adamspotter From Netherlands, joined Feb 2011, 774 posts, RR: 2 Posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 5672 times:
Hello everyone and welcome to my 3rd trip report!
This trip report will cover a day trip I made on Thursday the 22nd of March. After hearing lots of different stories, both negative and positive, about Vueling I decided to give them a try myself in spite of knowing that they have a very tight seat pitch. Upon looking on the internet I found some decent fares and booked: AMS-BCN-MAD-BCN-AMS. Todays map:
Again an early flight, so after a good 3 hours of sleep my alarm clock went off at 04:30. A quick shower and off I was to Amsterdam Lelylaan station to catch the 05:17 train. When I arrived at the platform an announcement was made that due to a technical fault there will be now trains coming to and going from the station. Argh there’s always something wrong with the trains here in Holland! Being a bit mad about it I walked down the stairs and decided to take the taxi to Schiphol as I had no other choice! A 15 min drive later and I arrived at Schiphol. Paid the taxi driver and walked straight inside to check-in area 1.
I had checked in online the night before. No problems with checking in for the AMS-BCN-AMS sector, upon checking in for the BCN-MAD-BCN sector I had to pay an extra 6 EUR. No idea why actually, anybody?
Anyway I went over to the check-in desk as there is no self service kiosk, asked for my BPs and got them. Went straight to security, quite a long row at security but was through it within 15 min. After passing security I realized that I had only received my BPs for the AMS-BCN and MAD-BCN sector not the other 2. I decided to get the other 2 at the gate. Gate for today is B13. While waiting at the gate, 2 personnel arrived at the gate desk. I approached them and 5 min later I had my BPs for the other 2 sectors as well. Not too long after that boarding commenced at 06:40. While boarding the plane I was greated by a female flight attendant. As expected when I found my seat the seat pitch was very, very tight! Flight was almost completely full, only saw 1 or 2 empty seats. Had 2 dutch guys sitting next to me. Boarding was completed and after a little welcome from the cockpit we pushed back right on time. Runway for today is the “Polderbaan”, also known as 36L. That meant a 20 min taxi:
The other tower:
Lining up on the runway:
It was a smooth take-off and right after we made a very sharp turn to the right:
Even though it was quite foggy it gave us a nice overview of Schiphol, none of the pictures turned out well though. Soon we reached our cruising level and as it was a clear day we got some pretty nice views for most of the flight:
Which airport is this?:
Vueling menu:
Safety card for all Vueling A320s:
“Ling” magazine March 2012:
The very tight seat pitch:
The seatback:
The flight crew consisted of 1 female purser, 2 female flight attendants and 1 male flight attendant. Soon enough the BOB passed by and I got myself a “sweet breakfast menu”, cost was 5.50EUR:
Close-up on the winglet:
After visiting the lavatory I took a picture of the cabin before returning to my seat. After doing that I got tapped on my shoulder by the male attendant telling me not to take pictures of the cabin and forced me to delete the picture. Did get this shot after arriving at my seat though:
We passed some snow topped mountains:
And over the coastline which meant we we’re soon going to start our descent:
And soon enough we started to descend:
Through the clouds and into final approach:
Nice view of Barcelona:
And touchdown into rainy Barcelona!:
3 Ryanairs at the gate and a Monarch A320 taking off:
We took a left hand turn straight to our gate:
Parked at the gate, at this point after this picture it began to rain very very hard:
After deplaning I decided to go landside for a bit, as I had some time to spare. The baggage claim area:
From the arrivals hall I went back up to the departures hall:
Check-in area:
Headed straight through security in 5 min:
After passing security I decided to do a bit of spotting before proceeding to my gate:
I proceeded to my gate, gate B27 in this case and already saw a long line for boarding while we were still 5 min short from boarding time. I always find it very amusing how at a lot of Spanish airports people always line up way ahead of boarding time which give an amusing sight. Boarding started at 10:30 and I was one of the last to board:
Flight was about 60% full, luckily enough I had the 2 seats next to me empty. Our neighbor:
We pushed back on time and taxied to the active. A lot of Vueling at BCN:
PIA 777 at the other side of the airport:
The tower:
They’re working on a runway here:
Starting take-off roll:
After take-off we took a sharp turn to the left:
Which gave a nice view of BCN:
The nice looking seats with tight seat pitch:
As I had the seats next to me empty I was a bit more comfortable on this flight:
The flight crew consisted of 1 male purser and 4 female flight attendants. Soon enough the BOB passed by and I got myself a coke and a KitKat:
adamspotter From Netherlands, joined Feb 2011, 774 posts, RR: 2 Reply 1, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 5697 times:
And touchdown!:
Then we taxied to our gate:
Parked at the gate:
After deplaning I went landside for a bit, baggage claim area:
Arrivals area downstairs and departures area upstairs:
Outside arrivals area:
Check-in area:
The plane I had just arrived on:
FIDS:
Went back through security, which took about 5 min, and walked around the terminal doing some spotting. The impressive looking terminal:
Iberia A320 in OW scheme:
Of course I had to visit the McD:
After finishing my burger I took a quick look on the FIDS to see if I already had a gate. But upon looking at the FIDS I couldn’t see my flight on it anymore. After looking on a couple of more FIDS it wasn’t there either. I decided to walk over to the information desk to ask about it. The lady behind the desk wasn’t that good in English but after a bit of talking she said that there was a technical problem with the FIDS and after I asked if it would appear later on she answered with: I suppose.
