Vueling and Transavia from Paris to BCN?

I have had a number of flights on easyjet and Vueling, and found them both to be perfectly fine.
Make sure you know your luggage weight to be checked in - and buy the appropriate allowance.
Make sure you know your hand luggage restrictions.
Make sure you know your check-in and gate closing times.

Having said all that, I would NEVER use Ryanair.

I was reading through your previous thread, and by the time I got to the end of it, it seems like you had decided against the south of France. However, if you are still considering it, you should be aware that you can get from Paris to Avignon (among others) far quicker and far cheaper by train than by driving. The SNCF site (sncf.com) sells tickets on their TGV trains for 25-50 euros, depending on day of travel. That's less than tolls and gas, and you're there in under three hours. On a trip in 2012, I dropped a rental car off at the Avignon TGV station in the morning, and was in Paris before noon. I know the TGV/AVE train runs from Toulouse through Perpignan to Barcelona in about two hours, and I believe there's another that goes directly from Nice to Barcelona as well. So if the south still interests you, you can take the TGV, spend a few days in Provence with a rental car, then take another train to BCN.

I have used Vueling, Easyjet and Ryanair, multiple times. I have never had a problem with any of them, however you must read terms and conditions, know luggage limits and check in time cut offs.

Even with extra fees for checked bags ( always book/ pay ahead, at airport more expensive) we have gotten good deals. We never pay extra for assigned seating , preboardinff or their insurance, its only an hour or two flights within Europe, so to us not important.

Note that from Paris you should choose airlines that depart from Charles de Gaulle or Orly airports, Beauvais is not a good/ easy airport to commute to and from( its like 90 kms from Paris with poor transport links)

Transavia is owned by Air France.

ab,

If your extended time in Paris doesn't allow time in the south of France, using a budget flight will be the quickest and most efficient way to get to Barcelona. I haven't flown with Transavia, but have with easyJet and Vueling and both of those have been great (easyjet is my preferred budget airline in Europe). easyJet has flights from CDG and Vueling from ORY. Both airports are relatively easy to reach from central Paris (I often use the RER).

" We are a bit leary of the low cost airlines, with fears that the cheap fare will escalate with fees and penalities"

It's not surprising that you've heard bad reports on RyanAir (although they're trying to clean up their image lately). Regarding fares escalating, many of the budget airlines use a sliding scale, with prices increasing as the flight fills. Therefore if you book early, the fares shouldn't escalate. However, there will be a few extra fees (ie: checked luggage). Another point to remember with easyJet is that they usually only allow ONE carry-on item per passenger, of the approved size (weight doesn't matter as long as you can lift it). As long as you know the rules up-front, it shouldn't be a problem.

One other comment about easyJet is that they no longer offer check-in at the airport. Passengers check-in and print their boarding passes up to 30 days prior to a flight, and then just use a bag drop for checked luggage.

If you dislike the usual airport hassles as much as I do, there's an alternative. There are few direct high speed trains between Paris and Barcelona each day, with a travel time of ~6H:15M. I doubt if air travel will be much (if any) faster. For example, if you departed Gare de Lyon at 07:15, you'd arrive at Barcelona Sants at 13:30. That would provide time for a brief walkabout after checking into your hotel, and then a nice dinner. It would most definitely be a less stressful and more relaxing trip than by air. Have a nap or a nice lunch in the dining car, while you watch the scenery flash by at 300 km/h.

We were discussing the direct train last night, and speculating that it might be simpler than flying, with better scenery.

When would we need to arrive at Gare de Lyon? The train is at 0715 and we are staying near Gare du Nord.

Trains don't get their track numbers up till about 10 minutes or so before departure , so I would arrive at Gare no more then 25-30 minutes ahead, check which hall you are in( I think it will be hall 2) grab a coffee and stand there like everyone else and stare at board till track number comes up. That gives you plenty of time, you can literally show up 5-10 minutes ahead too, but that would stress me out! Lol
This assumes you printed your e ticket out already and are not needing to collect at station.

