Great_circle

Absolutely true for at least 2 LCCs.

paradox

I decided to book a pair of Excellence seats. It seems a near certainty that my backpack is too large to qualify as the small personal item (certainly larger than a purse, briefcase, laptop bag, and other examples), so the Basic fare was out. To avoid anxiety and uncertainty, I'll check my roller bag and carry the backpack as hand baggage.

The two Excellence seats were 52 euros more than two Optima + upgraded seats (priority or XL). For a three hour flight, 26 euros per person seemed reasonable to sit at the front of the plane, have a little more legroom, and enjoy an empty seat between us. Mrs. paradox isn't happy about having to store everything overhead, but as a compromise, I'll retrieve from the overhead bin whatever she needs whenever she needs it.

Just for kicks, I checked the fare after I booked my tickets. I paid 150 euros each + credit card fee and management fee. (Does anyone know what is being managed that justifies a fee?) The fare for the other two seats in Row 1 are now 250 euros! That would make the Excellence fare roughly double Optima + priority or XL. I'm glad I bought when I did.

Great_circle

Had to witness a fine example of VY way of dealing with this today. Full flight, 1 hour delay, boarding by bus. A guy boarded with his guitar in a nylon gigbag, put it in the overhead very carefully and takes his aisle seat. So while everyone was finally seated a flight attendant showed up and tells the guy that his guitar was not suitable as a carry on and it had to go into the hold.
Apparently at check in he was told that he could bring his guitar into the cabin. Now, once in his seat, he was litterally told by the flight attendant that upon arrival he could collect his guitar at the bagage claim. Some people showed their support as after all there was bin space available and someone behind me even mentioned an empty seat adjacent to one of his buddies a couple of rows back but the flight attendant wouldn't listen.
Someone from ground staff finally entered the cabin which was baking in the sun by now and I don't know what was discussed but the guy reluctantly handed his guitar to the ground staf.

cmbeaumont

What was the seat width like on these seats? Was the tray table in the armrest or were they fixed? Thanks Chris

Koby

On the Vueling Excellence seats? Tray table in the armrest... (And since Vueling always only uses the first row for Excellence it's a good reason not to pay the extra price.)

cmbeaumont

Thanks on the XL seats at 14 do you know if there the same? Chris

Koby

No, row 14 has standard seats (i.e. no tray table in the armrest).

On their new A321s the XL seats could be different (but I have not flown one of those yet). (Since the emergency exits on the A321 are normally full size doors, the seats are probably of the bulkhead type - with tray tables in the arm rest. But I cannot be sure.)

paradox

UPDATE: I eventually bought two regular seats, booked on Iberia's website as a codeshare, for the same flight. The VY Excellence fares were refundable (more on that below), so I cancelled them and bought two IB fares on the same plane that included one checked bag (equivalent to VY Optima) at less than half the price of the Excellence fares and about two-thirds the price of VY Optima. For a three hour flight, the savings outweighed the empty middle seat, extra legroom, free F&B, and inability to select a seat. The fare booked through IB was much cheaper than the Optima fare available at VY on the same day. Overall, I was pleased to save almost $100 per seat for what i consider a minimal loss of benefits.

9/10 Excellence fare paid: $181
10/4 Iberia fare paid: $82 (Vueling Optima on the day I bought the Iberia fare was $120)

The refund of the VY Excellence fare is an ongoing saga.

9/10 Booked VY Excellence
10/4 Booked IB, cancelled VY Excellence, requested refund
10/5 VY says it will issue a full refund to my credit card
10/18 No refund yet. Ask VY to follow up
10/26 VY says it's waiting for my reply (to what, I wonder?). If I don't respond in a few days, they'll close the file
10/26 I reply, saying I don't know what I'm supposed to reply to (there was nothing in my spam folder)
10/26 VY says it's delayed due to an error. In order to make an international transaction, they ask for my bank information. Why they need this for a credit card refund isn't explained
10/27 I get a from my bank and send it to VY
11/25 No refund yet, so I ask for an update (by now, I've taken my flight)
11/29 VY says it's sending the matter to its Financial Department for investigation
12/7 Refund appears on my credit card(!), but it's for $20 less than what I had paid. I ask VY for an explanation
12/11 VY says they had issued a full refund, and that's that.
12/12 I initiate a dispute with my bank. It's clear that the refund is based on the 12/7 exchange rate. In the nearly three months since I bought the ticket, the euro had fallen roughly 5% vs the USD. If the refund had come through on 10/5, the euro would have fallen about 0.4% since the purchase date, and I would have been with that. But now, this refund has cost me $20 that I'm not willing to eat. It's been one delay after another from VY. Then when the refund does finally show up two months later, I'm penalized because of their tardiness. Not cool.

craigthemif

If the exchange rate had gone the other way, you wouldn't be complaining. Of course Vueling is a nightmare, but if you want to be sure of a 100% refund (or 100% clarity on what you're paying) you need to buy your tickets from a US OTA or iberia.com and pay in USD.

paradox

As stated, I'm fine with losing a small amount on the exchange rate, had the refund come through in October as promised. But the two month delay was caused by VY, and I shouldn't be penalized for it.

zam

Can someone directly compare XL seats in a A320 with Priority seats (rows 3 or 4)?
thanks,

zam

...actually, to be more specific. Only middle seats are available in row 14 so it is row 3 or row 12. Which would you pick on an A320?
thanks,

craigthemif

Only Row 1 (and the emergency exit) has extra legroom. Otherwise the only advantage of Row 3 is getting off quicker.

paradox

I finally got my full refund by initiating a dispute with Chase, which issued the card I used to pay for the fare. They credited my account, primarily as a goodwill gesture, I believe. It probably wasn't worth their time to proceed against Vueling over $19.

tarzanaguy

One year bump..so anyone have time to writeup a difference between the Vueling XL vs. Vueling Priority Seats in terms of legroom? Also, I've read that after the boarding door closes passengers are free to change to whatever seats and that they even allow standard seat holders to sit in the XL/Priority seats. Has anyone experienced that first hand?

One last question--do XL seat ticket holders also get priority boarding?