Vueling Airlines

✅ Verified Review | This is the second time flying with Vueling on the same route which was Manchester to Alicante return. On this occasion we did have an issue which was my fault. I had accidently put one of the children's names down under her mother's name who was traveling with her and it should of been in her dads name. I didn't notice this until about 1 week before we travelled. I contacted customer services and they said it could only be changed unless I paid £470, I pleaded with them and asked for a manager but was told unless I pay, the name can't be changed which would mean the child would be refused check in. I reluctantly paid this then later sent an e-mail to the CEO of Vueling who was thankfully more understanding and arranged a prompt refund of the £470 and apologised. I am therefore not going to hold this against Vueling to much. I am a great believer that it is not what a company does, but what they do to correct an issue that is important. The check-in at Manchester Airport was fast and efficient and we were offered free check in of our cabin bags. We were about 30 minutes late in taking off but only arrived 10 minutes late into Alicante so can't complain. The aircraft going out was in reasonably good condition although probably could of done a with a clean, but like all budget airlines the planes get cleaned once a day and this being the last flight of the day what can you do. It got us and our baggage there in one piece and the staff were professional and friendly. The return flight from Alicante was pretty much the same as the outbound flight apart from it left exactly on time and the aircraft was newer and cleaner. I will fly with Vueling again and would choose them over the likes of Ryan Air. They give you a very generous luggage allowance of 23kg which is a lot more than many other airlines and they also charge a lot less for it.

✅ Verified Review | Munich to Rome. The flight Munich to Rome went without a problem and although we didn't do the online check-in, we received good places at the emergency exit with a lot of space for our legs. But the flight back to Munich turned to be a horror. Queuing in the line for a check-in in Rome Airport, the Vueling guy behind the desk says "Sorry, the flight is overbooked". What do you mean, overbooked? There are no seats for you on this plane. To be precise: in our plane there were 186 seats and 191 tickets sold for a flight VY6296. We were asked to go to the gate and wait until everyone is seated and maybe there are free seats. So we waited, and then heard our names and an invitation to enter the plane. Sadly, Vueling personnel at the gate and Vueling personnel in the plane could neither count nor talk to each other. After we were standing in the plane in front of all the passengers, it became clear that there are 2 of us, but just 1 free seat. So one of us could fly and another should leave the plane. We asked to leave together. A captain came out and excused for Vueling. We had to leave the plane with the whole plane looking at us as criminals, quietly accusing us of a plane delay. We returned to the gate to hear the news that the next Vueling flight to Munich is in 24 hours. Vueling offered us a flight to Barcelona, a stay over there and a morning flight to Munich. And they do not cooperate with other airlines and could not put us on the different company’s plane leaving for Munich in an hour. Surprisingly, the whole process of getting vouchers for a flight to Barcelona, hotel transfer and so on went super smooth. Finally, we landed in Munich on the following Monday at 10 am, being late to work, exhausted and hungry. Vueling assured us that we will get 250 Euro compensation per person, which is, first of all, hardly covers nerves, stress and lost 12 hours, and secondly, let’s see whether they will transfer this money at all. But all's well that ends well, just never fly Vueling again.

✅ Verified Review | How much can go wrong on a flight from Luton to Amsterdam, well, a lot apparently. Online check-in, not available. Check-in at airport, long queues. Run to gate, final boarding announced. Plane not there. No space between seats, grumpy crew, late arrival. Luckily I didn't check any luggage in.

❎ Unverified | Gatwick to Rennes. I was apprehensive about using this company based on previous reviews, but figured you can't really do much to ruin a 45-minute hop across the Channel. The plane, half empty, had an overall shabby cabin but reasonably pleasant crew- they didn't do a full trolley service though, and some people appeared to get drinks while I was ignored. Again, I didn't really mind on such a short flight. Seat pitch was tolerable, we landed early and my bags arrived on the same plane as I did- what else can I say?! Their image doesn't exactly scream 'quality' but for very short hops, they're sufficient.

✅ Verified Review | Flew London Gatwick to Rome. Check in at Gatwick was easy and pleasant they even offered to take our hand luggage free of charge for us and put it on the plane. However my criticism is that we paid for priority boarding but when it came to boarding they said we aren't doing it as the flight has come early so we are letting anyone on first. We weren't happy as we paid extra for this service. Also the person we spoke to about it was very rude. Pleasant journey and cabin staff were nice

✅ Verified Review | I booked my flight with them in January to travel in June from Birmingham to Barcelona. I received an email stating that my flight had changed to the day before! I had already booked hotels and time off work so couldn't go a day earlier. Requested a refund on 5th April and was told it would take a month. Called today as it's been over a month only to be told that the "refund hasn't been processed". I'd called 5 times before this and every customer services operator I spoke with said that the refund was being processed so they either lied or didn't check the screen properly. My flight has been cancelled and I've received notification of this. But funnily enough, they can't seem to put a refund back into my account. Strange that. Would not recommend. Plus call centre seems to be a joke. Lying or just not checking the system when asked.

