My three children ages 11, 15, 17 were traveling together with Iberia Airlines on an international flight yesterday from the U.S. to Israel with a stopover in Madrid. They ended up getting bumped off their flight 3316 from Madrid to Israel against their will. They were stuck in Madrid, Spain for over 12 hours without knowing the language and because they keep kosher there was very little food they could eat.
Even though they were early at the gate they were singled out and not allowed to board due to overbooking. I am suspicious that they were chosen because they were children / minors and inexperienced travelers. They were taken to a hotel to stay and my oldest was so nervous because she was now responsible, and could not sleep a wink.
When I called to protest in Spain, the lady at the gate said that it was the law and they were chosen to be bumped since they were one of the last to check-in but they were not able to be given a check for compensation because they were minors. They were given some voucher written in Spanish with a guarantee they would be reimbursed by the Iberia ticketing office on arrival. We were then informed in Tel Aviv they do not do that and we can only reach them on Sunday by phone to notify us what we should do to be compensated. It seems like we are getting the run-around for a mistake they made. What do you think?