Not feeling so good about it I decided to do some more spotting and just wait. 15 min later an announcement was made that Vueling flight 1144 would now depart from gate H33. So far so good. Boarding time was 14:30 so I arrived at the gate around 14:20. Upon arriving there was a very long row of people waiting to board, very amusing once again.
Soon enough there was an announcement made that there would be a delay of 20 min, after 20 min there was an announcement that it would now be 40 min. All the people were still standing in the row the whole time. There was no reason given at all!
Finally after 55 min at 15:25 boarding was announced. I decided to just wait and board as one of the last people. Boarding was very slow with a slowly moving row of people from the plane all the way to the gate area. While joining the long row of people I still have a feeling that something isn’t right.
When I finally got a peek of the nose of the plane I could clearly see that it wasn’t of an A320, it was of a MadDog! When getting closer I realized it was a 24 year old MD-83 of Swiftair!:
Finally almost entering the aircraft:
When finally entering the plane it was almost completely full. When moving to the back one of the male flight attendants said that it was free seating. As there was barely any seat left I was lucky enough to get a window seat in 24A and at 16:15 I was finally seated. When boarding was completed there wasn’t 1 empty seat on the plane.
We then just stayed at the gate with the 3 male flight attendants of Swiftair walking back and forth from the cockpit to the cabin. After about 20 min of just standing there people began to ask one of the flight attendants what was going on. He said that we still needed clearance from the tower and had no idea how long it would take. The view from my seat:
Finally at 16:50 almost 2 hours after actual departure time we pushed back:
Taxiing to the active:
Air Berlin at the gate:
Biz jets:
1 of 2 LANs at the international terminal:
Take-off roll:
And off we were in this good old machine!:
Nice comfortable leather seats and better legroom:
2 of the 3 flight attendants passed by giving everybody free water, at cruising level:
The cabin:
We then quickly started our descent:
Flew over the coastline:
Made 2 sharp right turns and went into final approach:
And touchdown!:
Aerolineas Argentinas standing at the Int’l gates:
Parked at the gate:
I deplaned at 18:15. As boarding for my flight back to AMS started at 18:00 I walked to the FIDS and saw that gate for this last sector will be B55. As I was at gate B27 I hurried over to my gate.
My plane, EC-KCU, the same plane take took me to BCN from AMS earlier in the morning:
Boarding gate:
I was once again one of the last ones to board the plane. Was greeted by a female flight attendant and proceeded to my seat: 21F. Again a completely full flight! The view from my seat:
We pushed back together with the Aerolineas Argentinas:
The plane I had just come in on, it was headed to Paris Orly next:
Taxiing to the active:
Aerolineas Argentinas took off in front of us:
Starting take-off roll:
The Swiftair MD took off behind us:
Up and away!:
Nice overview of BCN:
Once again a sharp left hand turn:
Passed some nice snow top mountains:
The sun began to set. The flight crew consisted of 1 female purser, 2 female flight attendants and 1 male flight attendant. The BOB passed by and I got myself a “Club Menu”:
The rest of the flight was an uneventful one. Spent most of my time looking out the window as it was a clear night and gave a lot of nice views. It was too dark to take any pictures anymore. Soon enough we started our smooth approach which ended with a hard landing on the “Aalsmeerbaan” also known as 36R. A quick taxi to gate B15 and I deplaned in no time. Walked to the baggage claim and straight to the exit. Once at Schiphol plaza I walked over to catch my train to Amsterdam Lelylaan. Because of the technical fault from the morning it was delayed 10 min. A 10 minute walk from the station and I was back at home sweet home.
Overall I had 3 OK flights on Vueling. AMS-BCN, BCN-MAD and BCN-AMS I didn’t have a lot to complain. Of course there is a tight seat pitch but I already knew that when booking my flights. And then the delay. Very poor the way Vueling handled it. There was no reason for the delay , no information on anything! I would only fly Vueling again if they are much cheaper than other airlines and if I don’t have a tight connection!
Well that will conclude this trip report. O hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed making it. Comments/questions and very welcome!
