and later in that email:

Baggage included (per person) Hand baggage: 1 item max. 10 kg (56x40x25cm) and 1 personal accessory included, on flights operated by oneworld airlines. For all other airlines, check with the flight operator. In hold: Baggage in hold: 1 item max. 23 kg and 158 cm included.

We never got the emailed tickets, but when we showed up to check-in, the counter agent said the ticket didn't include checked bags. We were thus forced to pay for bags.

I've submitted a complaint via their form to Iberia after the return flight requesting a refund, but haven't heard back (going on 18 days now). What's my best path to a refund here? Should I also be complaining to AA? Is a chargeback warranted? A DOT complaint?

Thanks

Baggage confirmation email snippet

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  • 1
    Which email specifies that? The one you never got?
    – littleadv
    Commented Jul 22 at 17:19
  • @littleadv thanks, edited with clarification. I'm not sure how much of the email is wise to share, what with all the personal information, else I'd attach the whole thing
    – thehole
    Commented Jul 22 at 17:21
  • From whom / whose website did you purchase the flights? Iberia? AA? Third-party travel agent?
    – shoover
    Commented Jul 22 at 17:25
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    @shoover directly through Iberia on their website with Iberia Avios
    – thehole
    Commented Jul 22 at 17:27
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    If the email contains personal information, photograph it. Then in the resulting image, obscure the personal information. Finally, take a screen shot of the email-with-obscured info, and attach that screen shot into the text of your question using the "Edit" button below the question text, followed by selecting the "Moon and Mountains" tab in the text entry box.
    – DavidRecallsMonica
    Commented Jul 22 at 17:35

2 Answers 2

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The error here appears to be with Iberia - American Airlines do not sell economy tickets on the route you've indicated that include bags, thus American were correct to charge you for the bag.

Given you have already reached out to Iberia, I would suggest contacting them again - this time reminding them that they have a legal requirement under US law to display the correct baggage information both during the booking process as well as on the booking confirmation (eg, email) they provide after making the booking - which obviously they didn't do.

If they continue to fail to respond, a US DOT complaint against Iberia would be the correct path to take. As a part of the complaint resolution process, the DOT will reach out to Iberia and ask them to contact you to resolve the issue.

As stated above, the issue here is NOT with American Airlines (who have correctly charged you their standard advertised baggage fees), so a credit card chargeback, or a DOT complaint against AA, would NOT be appropriate action in this case.

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  • your link led me to identify various relevant regulations, including 14 CFR 399.79, 14 CFR 399.88, 14 CFR 260.2 “Prompt refunds”, and more. Shortly after sending a more sternly worded message intimating knowledge of these regulations and Iberia's obligations, and dangling the possibility of a DOT complaint, they responded that they'd reached out to American to initiate a refund. thanks for the link to get me started, it made me much more confident in striking a harder tone.
    – thehole
    Commented Jul 25 at 4:43
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This is not uncommon when you book on an airline different from the one operating the flight. However, given that the email confirmation states that you have a checked bag included, just get in touch with customer relations of both airlines. I am sure they will take care and most likely issue a refund.

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    Thanks for the suggestion to reach out to the other airline as well. At the gate, the agent was pretty insistent that it wasn't their issue and that there was nothing they could to about it. Looking back, though, it's them that I paid, so it's them that might be most likely to issue the refund in the end
    – thehole
    Commented Jul 22 at 18:59
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    That answers feels a little naive. These days airlines are masters at customer service prevention: it's often difficult and time consuming to contact a life human being and the most likely outcome is mutual deflection. AA will say "talk to Iberia" and Iberia will say "talk to AA".
    – Hilmar
    Commented Jul 22 at 20:23

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