pauly_long

Will be in SVQ in January and will need to fly to CDG for my onward journey back home.

Vueling seems to be the only carrier with any direct flights out of SVQ (the Iberia flghts are Vueling codeshares) - I generally avoid LCCs, simply because when things go wrong, they go really wrong.

Searches here seem to indicate they are "typical" for a low cost carrier, TripAdvisor ratings were horrid. Rick Steves ratings were all fair to positive.

It's a short flight, my priorities are reliability (minimal delays, and extremely rare cancellations), and minimal hassle with checked luggage (since i'll have two weeks worth of stuff with me).

Thanks

djjaguar64

I have a similar dilemma. I need to book BCN to PMI and Vueling seems to have 23kg allowance and direct flights. Are they reliable enough?

corporate-wage-slave

It's a European low cost carrier, and to the average traveller there won't be a lot of difference between easyJet, Ryanair, Norwegian, W!zz or Vueling. Norwegian has wifi, easyJet has the most engaged crew, Vueling the most laid back about cabin luggage, but frankly this is all on the margins, people chose the airlines not based on brands, but on fares and timetables, and at that level they are much of a muchness. Don't expect a lot of leg room on any of them. Ratings on the two sites mentioned are somewhere between useless and misleading, if any of them was that was not doing the job asked of them by their customers, they would be out of business by now. If you're after the finer things in life then you're not flying economy on low cost carriers.

Now for reliability we can move to statistics. One particularly useful route is LGW to BCN since easyJet, Vueling, Norwegian and British Airways all compete more than once a day on that route, Monarch have a one a day flight 6 days a week. So the figures there are online on the CAA website, and if we take January 2017 (a tough month due to weather and congestion at both airports).

Airline - Flights - percent on time - average minutes late.
Vueling - 215 - 69.3% - 18.7 minutes
easyJet - 258 - 75.2% - 12.6 minutes
Norwegian - 56 - 57.1% - 26.4 minutes
BA - 72 - 73.6% - 13.5 minutes
Monarch - 24 - 79.2% - 13.1 minutes

On time percentage allows for a maximum of 15 minutes delay. So Vueling are not the best, not the worst for reliability, but in common with most airlines in Europe they do run their equipment and staff fairly intensively with very little contingency. Mostly this works. Cancellations are not easily recorded, but due to EC261 pretty much all airlines do their best to avoid cancellations at the last moment, I can't point to a difference between any of them.

For baggage, don't think it terms of leeway with any of these airlines, just factor the cost of checked baggage into the relevant total cost comparisons.

nanyang

Took a couple of flights with them last summer. Paid for their semi-business class product - so no problems with bags and some other benefits included in the price as well. If the price is right, you might consider that product.

I had no issues - but the sample size is 2 flights.

Ldnn1

I don't know why you have a dilemma here. If it's the only direct flight and it's a reasonable price, take it.

ACYYZ/SD

Have taken Veiling at least half a dozen times and have found them perfectly acceptable. Certainly no worse than IB who charges for a soft drink, etc.

djjaguar64

Thank you all esp ACYYZ/SD.

Yes, will be booking with the checked luggage option fare.

onuhistorian0116

A couple of years ago, I flew Vueling LIS-BCN, no issue, the flight was on time, I have no real memories about the crew one way or another. If the price was right and they fit my schedule, I'd book them again without thinking twice.

At the same time, last January I flew OK from SVO to PRG, on a codeshare ticket bought from Aeroflot. OK, despite being a member of the Sky Team, a legacy carrier, and being sold as an Aeroflot code share, did not even provide free water.

On both sides of the Atlantic, the difference between legacies and LCC's is shrinking each year.

The only LCC's I avoid are Spirit and Ryanair, as they are not upfront about what passengers do and do not get with their ticket, which helps them collect more surprise fees at the airport. I have flown Easyjet, AirAsia, Vueling, and am booked to fly Wow, all 4 are pretty up front about what is included with the ticket, and what to do should you want to check a bag, have an assigned seat, or have more leg room.

Concerto

By CZ do you mean China Southern Airlines? Do they have a codeshare flight on Aeroflot between Moscow and Prague, or maybe on CSA Czech Airlines (OK)? Every CZ flight I've been on has had a hot meal service.

onuhistorian0116

Oops, I mean OK. Yeah, all the Asian "legacy" carriers still provide hot meals even on 60 minute flights.

The service on Czech was not what I was expecting.

Concerto

You know, it used to be really amazing on OK, until relatively recently. It's a shame that service everywhere is so poor, but flight prices have never been lower. Sometimes service can improve, e.g. Air France in recent years.

bebert

if you do not mind crossing paris, Transavia can be a reliable option

i am 1.86m and Vueling was horrible to me
I found transavia more tolerable
They do not hassle you either with luggages