Iberia quietly drops flights from Madrid to Johannesburg

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Iberia has suspended its Madrid to Johannesburg route from the end of August.

A Head for Points flagged in our comments yesterday that his booking – without him being notified – had been cancelled. A search of the Iberia website shows no services after 31st August 2019. I have found reference to the cancellation in the South African press, which cites substantial losses as the reason for the closure, but nothing published in Europe.

This is a big loss to Avios collectors as the route allowed you to reach South Africa with minimal taxes and charges (around £150 return in Business Class) compared to £570 on British Airways from London.

Unfortunately, Iberia is not (yet?) rebooking people. Although, to be fair, they haven’t told anyone that they won’t be rebooked. That said, they haven’t actually told the impacted passengers yet that they don’t have a flight! ‘Manage My Booking’ does show the cancellation.

EDIT: The Iberia website for travel agents does mention the cancellation and includes this line: “The Commercial division will announce flexibility and relocation conditions for affected passengers.” If you are ticketed on this route I would wait for Iberia to contact you.

PS. Our detailed guide on how to redeem Avios on Iberia is here – it is well worth a look as there are many ‘sweet spots’ and taxes are low.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Category

Iberia and Iberia Plus

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

paul mcevoy says:

6 Apr6 April 09:23

I used the Iberia route Jnb to Mad in January this year. It was only worth the small amount of taxes we paid in J. Grumpy crew, mediocre food and the lights in the galley left on the whole flight. I thought I was back in Belfast at one stage in the middle of the 12th of July. The stewardess could not have made more noise if she tried.
MarkH says:

6 Apr6 April 10:14

OT – Lloyds upgrade voucher.
This is my first time trying to use one and I’ve read previously in comments that it’s possible to book flights for other people but I’ve just called to book a flight for my wife using the voucher and the CS agent said it’s not possible as I have to be on the flight/s.

Does anyone know if this has changed? The guy said he’d been there about a year and it’s never been possible… Called on 01925 848 693 if that makes any difference.
- benj88 says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 10:33
  
  Should definitely be possible, should have hung up and tried again!
  - MarkH says:
    
    6 Apr6 April 11:14
    
    hmmm called again and same response. will give it another go later
    - David says:
      
      6 Apr6 April 14:53
      
      I’ve done it online, never tried over the phone.
- Doug M says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 11:58
  
  I’ve never successfully used it for someone else, and have tried. Always told no you have to travel. Others have reported success, maybe it just takes a lot of HUCA retries.
- Czechoslovakia says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 12:43
  
  Pretty sure the agents are correct as per terms and conditions. Didn’t stop me doing it online though, and ticketed without issue.
  - MarkH says:
    
    6 Apr6 April 16:20
    
    Was this recently you did it online?
    
    Thought since the Avios closure they could only be booked on the phone?
    - Rooster says:
      
      6 Apr6 April 23:23
      
      Don’t even bother trying online it won’t work now
- Alan says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 18:38
  
  From the voucher T&Cs:
  12. The cardholder must travel on any booking made using an upgrade voucher.
  
  Different to the BA GUVs where you can book for anyone you want as long as the voucher holder makes the booking.
  
  You might get lucky but I can see why not having much luck when speaking to the agents!
shoestring says:

6 Apr6 April 10:52

scr

aped intoclub aspire t3 – 4 of us, lucky as filling up fast
- Lady London says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 12:49
  
  Not No. 1?
  - shoestring says:
    
    6 Apr6 April 13:35
    
    lounong club
    - Darren says:
      
      6 Apr6 April 14:24
      
      Fat fingers Harry, or taking advantage of the facilities!?
    - Shoestring says:
      
      6 Apr6 April 19:13
      
      nah it was in the lounge – one of those tables with a built-in touchscreen monitor & internet, completely useless but better than nothing as I don’t carry a laptop
      
      [yep I had a few, finished up with several pints of Guinness with a single malt chaser (Spey) that was quite delicious and my charming Goanese server went heavy on the pour lol]
      
      back on the real deal desktop PC at our place in the sun now 🙂
    - Darren says:
      
      6 Apr6 April 19:43
      
      Excellent, good man.
      
      Have a great time.
Mike says:

6 Apr6 April 11:16

Will we still have the protection of EU 261 after BREXIT ?
- ChrisC says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 11:52
  
  Yes.
  
  It is part of U.K. law and had been since 2005. It would require Parliament to repeal it.
  
  In any case it woukd still apply to EU based airlies whatever happens. And it would still apply to U.K. airlies on flights leaving the EU even if the U.K. repealed it.
  - Mike says:
    
    6 Apr6 April 18:32
    
    Thanks – I just wasn’t sure
- Doug M says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 11:59
  
  Yes, no EU law as such. The EU determines what should happen and the individual countries write it into law.
- marcw says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 12:59
  
  Are you leaving or just pretending to leave?
  - shoestring says:
    
    6 Apr6 April 13:30
    
    hopefully just pretending
PAL says:

6 Apr6 April 11:52

OT my Hilton diamond expired March 31 but hotel still honoured diamond lounge access for stay earlier this week. *sighs when he sees Americans fill up the lounge by merely having a credit card*.
- Rob says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 12:12
  
  …. which has a $450 fee.
  - Peter 64K says:
    
    6 Apr6 April 13:09
    
    … Which is less than UK amex platinum which gets you only gold.
    - Rob says:
      
      6 Apr6 April 17:18
      
      But Hilton Gold is a teeny tiny part of the Plat benefits.
      
