Today's journey starts at London Gatwick. I stayed at the Premier Inn in the North Terminal.
But Vueling depart from the South Terminal. So it's time to take the transfer from the North to South.
Gatwick was incredibly busy at this time of morning owing to a plethora of both short and long haul departures.
Vueling fly to Paris-Orly (where we're headed today) as well as Florence, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, Bilbao, Seville, Asturias, A Corűna and Santiago de Compostela. Quite the little hub for Vueling!
I decided to head to the No.1 Lounge but it was super busy.
So I paid the £10.00 upgrade to enter the Clubrooms. It's much smaller, much quieter and much more private.
Worth the £10 in my opinion!
There's a fully stocked minibar, all drinks are available on a free pour basis.
And a nifty hot chocolate station, amongst other things.
I approve!
All food is on an order basis. No buffet here. I opted for the rhubarb and custard overnight oats which were epic. I loved them.
Before ordering toast with smashed avocado and scrambled eggs. These were equally good, too!
I ended with two small croissants and marmalade, and a mug of decaffeinated tea.
After the breakfast, it was time to head to the gate.
Vueling called us to the gate for boarding, you scan your boarding pass and we were then told we could board at our free will as the aircraft was ready. It was so refreshing to not be confined to boarding groups or zones, or worse still, playing "boarding not boarding".
The seats at front are "Space Plus", and have a little more legroom.
I'm in 9A though, Vueling's 'regular' economy.
Legroom was a little bit on the tight side but pretty standard for low cost carriers like this.
The leather headrests caught me off guard though. Not what I was expecting!
The aircraft boasted Wi-Fi (paid for service) and USB charging ports, too.
And with that, we pushed back…
…and took to the skies over Gatwick.
We also witnessed a beautiful sunrise.
The on-board, paid for service then began. Offering a range of drinks and snacks.
I didn't think the prices were too shabby, either.
And with that, we began our descent into Paris-Orly.
It really was a quick flight, but comfortable for the length and certainly value for money.
It was dry but a little bit grim in Paris, though!
I also caught this cool TUI Family Life Hotels livery. How awesome!
Thanks for watching and reading!
Hi there, thanks for this insightful look into the Vueling experience!
Ooh, nice. I would definitely pay an extra 10 pounds for a nice and less crowded lounge over the standard Priority Pass entry. Looks nice!
Yikes I don't know how I feel about that. It's so typical of LCCs to do this stampede-like free-for-all boarding, but it's so anxiety-triggering--which, I suppose is the point as it creates a mentality to rush to get on board and find space for bags. I assume they had a separate, and similar, priority boarding process for those who paid for it and elites, which I guess makes it a little better for those who have priority boarding access.
Totally agree, Vueling offer better in-flight amenities than even most European traditional carriers, much less LCC. In-seat power on airlines like LH is hit-or-miss at best, for example. The main complaint I always hear about Vueling is that the seat pitch is super tight and seats are hard. But honestly, they don't have more seats than any other LCC or even legacy carrier. Iberia and BA both have similar seat counts, so overall Vueling seem like a good value. I've just generally avoided them since VY flights don't earn Tier Points hah. But I wouldn't mind flying them at all if given the opportunity (though my travels are more MAD-centric than BCN, so chances are slim).
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the thoughtful comment - I’m very much with you on the Clubrooms. For £10 extra, the quieter, more private space is a no-brainer.
The “board at your own pace” approach definitely sounds very LCC and chaotic, even if the aircraft is technically ready, but it was really done well. There was no stampede, no hurry, just a gentle stream of passengers in an organised fashion. I liked it! I agree on Vueling overall — solid onboard product, reliable power, and generally better than people give them credit for. Seat pitch always gets mentioned, but as you say, it’s not wildly different from BA or Iberia these days.
Appreciate you watching and sharing your perspective, Kevin!