The two day strike will be repeated next month if an agreement is not reached between the air line and cabin crew workers syndicates

SPANISH air line Iberia has been forced to cancel 400 flights over two days, Monday October 26 and Tuesday 27, due to a cabin crew strike organised by workers syndicates CTA and SITCPLA in protest against the “repeated failure by the company to reach a new collective agreement.” The approximately 4,300 cabin staff are demanding a pay rise after four years of seeing their salaries frozen.

On Monday 200 flights out of the total 1,000 flights scheduled were cancelled causing chaos at several airports such as Malaga Airport. Madrid’s Barajas Airport terminal 4 was worse affected with many connecting national flights to the regions of Andalucia and Valencia cancelled. Flights from T4 in Madrid to Lisbon, London, Brussels and Frankfurt were also cancelled.

Iberia has appealed for the syndicates to reconsider their posture toward demands of a 4 per cent pay increase. Iberia believes that the a 4 per cent pay rise is not viable given the difficult time the industry is experiencing due to the world wide recession.

The strike action has not affected the flights from the series IB5000, IB8000 and IB7000 which are operated by Vueling, Iberia Regional (Air Nostrum) and other airlines sharing these flight codes. Neither were are connecting flights between the mainland and the Canary Islands or the Balearic Islands.

Most long haul flights were also spared being cancelled, although many passengers relied on internal connecting flights which were cancelled to be able to catch these making it impossible for them to reach their point of departure.

Iberia has announced plans a flexible approach to pricing for customers wishing to travel on these dates, as well as offering the possibility of refunds or changes to other dates to affected customers.

If an agreement is not reached in the days following the two day strikes, these will be repeated on November 10 and 11. Nevertheless, Iberia says that the negotiations are open and that the air line hopes to reach a long term agreement and not “just for four months.”

Consumer protection organisation FACUA has advised Iberia users affected by the strikes to seek compensation and not to simply accept refunds. In a statement FACUA suggests that if the flights were booked directly from Iberia passengers should direct their queries or complaints to the airline. In package holidays or multiple airline bookings via travel agencies, passengers should present their complaints to both.