flyerUSA

Just flew Vueling for the first time, will never do it again, ever. From ATH-BCN-RAK, here's what happened:

1) Can't check in online

2) Checking in at the airport, they ask me what kind of seat do I want. I had already chosen seats online! They say, no you didn't. (Yes I did.) Got decent seats anyway...ok no big deal, but

3) ATH-BCN Flight is listed an hour late. Eventually became 3 hours late. Status is never updated.

4) I can accept that all refreshments are paid, even water...but the refreshments were just outrageously overpriced. A bottle of water and a tiny little bag of almonds set me back almost 7 euros. Obscene. And most of the menu was unhealthy fast food garbage. Like, complete garbage. I could get something at McDonalds, set it on fire, eat the charred item, and still come out healthier that something from that Vueling menu.

5) Seat pitch - pretty brutal, but I'll give them a pass on this one too, low cost carriers are what they are.

6) My next flight, BCN-RAK, is listed online all day as 1hr late. I appreciated the notice, thinking, well I can just show back up at BCN later and enjoy my dat at Sitges. But then at the last second, the status is changed back to ON TIME. So I freaked out and RAN back to the airport...only to wait at the airport for 2 hours. Not only did it go back to being 1 hr late, it was even later. The Flightstats page says "79 minutes" but that's pretty generous, we didn't really get off that plane until 90+ minutes late. They don't really inform you of status or reasons or anything at all.

7) This flight was very late at night, supposed to depart at 11:45pm, so when I'm getting onto the plane after 1am, I was so sleepy I could barely keep my eyes open. I kind of stumbled a little at the plane door. And I was mad, and my face looked grumpy I'm sure. A very stern male flight attendant kind of scolded me in Spanish, asking me "are you alright?" but in a very accusatory tone, as if I was a drunk or something. (I was completely sober.) I had to convince this guy I was fine and healthy instead of ripping his head off about the inexplicable lateness.

8) THE CROWD - is this all europeans? Just all spaniards? Just Vueling low budget travelers? But they were all sick - plane full of coughing people who don't cover their mouths and who have absolutely no respect for personal space, or polite queueing, or patience at all. Both flights, the plane landed and everyone immediately jumped out of their seat - while the plane is still moving on the tarmac - and shoving themselves into the aisles to be the first one off. I'm always in a hurry, so I'm kind of sympathetic, but yeesh this was just crazy. And blatant line cutting in the jetway too! Standing there, waiting for people to board and the coughing jackholes behind me not only refuse to stay back (let's cough our germs onto everyone!) but they even tried to shove up in front of me while I was standing there!

9) My bag was damaged, not enough to file a claim (and I doubt they would care or do anything) but damaged still.

Just awful. Blech. I just have this one experience and I haven't been to Spain much so I can't really tell which factor is the most impactful - culture or specific airline - but the experience was just not good.

On the bright side, if you are stopping somewhere for 12 hours, Barcelona is the place to do it. I taxied to & from Sitges, spent the day on the beach, got some dinner in town, it was lovely, except for the flying.

OH - one more thing - my hotel in RAK plans to have a guy waiting for me at the airport to pick me up. They ask me, if the flight is delayed, please call us. (Yes the hotel should just check online too but that's another story.) So when I'm boarding, I ask the guy, "can you tell me what is the new arrival time?"

He can't figure it out. He is totally confused. He tells me "it's 3 hours minus 2." Well the flight time is wrong. His idea of the time zone difference is wrong. He stumbled some more and then said something like "you figure it out."

I said "that was not helpful, at all."

I don't think he understood me or cared.

Armodeen

Sounds like you had a bad time all around!

However Vueling is not Iberia and I suspect your post belongs in the loco forum.

TPJ

Agree!

Let me explain:

IB and Vueling (and BA and soon EI) have the same owner - IAG (International Airline Group), but these are totally different companies. They even use different systems: IB is on Resiber (DCS, host)/Amadeus (Res) while Vueling is on Navitaire.

vhrum

Hmm. Flew them back in May NCE-BCN, and my experience was fine, of course nothing to write home about. But for the price (<€100) it couldn't be beat, plus I got 500 Avios

craigthemif

Ryanair is the worst airline ever, although our American friends might argue in favor of Spirit Airlines.

Otherwise, the OP just had a bad day on a low cost carrier, paying a fraction of the cost of flights on a more service-oriented airline.

BJM

I too, just flew Vueling from BIO to BCN. eeech! I had high hopes for this airline. I have a different favorite for flights within Spain.

DrMaturin

My dos centavos, we flew Vueling from BCN-Orly and it was fine. On time, seat acceptable, didn't buy anything on board. Would do it again.

milesk

Being in MSP we are hub captive with DL but I swore we would never fly Spirit. Needed 2 one way tickets IAH-MSP. DL was ~$1400 coach vs Spirit at ~$370 (including both tickets and the big front seats). Since this was a personal trip, it was a no brainer. Read up on Spirits policies and had no problems at all. Just glad there was not IRROPS or I might be singing a different tune.

williamluk

Really don't have much choice if you are in Spain, think a lot of IB routes are flown by Veuling anyway (codeshare).

Indelaware

OP, I assure you that Vueling is not the world's worst airline. Indeed, no European carrier - nor even American carrier - can claim that title. One must look into the depths of the second and third worlds to find contenders for it, but Vueling is not one.

I can't think of any airports served only by VY, but there may be some. In general, however, between any two airports there are likely many carriers providing service; sometimes that service may require a connection at a third airport, but that doesn't mean that it is not service.

williamluk

Oh I don't think VY is that bad at all. Infact its pretty ok for a budget airline. Ryan Air is probably much worst than VY if you ask me.

smit0847

I DETEST Vueling with a passion.

KRSW

In my experiences, the cheaper the price of the base fare the lower the class of pax on the plane. There's a reason I avoid ultra-low cost carriers. Over here in Yankland, JetBlue is the only low cost carrier I'll do. No Southwest or Spirit or the others. And yes, I do notice a distinct difference between some of the JetBlue flights vs. AA or DL.

duniawala

I thought BA was the worst judging by the number of complaints on FT. I guess we have a new contender.

TMOliver

As the cabin boy was quick to say, if you keep signing on for voyages, inevitably one day it will be your time in the barrel.