THE ROUTE
Flight VY8244, Barcelona (BCN) to Paris (CDG)
THE AIRCRAFT
Vueling’s Airbus A321 seats 220 passengers in financial system. No pointy finish. With 124 plane in an all-Airbus fleet, Vueling is Spain’s largest airline.
THE LOYALTY SCHEME
Vueling Membership members earn Avios factors on flights, resort stays and purchasing. It is doable to earn Avios on Iberia, Aer Lingus and British Airways flights.
CLASS
Economic system, seat 22C. The whole plane is financial system class, with some variations. Rows 1-4 afford barely extra space, for a price.
DURATION
Scheduled two hours, continuous. We board on time, then sit on the tarmac for nearly an hour. Even so, arrival is simply 20 minutes later than deliberate.
FREQUENCY
Each day, departing Barcelona at 11.25am.
CARBON EMISSIONS
0.195 tonnes for one financial system class passenger flying Barcelona to Paris. Pay to offset emissions at myclimate.org
HEALTH
No COVID-19 testing or vaccination necessities. Sporting of masks isn’t compulsory in Spanish airports, however it’s necessary in the course of the flight.
CHECKING IN
Barcelona Airport (generally referred to as El Prat Airport) Terminal 1 is packed on Sunday morning after I arrive two-and-a-half hours forward of take-off. I will test in on-line, however should be a part of the queue to drop off my checked bag. It takes 45 minutes to succeed in the counter.
There isn’t a immigration course of or passport management for this intra-EU flight.
As I arrive on the airport I obtain an e mail from Vueling. There is probably not sufficient seats for all of the passengers they usually’re in search of volunteers to go on a later flight, in trade for 100 Euro airline credit score.
THE SEAT
There are 220 financial system seats in a 3-3 one-aisle configuration. Seats are 17.7 inches (45cm) vast with 29-inch (73.7cm) pitch. I am in 22C, an aisle seat. Decked out in Vueling’s signature gray and yellow colors, the seat is comfortably unremarkable for this brief flight. There are not any charging retailers for USB or energy cords. The seatback is used for promoting: get clear orthodontic aligners from 49Euro per 30 days.
BAGGAGE
When reserving, I select an Optima fare so I can test one bag as much as 25 kilograms, plus carry a cabin bag as much as 10 kilograms and one private merchandise that should go beneath the seat. The Fundamental fare kind permits solely an underseat bag.
The rules are rigorously enforced. Boarding passes are checked on the gate and solely these with Optima fares might carry on cabin luggage to be positioned within the overhead compartments.
ENTERTAINMENT
You are by yourself. No seatback screens, no journal. There may be Wi-Fi obtainable at 5.99 euro ($A8.90) for an hour, 7.99 euro for the flight period.
SERVICE
The crew of Spanish attendants is wearing darkish gray and white uniforms, with splashes of sunny yellow. They’re pleasant, environment friendly and agency once they need to be. We’re instructed to disembark 5 rows at a time, which appears cheap. Rule-breakers are firmly advised to sit down again down and wait their flip.
FOOD
No complimentary bites or sips on this flight. Refreshments on the market embrace natural wine, Negroni, Serrano ham, pizza and lemon poppy seed cake. Another choice is to purchase snacks on the airport’s duty-free retailer, the place a superb array of Iberian ham, salami, cheese, nougat and chocolate is accessible.
ONE MORE THING
Vueling was topped Europe’s finest low-cost airline within the Skytrax 2021 awards.
VERDICT
Good flight, good worth, blissful buyer.
OUR RATING OUT OF FIVE
★★★½
Kristie Kellahan travelled at her personal expense.
