REVIEW: Flying Vueling Barcelona to London – how does it compare to BA?

Since BA decided to make gaining status out of reach for most leisure travellers, I have been branching out, trying different airlines. I recently flew EasyJet and would certainly not hesitate to use them again. You can read the review here.

I also got the chance to try Vueling on a press trip (nothing to do with Vueling). I’ll admit I was slightly dreading the flight, being something of an airline/economy snob! So how did it compare?

Prices and app

I didn’t book my flight, so I can’t comment on that, but I thought it was worth exploring the other aspects of Vueling. The app is much simpler than EasyJet’s, but I did find it worked as intended, which I certainly can’t say for BA. As someone else had booked the flight for me, I was trying to find out exactly what was included, which was not the easiest in the app. However, the check-in online process was easy and worked perfectly. Once I was checked in, the boarding pass showed that I had fast track and “Priority” which I did not realise also meant check-in. 

Considering a Saturday, October departure from Barcelona to London, Vueling beats BA on price in a quite spectacular fashion, and this has really opened my eyes to how much premium we may be paying. Comparing both on a hand luggage basis with similar afternoon departures, Vueling was £13 one way, with BA being £134-£190! Vueling currently has a sale, which helps, but EasyJet was £23. However, these were to Gatwick and BA was to Heathrow.

To make a fair comparison, you would need to add an extra €27 for a large carry-on to be the same as BA, but this also includes seat selection and double Avios. If you flew to Heathrow with Vueling instead of Gatwick, that would cost an extra €19. This still makes Vueling £40 cheaper than BA.

I had a Fly Grande booking it turns out. Unfortunately, it was not really clear from the app what it included, but hopefully, if you booked it yourself, you would remember. In my example, this costs an extra €75, which I think still makes it a very reasonable fare compared to BA, as it includes more and costs a lot less.

Grande fares include:

• 1 underseat cabin bag – Max. 40x30x20 cm
• 1 piece of luggage in the overhead locker – Max. 10 kg and 55x40x20 cm
• 1 checked bag (25 kg)
• Choose your seat
• Changes and cancellation
• Priority at the airport for check-in, security and boarding
• Check-in available immediately
• Earn double Avios

Winner: Hands down Vueling for the app and pricing

Avios

The good news is that you can earn Avios on Vueling, but it is not that simple. To earn them, you can’t enter your BA Club number; you have to join the Vueling Club. It is easy to join, and you can then Combine My Avios to transfer to your BA account. All details on both accounts must be the same; otherwise, it may not function properly.

You earn a basic rate of 1 EUR = 2 Avios, and then certain fares earn double. However, BA flights earn 6-9 Avios per £1 depending on your status.

Winner: BA

Check-in

Unfortunately, it was not clear from the app that I had a Grande fare, which included a separate check-in desk, so we ended up at the regular self-check-in. First, you queue to use the machine to get your labels printed, which was quick and easy, although there was a wait to use the machine.

We then encountered numerous problems with this and had to wait for someone to come and assist us. He then took forever, and we had to lift the case from the scales repeatedly and keep going through the check-in process. 

Winner: If you were flying on the basic Fly and Flight Fares with Vueling, BA would be the clear winner here, as I have not encountered any real issues flying from Barcelona with BA before. However, if you have status with BA and compare that to the queue at the special Fly Grande desk, I’d say there was less of a queue there than I would normally get with the BA Club queue.

Boarding

This was well-organised in terms of separate queues being set up and announced clearly. But they did this way too early, and we were left standing there for around 30 minutes or more. The flight was also delayed slightly, and boarding was late. Getting people to line up before the crew even arrives is pretty stupid. Once we started boarding, it was done by group number and pretty orderly, although as usual, we did have to stand on the jet bridge for a while.

Winner: Tie – being told to lime up so early was very annoying, but it was better managed than BA.

On board

The crew was not particularly friendly. The seats were the same as the Recaro seats BA has at the back on some A320neo and A321neo aircraft, and are much thinner than older seats. Funnily enough, I had exactly the same seat in the exit row on the way out with BA.

I like the fact that they have several types of seats with extra leg room, not just the exit row. You have to pay extra, but I am happy to do this. In contrast, BA only has the exit rows and row 1 in Club with extra leg room.

Here are the types of seats and costs:

I had paid extra for a Space Plus seat which was in row 2F. I was also lucky not to have someone next to me which is priobably helped by the extra cost for these seats.

This seat came with a dedicated locker that the staff policed, unlike the BA Club Europe lockers that I have often seen economy passengers dump bags in. There was also a special locker for row 1, which is important as you can’t have anything on the floor. On BA, there is very little space for row 1 due to equipment and crew bags.

I do not find these seats particularly uncomfortable, even on the long BA Athens one that I did, and I’d regard myself as fairly fussy. The extra leg room felt very generous. I actually quite like these seats, as there seems to be a big gap between them, so people next to you don’t feel like they are encroaching on your space. 

The seats had USB powe,r which was good. I also liked the small tray table, and I find the BA ones make the space feel cramped if you are not in an emergency exit. 

There was Wi-Fi, which was available at a reasonable cost of €5.99 or €2.49 for messaging. Although on BA you get free messaging if you join the Club.

There was an interesting selection of food and drinks, including cocktails and hot food such as pizza or burgers:

I tried the jamon baguette. The cabin crew did not seem to understand me, despite me calling it the Iberica jamon baguette, and was a bit rude when I told her that the one she handed me was not the correct one. The baguette was tasty and good quality but it was a little dry.

Winner: Vueling – although you get the tiny snack and water on board with BA, I like being able to choose a seat with extra leg room near the front, too, with a dedicated locker. I preferred the smaller table for my phone or iPad to watch videos.

The food and drink selection was also better. Having Wi-fI and seat power on all flights is also good. 

Conclusion

Despite initially dreading it, I was quite happy with the onboard experience, and if I wasn’t bothered about lounges, etc., I would definitely pick Vueling over BA for the extra legroom seats near the front if it worked out cheaper or even the same. The crew could have been more friendly, but the app worked well and the aircraft felt clean and modern with all the things I’d expect such as wi-fi and power. 

Overall winner: Vueling