Tips for booking on Vueling
 

Haven't been here on FT in a while, but hopefully the experts here can help..

I'm taking a trip to Europe next month from the US. I'm doing a one-way leg that takes me from Barcelona to Prague. Cheapest flights are on Vueling, but I've been reading less than encouraging information about fees for credit cards and luggage.

I read that it might be more efficient to book through Iberia than directly through Vueling and that this might help me avoid some of the fees. My question to the crowd.. is that the way to go? Can I in fact help my cause by booking through Iberia? And also, is there a way to avoid (or at least to minimize) fees from paying online by credit card?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Quite simple. Make two dummy bookings in both sites. In my experience Iberia used to charge more than Vueling on Vueling flights. Besides, Iberia now charges for credit card payments -not for debit- something they didn't use to.

Booking through Iberia you get the all-inclusive price (Avios and a piece of luggage). Through Vueling you have access to a cheaper tariff without luggage and without Avios earned. Also there are some bugs in Iberia.com, that don't allow some bookings. For example you can book BCN-SOF and BCN-SOF-BCN, but cannot book SOF-BCN and SOF-BCN-SOF. Vueling.com does not have this error.

I have a ow leg BCN-MXP on 8/2 for my wife and I. After researching the alternatives, I decided to book it via Iberia and use some IB Avios to do that (I opened an IB account and transferred some AMEX MR points over). The leg was 4500 Avios and I think about $45 or so each. Also, as noted, gets 1 free bag to check.