Pay for your seats but don't expect to get them with Iberia.

I am aware that Iberia do not bother to respond on this forum but I decided to share my story anyway.

The sales pitch with Iberia does not match the reality

This is what they want you to believe on iberia.com: "Early seat booking policy Now you can book your seat with Iberia.com from the time of purchase. And, in addition, if your fare does not include the possibility to book a seat, you can purchase it before you fly at a better price than at the airport. Early seat booking To improve your in-flight comfort and allow you to sit with your family and travel companions, we offer the possibility of choosing your seat earlier and at a much better price than at the airport."

I believed it and paid the extra amount to book seats for my wife and I on all 4 sectors of our international flights from South Africa to Spain and Portugal.

We paid, booked the seats and got confirmation that the seats were reserved for us.

The reality: At check in, the seats on 3 out of the 4 flights which we had chosen and paid for were not allocated to us. In fact, the seats that were allocated to us on our return flights from Lisbon-Madrid and Madrid-Johannesburg had us seated separate from each other.

The Iberia check in individual at Lisbon airport was not interested in our problems. An attitude which sadly extended to the on-board staff as well.

I did send an e-mail to Iberia after my paid for seat was given away on my flight from Johannesburg to Madrid but I got the standard response without any offer to refund the additional amount which I had paid for the service which I had not received.

This was Iberia's reply: "We apologise for the incident that occurred in relation to the selection of your seat on flight IB6058 of 16/10/2018. Due to an unexpected adjustment to our schedule, we were unable to respect the original seating arrangement assigned."

For the last two legs when, once again the seats that we paid for were not available, I did not bother to complain,

What is the point? No doubt I will receive a similar if not the same response.

Iberia Economy - "The most exclusive class for all" - I don't think so.