✅ Verified Review | Before leaving Athens, things got complicated. We had to check in at the counter since Vueling don't allow online check in from Athens (it's unclear to me why, since other airlines offer it, and Vueling allow it in most other airports). Once at the counter we were told me and my partner wouldn't be seated together. We had paid extra to pre-select emergency row seats since Vueling's regular seats are far below LCC standards and go beyond uncomfortable for us tall people. So I responded "uhm, we've already got these seats booked and they're together" showing a printout of the confirmation. The employee's response was a simple "No you don't", saying the plane was full, emergency row was already taken and she had no record of the seat booking whose confirmation I was showing her. Several minutes passed with phone calls and eventually they agreed to put us in the 2nd row which is one of their "Premium" seats, slightly tighter than emergency row but at least I can sit there. This flight as well as the prior outbound leg were my first on-time Vueling flights in the 8 years I've occasionally had to fly with them. That was a nice surprise, they seem to have learned a thing or two from their complete chaos last summer. The cabin crew still seemed determined to make sure we wouldn't get too comfortable and were consistently cold and several times downright rude (more on that now). Despite saying the planes was full, the first row (normal seats, but reserved for their "excellence" rates which allow flexible rebooking) turned out to actually be completely empty. The cabin attendants made sure it stayed that way and would harshly chase away the few passengers who tried to sit down there, even if it was just while waiting for the lavatory to become available. They similarly defended the two first overhead baggage compartments, marked as "reserved for excellence passengers". The last boarding passengers dared to leave some duty free bags there and were rudely commanded to put them under their seats. So they remained empty the entire flight. Vueling is one of the increasingly exotic airlines who in 2017 do not allow Bluetooth onboard. This was the first flight on which I witnessed a proper bluetooth crusade by the cabin crew, who went through the rows interrogating passengers wearing anything that resembled wireless headphones. Funny enough charging big laptop Li-Ion batteries during the flight was perfectly fine for those seated in the front rows with power sockets. Halfway through the 3 hour flight the seatbelt lights came on and we were told that due to turbulence everything had to be stowed away, even iPads. Nonetheless the crew went through with the garbage trolley just a minute later. There was no trace of turbulence but the light stayed on for the entire rest of the flight and when asked crew said they didn't know whether the turbulence warning was still real and no, they wouldn't bother to ask the pilots. All in all better than in the past but still a below par experience even by LCC standards.

✅ Verified Review | Birmingham to Paris Orly. This flight was my first experience of travelling with Vueling; I chose them based purely on the price of a return ticket from BHX to ORY. I only know one other couple who have travelled with Vueling and their experience wasn't great so I had very low expectations. I found booking a very simple process as their app is relatively modern and has a good GUI; I wasn't a fan of their EVA travel assistant (found it to be a bit pointless) but either way booking and check in was painless. As I only had hand luggage my experience with ground staff was minimal, I proceeded straight to gate at BHX and tried to board, here is where the issues began! The Digital Boarding Pass that I had on my telephone wouldn't scan at the gate, neither would the passes of the 4 people in front of me and the 1 behind - they eventually checked us manually and therefore I thought this would be the end of the story, apparently not! We boarded the aircraft to take our seats - I went for the Economy Basic option which gives you 7KG of carry on and nothing else; barely even a seat apparently! The basic layout was a normal narrow body 3x3, the seats; however, were far below par. Very uncomfortable, very thin, no opportunity to recline. Following boarding comes the next stage of the check in faff - after noticing the cabin staff do 3 passenger counts I assumed something wasn't quite right. An hour of counting, recounting and checking followed, and the cabin crew still couldn't get to the bottom of what had happened. Eventually we got on our way; the buy onboard F&B menu was very limited but still very pricey. The crew seemed under pressure and came across very unfriendly; I'm sure the delay didn't help, but this still influences passenger experience. The remainder of the flight went without issue; although my opinion of the airline was still jaded. Overall I wasn't impressed with Vueling; no comfort, poor passenger handling and a poor grasp of administration. However, as I stated at the start I booked the tickets purely for the reasonable price (£70 return!); I'm not suggesting I would never use them again, but any future travel will, again, be purely for VfM purposes only.

❎ Unverified | Alicante to Manchester. This is the first and last time I will book a Vueling Airlines flight. The aircraft was in need of an upgrade. Seats were either ripped in places or had writing on them. I don't think the cleaners had been on before we embarked as there was rubbish on the floor and in seat pockets and bits of food on the tables, which had obviously not been wiped. Some seats were broken and would not sit upright, causing discomfort to the passenger behind. We sat on the plane for an hour before take off with no explanation. We were only told that we were delayed and had to sit there for a bit. English translations were mumbled and we could barely hear the pilot let alone know what he was saying. Very poor experience.

✅ Verified Review | Rome to Tel Aviv. It was the worst flight I have ever had. First of all, they changed the time of the departure. When we had to get on the plane they did not let the passengers in for some reason. The crew of the airline came late and the plane departed 30 minutes late! Except of this, the flight was at night and the stewardesses would not stop talk loud and wake up everyone. I will never fly with this company again and would not recommend it to anyone!