You're all making me wary about Vueling - is RyanAir a better choice?

Valerie, I had absolutely no problems flying Vueling from Barcelona to Paris in September, 2014 which was much less expensive than taking the new fast train at the time. Just be sure to read the "fine print" and make sure that your one bag is the correct size and weight. For me since I flew towards the end of my trip I wasn't sure how much my bag would weigh so just planned to send it by cargo so added that to the cost of the airfare. I liked too that I Vueling flew into the usual airports and not way out in the countryside.

Hi, Valerie: We flew Vueling this last February and March, from London to Palermo via Barcelona; then from Catania to Rome. Other than cramped seats, we had no complaints. The thread you referred to seems to be about more recent problems, though. As with the other budget airlines, you need to read the fine print very carefully, as another poster suggested. We paid extra to choose our seats, and were careful to measure our bags before we went. There's a hefty premium if you make changes at boarding time.

Valerie,

I've flown with Vueling in the past (ableit not recently) and had no problems at all. OTOH, I have had problems with RyanAir and won't even consider them unless there is NO other option. If I were travelling Barcelona to Venice, I'd also consider easyJet from BCN to MXP and then take the high speed train to Venice (easyJet is my preferred budget airline in Europe, and I try to use them whenever possible).

I did make a note about some of my Vueling troubles in the other post. To recap, they changed the flight without letting me know and took a long time to start boarding (said 2 hours before the flight and it became 1 hour before the flight.) However, that was the first and only time I had/have ever flown Vueling so I don't know if they were better or worse than usual. I have flown lots of budget airlines before and know to read the small print and to follow their rules exactly. IMHO, my one flight with Vueling was the worst budget airline trip I had been on. But that is a sample of only one flight. Good luck with your decision.

I have heard horror stories from friends and others here about cancelled flights with Vueling, but have never flown them myself. I have had nothing but good experiences with Ryanair, though.

I have flown Ryan air and been fine with it. It can be something of a cattle car experience, but if you follow the rules, I don't find it to be much different from some of the major American carriers. Just a much better price.

While I have not flown Vueling, I have flown Ryan Air many years ago and had no problems. The bottom line with any "cheap/value" airline is if you follow their rules you'll be fine.