Please sign in to post.

Airlines to the Canary Islands

We are taking a RS My Way tour to Spain in 2024. I want to tie a side trip to the Canary island of La Palma to visit my ancestral home before. Any recommendations on budget airlines out of La Palma Airport that can get me reliably to Barcelona afterward? RyanAir? Vueling?

Posted by
5810 posts

When I want to see what airlines fly to a given destination and from where, I usually check two places

1) the airport’s wiki page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Canaria_Airport

2) googleflights

From the wiki page, it looks like Vueling and Ryanair fly between Barcelona and Gran Canaria. I’ve flown Vueling with no particular issues.

Posted by
6 posts

We will be flying out of La Palma Airport on the island of La Palma (I know it gets confusing with many places named the same). It seems there are seasonal flights as well. Very difficult. I can see Airlines that fly out but wanted to know anyone's experiences with them. Vueling and Ryan Air?

Posted by
1860 posts

There’s not a lot of choice of airlines as it’s mostly the same Spain-based airlines that fly the route and are all owned by International Airlines Group (IAG): Iberia Airline, Vueling and Iberia Express. To get to Barcelona from La Palma. It looks like you have to either change planes in Tenerife or Madrid.
No personal experience flying Iberia or its subsidiary airlines but Iberia generally gets mediocre ratings for customer service.
As unappealing as that sounds, it probably beats what is in store for customers on RyanAir’s Spanish flights— RyanAir’s crews scheduled strikes in Spain throughout much of last year without a resolution of the issues causing the strike—primarily low pay. Last month, Ryanair had to cancel 900 flights in Spain with more strike days announced for this month.
At least Iberia’s flights will likely fly.

You can check schedules and fares at www..Skyscanner.com

Posted by
6294 posts

We flew Vueling once, Barcelona to Vienna. We thought it was nice. New plane, pleasant employees. I was actually surprised that it was Iberia's "budget" airline. Given our experience with Vueling, I wouldn't hesitate to fly with Iberia.

Posted by
5810 posts

Sorry, I missed the La Palma part of your post. For La Palma it looks like only Vueling flies nonstop to Barcelona so you really have no choice unless you want to go with a connecting flight.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Palma_Airport

My one experience with Vueling was fine. I’d certainly choose the non-stop Vueling flight over any connecting flight. Your options will depend on your date of travel and you probably won’t have many choices. I’d go with the flight that has the best schedule for you. You might want to fly back to Barcelona the day before your tour starts in case there are flight delays or cancellations.