Flight to Spain in the balance

If the customer service at Iberia is any reflection of the management at the troubled Spanish airline, I can see why the carrier has so many problems.

I spent about an hour on the phone with the airline today, getting disconnected three times. I have been calling every day and checking the website to find out if there is an update on my flight Dec. 17 to Spain. The flight is still confirmed although a strike is planned for Dec. 14 and Dec. 17-21 to protest cutbacks at the airline.

You can understand why they can't change flights that aren't canceled, but still, it's frustrating that they have no information on when they would notify passengers. They said they would make other arrangements, but I can just see the chaos of all these people trying to rebook with limited notice. I guess that is the point.

So....I decided to buy some peace of mind by changing my flight to Dec. 16. The cost is pretty wild, and there is always the possibility that they won't strike, but I don't want to take the chance. And there is a lot to say about limiting stress, for anyone, of course, but especially for someone like me operating with a compromised immune system.

In the meantime I'll watch my expenditures to see if I can make up some of the difference. I could start by skipping Starbucks, but I'm not sure how that would work out.