      For $450 you could do 8 Hilton mattress runs to get yourself Diamond status via their status match / challenge.
    - RIccatti says:
      
      8 Apr8 April 18:30
      
      Alan made a case below, Rob.
      
      Its UK AMEX Platinum benefits which are weighting below the benefits for a specialised US card.
      
      In terms of hotels, Plat gives you Hilton Gold and Marriott Gold (Radisson/Shangri-la on the side), and Marriott Gold is now 2pm non-guaranteed checkout and that’s it.
  - Alan says:
    
    6 Apr6 April 18:45
    
    Although for that $450 you get
    – Hilton Diamond
    – 150k Hilton Honors points sign-up bonus (after spending $4k)
    – 14 points per USD on Hilton spend (approx 8% return), 7x on airlines, 3x all other spend
    – free weekend night every year plus 2nd free night after $60k spend
    – $250 Hilton resort credit
    – $250 airline credit
    – $100 on-property credit if you spend at least 2 paid nights at WA/Conrad properties
    – Priority Pass for you and 2 guests
    – secondary collision damage waiver, lost baggage insurance and travel accident insurance
    
    Overall looks like an amazing package for $450 – if I was in the USA I’d be snapping it up!
Bonglim says:

6 Apr6 April 12:27

O/t

Has anyone managed to successfully chase eu flight compensation through a lawyer?
We were delayed through a lightning strike for the previous flight. Our flight back from Chicago was delayed because there was a lightning strike on the flight from Heathrow to Chicago.

There has been some precedent with this, a judge awarded compensation in similar circumstances.

But BA said now and the adjudicator said no.

Is it worth going through a lawyer. Anyone have any recommendations as to who to go with?
- shoestring says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 12:49
  
  bott and co highly recommended by others
- Lady London says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 12:56
  
  Lightning strike = genuine weather issue (as compared to when airlines seem to try to sat its weather and yet same routing other airlines planes are not late). However problems with incoming aircraft due to be used for your flight do not count as valid reasons for airline not to compensate if your flight is delayed enough.
  
  So on the surface of it, it sounds like you should have a claim if other measures are met like length of delay in your arrival to final destination.
  
  I believe Bott & co are experts if you want to pay their % of your claim, I would go for this.
- marcw says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 14:21
  
  You should be compensated, in some way or another. The problem is, they are I think 2 cases where it´s gone in favour of the passengers. But it´s not a precedent for others, since it´s not high enough in the system (because airlines did not appeal the decission).
  
  I once had a problem with easyJet, at the end we agreed a settlement through CEDR close to EC261, but not the same.
- the_real_a says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 15:55
  
  I have also used bott and co with sucess
- RIccatti says:
  
  8 Apr8 April 18:40
  
  As pointed, the issue with the inbound aircraft is not itself grounds for the airline.
  
  It’s different on bird strikes as there are protective measures that airlines should have taken.
  
  The divide is between what is inherent in the aircraft’s normal activity and normal operation of the airline. The relevant case here (which BA likes to throw in your face) is Marcela Peskova, Jiri Peska v Travel Service A.S.
  
  However, then you might request a proof from BA that measures were taken with regards to potential lightning strikes on that particular plane (and in general). If BA does not respond or refuses to, then you can go to court on these grounds — to compel the evidence will be in public interest.
Louise says:

6 Apr6 April 12:41

OT – Cancelling BA Amex, when do points go across to BA account? Just before statement produced?
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 15:17
  
  Yes usually a couple days before. Don’t cancel before they hit your account
  - Rooster says:
    
    6 Apr6 April 23:07
    
    You will get the Avios even if you cancel Amex aren’t that much of a scam
    - john says:
      
      7 Apr7 April 16:18
      
      I cancelled last week and the US guy I spoke to implied they would be lost. I only had 30 avios on there.
  - Louise says:
    
    7 Apr7 April 11:55
    
    Thanks
VJ says:

6 Apr6 April 12:44

O/T – Amex Spending Target – Best way to spend on Forex (and/or Spending in Foreign) and avoiding (lessen) 2.99% charge

Thanks
- Rob says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 17:19
  
  No ways, now that Amex and Curve are not working together.
- Grant says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 17:24
  
  The only way I can try and rationalise it to some degree is to spend on Gold where you get 2 MR points per £1 spent in FX so you are offsetting some of the 2.99% fee with extra points. Hitting spend targets for sign up or annual bonuses helps with the pain of the fee too.