Who is responsible for refund and who can help

DDTelford

I booked flights with eDreams for an Iberia flight from Seville which was subsequently cancelled. We were not able to fly back until the following day and had to fly with Vueling as no Iberia flights earlier. We contacted both eDreams and Iberia and have received different advice about which company is responsible for progressing the different elements of our claim - we also spoke to BA (as we had added bagged to the flight through them) and the CAA and they all give different advice:

·       BA and eDreams say that only the refund of the cancelled flight should be sought through eDreams, with claims for expenses and compensation being made by Iberia.

·       Iberia and CAA say that all claims (refunds, expenses and compensation) should be sought through eDreams who will liaise with Iberia.

We are being royally messed around with both Iberia and eDreams blaming each other and suggesting that I need to raise the issue with the other party. I have done this and raised multiple queries with them both, all of which generate an acknowledgement of receipt but no mechanism to discuss the claim. Both companies minimise discussion by operating a maze of automated chat bots and unanswered web forms.

I have spent a huge amount of time trying to get answers from both companies but have ground to a halt with no obvious way to resolve the issue.

The CAA don't have jurisdiction as the flight didn't depart from the UK, are there other regulators who can help?

eskbanker

All claims relating to flight cancellation and delays are the responsibility of the operating air carrier, i.e. Iberia here.  Escalation would need to be to AESA: https://www.seguridadaerea.gob.es/en/ambitos/derechos-de-los-pasajeros

DDTelford

Thanks for this, very helpful. So although I transacted with eDreams, it is still Iberia who need to resolve this?

eskbanker

DDTelford said:

Thanks for this, very helpful. So although I transacted with eDreams, it is still Iberia who need to resolve this?

Yes, the EU regulations are very clear that it's the operating air carrier who holds all obligations to the passenger:

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1476179175834&uri=CELEX:32004R0261