People complain about RyanAir all the time. It’s a budget airline that tries to get you with hidden fees. It sucks, but if you’re smart, RyanAir really isn’t that bad. It’s nothing compared to Vueling Airlines.
If you find yourself in Europe in the near future, do yourself a HUGE favor and DO NOT fly Vueling.
Vueling is a budget airline, so you get what you pay for. I guess for the price, one should assume horrible customer service and an overall terrible business model.
Seriously, I sound like my father when I say this, but I could run Vueling better than whomever is now.
Our first Vueling nightmare was when they lost our luggage while flying from Split to Mykonos through Rome in summer 2014. They knew that there was a luggage strike in Rome and instead of telling us that we should get our luggage and recheck it in Rome, they just let us check it all the way through to Mykonos. Our bags never made it on the plane. You can read more about this nightmare here.
We were told to go to a Vueling desk in Rome or Barcelona to see about getting money back. We were told that we were entitled to 50 Euros a day for our lost luggage. Mine was lost just over 48 hours and my friend Chelsea’s just over 72 hours so we were each owed more than 100 Euros. When we asked at the Vueling desk in Rome, they told us to go online and make a claim. When we went online to make a claim, it told us to make a claim in person at a Vueling desk. Basically, Vueling does not want to help you.
The second Vueling nightmare was with our friend Meghan. She was trying to fly from Mykonos to Rome to then grab a train up to Florence with us. Her flight was to leave Mykonos at 6:30 a.m. so she would arrive in Rome before us and could thus sightsee in Rome for a bit before heading to Florence. She arrived in Florence at 11:30 P.M. Her flight was 14 hours delayed!
For my third Vueling nightmare, I paid an exorbitant amount of money for a last minute flight from San Sebastián, Spain to Paris, connecting through Barcelona. It was my only option as trains and buses were all sold out.
When I arrived at the airport in San Sebastián, a representative informed me our flight to Barcelona was 3.5 hours delayed due to a mechanical error. I was going to miss my connection to Paris so I asked how I was going to be getting there. The representative said they did not work for Vueling and therefore could not rebook me. I had to check my bag to Barcelona, collect it and go to the ticket desk there to have them figure it out.
At least this time they gave us free breakfast of a coffee and croissant. Hey big spenders! (Sarcasm…)
Our flight finally left at noon and I landed in Barcelona four hours late.
I collected my bag and headed for the Vueling ticket desk. The line wasn’t too bad but people were walking away with pretty dejected faces.
I was determined to either get myself to Paris or Dublin that day. I was going to do it by killing these Vueling people with kindness, something I’m not the best at!
When it was finally my turn, I gave the woman behind the desk my biggest, fakest smile as I told her I missed my connection due to the delay.
The woman looked ready for battle but fortunately the next flight to Paris was in just two and a half hours. Vueling lucked out this time.
The executives at Vueling could really learn a thing or two from JetBlue, my favorite airline. On JetBlue, if your flight is delayed or upset for any reason, they almost always throw in some perk. Whether it’s free movies on the flight or money back, they always offer you something. And their customer service reps will stop at nothing to help you get what you want or need.
The Vueling staff was rude and unhelpful. They clearly did not want to give me the money I was owed for them losing my luggage for more than two days.
If you find yourself in need of a flight in Europe, do yourself a favor and spend the extra money to fly a legitimate airline. Or heck, fly RyanAir! At least they are actually helpful. Read about my RyanAir experience here.
Better yet, fly EasyJet. Now that is a well-run, legitimate budget airline.