Thank you. If I am reading the map of the Paris metro system correctly, Gare de Lyon is just two stops from Gare du Nord, so we would be able to take the metro.

We have ruled out driving from Paris to the border. We have ruled out flying. Now we just have to decide if we go straight from Paris to BCN (for a total of 7 nights in Paris, of which I am a "tourist" for six days and DH is a tourist for three), or if we have six nights in Paris, and one nights elsewhere -- perhaps Avignon? Take a morning train from Paris to (wherever), and the next day take an afternoon train to BCN.

We will discuss at dinner tonight, and I hope settle on our plan.

Thank you so much to everyone for their help. Usually I have the opportunity to research trips and logistics for months -- but this dropped into our laps.

RER lines D2 or D4 will take you from Gare du Nord to Gare De Lyon in about 15 minutes according to the RATP website (Paris mass transit). RER takes same tickets as Metro but you must use that ticket to exit at the destination.
Vueling is a subsidiary of Iberia; Transavia is a subsidiary of Air France. Both lines are simple and cheap but be sure to read their websites so you can follow regulations exactly! Budget airlines have changed the shape of travel in Europe. Ryanair is not your concern here, but word-of-mouth lingers even though the company has softened its approach. It can't be all bad: It is the biggest carrier in Europe by passenger volume, and its profits increased in the last financial quarter.

You are not going to get this train ticket for the €50 that ottawanderer mentioned. For Sept. 30 or Oct 2, for instance, the cheapest Paris-Barcelona tickets through SNCF are €130 per person and more at €153. Breaking the trip could increase the cost. Unless you have Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode, you should look at buying through RailEurope or CapitaineTrain, which take other US credit cards.

Excuse me, but are you saying that the only way that people with US credit cards can be rail tickets in France is to go through a broker (with a markup)? We cannot buy the tickets directly from the rail companies?

For example, we have identified via Rome2Rio a TVG train that I plan to book this evening. Are the brokers you mention the only way to buy the ticket?

I have used the SNCF site to purchase tickets for TGV travel within France at their "sale" prices. (In fact, I still get way too many emails from SNCF advertising things like "Paris to Avignon from 24 euros".). I remember having problems with my credit card the first time I tried to book, in 2012, but I believe that was because it was a Canadian, not American, card. Regardless, an email to SNCF resulted in my card being enabled. I don't know whether your card will work, but you can try. The other hurdle to overcome is getting redirected to the RailEurope site. To avoid this, check off that you are picking up the tickets in France (or Antarctica for that matter). Since you must print the emailed tickets off beforehand, this may even be true.
It doesn't hurt to try. Good luck!

Thank you.

I have just visited the RailEurope site, and it is not even showing the less expensive train (and better timed) train we have selected for Paris-Avignon! It is only offering us much more costly fares on other trains.

CapitaineTrain is showing us the train we identified at the fare we identified. If we must go through a broker we will certainly use them.

But we will try do deal with SNCF directly. I wonder if they can sell us the Avignon-Barcelona tickets? Again, we have identified trains and fare on Rome2Rio that suit our schedule and budget; I have not tested RailEurope but I am wary.

If I must pay a broker a fee, I would like it to be the broker associated with Seat61; that is a valuable service worth supporting!

Start with SNCF, as you are saying, since they operate the trains. If you are not able to get that to work, use Capitaine Train, as they are not supposed to have a markup; since you've looked at the price on SNCF, you'll know right away if they do.

I use my Canadian cc on SNCF with no problems.

Since SNCF is not offering a Prems fare on that route, you can't pay with PayPal. You can pay with a US credit card if it has Verified by Visa, MasterCard SecureCode, or AmEx SafeKey features enabled. Quite a few European web sites use this extra credit card security, but not all. Credit cards with chip and PIN (more common in Canada) should also work.

Rail Europe is one of the purchase points that the Man in Seat 61 provides links for, but if you found better prices or availability with CapitaineTrain, then you should use them.