An Iberia agent blamed Expedia for unpaid fares when denying a passenger boarding. The real reason, which Iberia later admitted, was a simple oversold flight.
Did Iberia claim that at any point? Seems to me like handling agent screwing up, with Iberia providing correct information when contacted. Obviously it's not any less bad (they are ultimately responsible for their representatives) but explains the stuff Ben wonders about, especially when it comes to "admitting the truth".
@ Samo -- Fair, but at the end of the day, consumers get into a contract with an airline. A contractor acts as a representative of the airline. If your bag is lost while flying with Iberia, you'd still claim that Iberia lost the bag, even if the baggage handling work is contracted out to a third party.
I agree - hence my comment on this scenario not being any less bad. But if Iberia never had intent to lie, that explains why they didn't try to cover it up either 🙂
Oof, glad Iberia got called out. I often say, EU261 is ‘better than nothing, but not perfect.’ While EU rules are way better for delays, cancellations, and duty of care, the US still handles involuntary denied boarding better. After Dr. Dao, US airlines do tend to pay volunteers well (up to $10K!) to avoid IDB; whereas Iberia supposedly can just lie about a fake ‘ticketing error’ to cover-up their oversold flights. Ideally, we want US DOT for oversold flights, and EU261 for everything else! If only we could reform/merge these two systems…