Recent Experiences Using European Low Cost Airlines

You should also look at Skytrax reviews (due to larger sample size than this forum):
http://www.airlinequality.com/review-pages/a-z-airline-reviews/

I avoided Vueling because of widespread reviews indicated a truly alarming trend of losing luggage and canceling flights. Here's a link to a prior conversation about them, started by me. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/so-after-seeking-your-input-i-chose-ryanair-over-vueling-and-here-s-why

Embedded partway down is a link to a series of customer complaints that will make your jaw drop.

I have flown Ryan Air and Easy Jet. They're both fine with me. Follow their fine-print rules and you should be ok. RyanAir's customer service seems to be arcing upward in the past year or two but I realize you didn't ask about them specifically.

We flew Vueling from Barcelona to Granada in early May after a cruise. The flight left on time and our checked bag made the journey with us. My in-laws flew Vueling from Barcelona to Venice on the same day - again, flight left on time and they had checked bags that made it.

I've had satisfactory experience with EasyJet and Norwegian Air Shuttle. Since we carry on our luggage, we never give any airline a chance to lose our luggage again.
Last time we checked a bag, Austrian Airlines took 2 days to get our luggage (with the car keys in it) to Atlanta. We had to sit in a flea bag motel waiting for our car keys--walking to get food, etc.

It would be hard for Vueling to have worse reviews than the established, national flag-carrier Iberia, which has been around longer and once operated as a government agency, to dire effect. They may have different business models but both carriers are under the same corporate umbrella as British Air and Aer Lingus now, which can't hurt. I've had mixed experiences with all of them over the years but all of them got me to where I wanted to go. TAP Portugal, not in my repertory, has been around longer than the budget airlines, but all of the traditional airlines have been forced to adapt to the competition. For me the real divider is between long-haul and short hops. Expectations on the continent should be reined in. Inter-European carriers offer cheap tickets, plenty of extra charges, and the knowledge that the flight only has to be endured for an hour or two. The tactical shopper will never choose the last flight at the end of the day. That leaves time to use the money you save for a blow-out meal at a fine restaurant.
(Of course the PS: is that you must read, and obey, all the instructions on any of these airlines' websites. Things have changed, you know.) (Another PS: www.skyscanner.com covers budget airlines than many of the others do not include.)

Used Vueling twice. Recently this past April. Milan-Barcelona-Florence. No issues. Same as first time.

Flew Vueling Oct 2015 from Bilboa, Spain to Barcelona. Our boarding passes were printed at home ahead of time. Our flight was for 8 AM, at the airport they tried to tell us that our flight was at 8 PM. We did not back down and didn't allow them to change our flight, which means we would be sitting in the airport for the next 12 hours. They allowed us on the flight. Luckily the flight was short as the seats were so confining. Our next flight was a few weeks later from Seville-Barcelona-Paris. This was our flight home. Now they booked us on a different flight hours later. Luckily we packed in extra hours and did make our flight home.

We have used Vueling several years now.. last time was this past May.. flew from Barcelona to Mallorca.. but have used them for longer flights.. to and from Paris etc..

They are fine.. like all the intereuropeon airlines.. READ the website re luggage limites etc.. its not that hard .

I don't think any airline is much better than others with lost luggage. . remember.. its not always the airlines fault either .. airports have their own baggage handlers and some airports likely are less organized than others.

BTW.. our trip this summer we flew Easyjet, Vueling, Ryanair , AirTransat and Aer Lingus.. to and around Europe for a month.. but get this.. our suitcase was destroyed on the way home from Vancouver BC to Victoria BC.. a FIFTEEN minute flight.. on WestJet.. lol .. ( at least they gave us a new suitcase to replace it) no one in our group ( we travelled with some friends and family .. up to 7 for some legs) lost any of their luggage.. and on all those flights..
BTW..
Make sure you always remove ALL old tags for each flight..

I've flown Vueling in the past and so far the experience has been very pleasant. My preferred budget airline in Europe is easyJet and I try to fly with them whenever possible, even to the point of modifying my Itinerary if necessary.

"I don't think any of those airlines have turned out to be so utterly crap as Delta was this week."

If Delta is giving consumers the true story that the disruptions were caused by a storm in Atlanta which cut power to their data centre, IMO there's no excuse for that sort of thing with today's technology. Their data centre must have a very poorly designed or maintained backup power system. My desktop computer just keeps perking right along in the event of power disruptions or even total outages, and it's also not affected by spikes, surges or brownouts.

Not very "recent", I guess, but I flew Wizz Air from Brussels to Budapest in October 2010. The experience was no worse than any domestic U.S. carrier, except for the lack of seat assignments and free drinks. For 15 Euros, that was totally fine by me.