PlaneHunter From Germany, joined Mar 2006, 6182 posts, RR: 79 Reply 2, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 5336 times:
Hi Brendan,
nice report about this daytrip to Spain! I flew VY only once some years ago and I wasn't impressed at all. That's a carrier to avoid, just like FR.
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter): After visiting the lavatory I took a picture of the cabin before returning to my seat. After doing that I got tapped on my shoulder by the male attendant telling me not to take pictures of the cabin and forced me to delete the picture.
How ridiculous! Did you ask for the reason? I guess that wouldn't even happen on Air Koryo. One more reason NOT to fly on VY.
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter): When I finally got a peek of the nose of the plane I could clearly see that it wasn’t of an A320, it was of a MadDog! When getting closer I realized it was a 24 year old MD-83 of Swiftair!:
Wow, what a nice surprise! Congratulations!
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter):
My plane, EC-KCU, the same plane take took me to BCN from AMS earlier in the morning:
adamspotter From Netherlands, joined Feb 2011, 774 posts, RR: 2 Reply 3, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 3 days 1 hour ago) and read 5037 times:
Hi PH,
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 2): nice report about this daytrip to Spain! I flew VY only once some years ago and I wasn't impressed at all. That's a carrier to avoid, just like FR.
Thanks! I can understand that, will be avoiding them too as much as possible
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 2): How ridiculous! Did you ask for the reason? I guess that wouldn't even happen on Air Koryo. One more reason NOT to fly on VY.
He wasn't that good in English so when I asked for a reason he couldn't give one. When I told him that I fly a lot and always take pictures of the cabin I dont think he understood me as he didn't answer to that so after deleting it in front of his eyes I gave up.
CaptainRed From Germany, joined Oct 2010, 578 posts, RR: 19 Reply 4, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 4743 times:
Hi Brendan,
thanks for this interesting report with some great pictures. Was a nice day of flying. I have never tried Vueling before, and after reading all the reports here I am not so sure if I want to. But then when the fares are ok, I guess I will give them a try as well.
Ouch, that looks indeed very tight, but I guess that was expected.
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter): After doing that I got tapped on my shoulder by the male attendant telling me not to take pictures of the cabin and forced me to delete the picture.
What's the point here, that's really ridiculous. I could understand it if you took pictures directly of other passengers, but just plain cabin shots there's nothing about it. Good that you continued to take pictures at least from your seat.
Yes, terminal 4 in MAD is indeed impressive. Was there last year and really enjoyed it. You just need to have some time since the distances you have to walk are often quite long.
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter): When getting closer I realized it was a 24 year old MD-83 of Swiftair!:
Cool, at least a very interesting substitute. Flying a Mad Dog is definitely something special. And also service and seatpitch seemed to be way better than on VY. Glad that in the end you made your connection in BCN despite the long delay.
C8fromONT From United States of America, joined Aug 2009, 70 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 4662 times:
Cheese + bacon = YUM! I wish Mickey D's had menu items like that here!
win1290 From Thailand, joined Jan 2012, 249 posts, RR: 2 Reply 6, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 4649 times:
Hi Brendan,
Very nice report on a series of flights on your day trip!
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter): I got tapped on my shoulder by the male attendant telling me not to take pictures of the cabin and forced me to delete the picture.
Quoting adamspotter (Reply 3): He wasn't that good in English so when I asked for a reason he couldn't give one. When I told him that I fly a lot and always take pictures of the cabin I dont think he understood me as he didn't answer to that so after deleting it in front of his eyes I gave up.
That looks very tight indeed. Good that you had the next 2 seats free on the BCN-MAD sector.
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter): When I finally got a peek of the nose of the plane I could clearly see that it wasn’t of an A320, it was of a MadDog! When getting closer I realized it was a 24 year old MD-83 of Swiftair!:
Very nice that you got the MD-83. Always wanted to fly on that plane.
63bobster From Netherlands, joined Jan 2012, 43 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 4628 times:
Thanks for the trip report and for the first hand info on VY: The reason is that I saw some good fares in C-class with IB from BCN to AMS in C, and needing to make that trip anyway I almost made reservations until I saw the very small asterisk directing to a very small note "Operated by Vueling". Hmm, C-class with Vueling???? That can't be right. And now I know about the seat pitch...
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter): After visiting the lavatory I took a picture of the cabin before returning to my seat. After doing that I got tapped on my shoulder by the male attendant telling me not to take pictures of the cabin and forced me to delete the picture.
It's policy on some airlines not to make any photo inside the aircraft, probably for reasons of privacy, happened to me on IB some 10 years ago.
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter): When getting closer I realized it was a 24 year old MD-83 of Swiftair!:
adamspotter From Netherlands, joined Feb 2011, 774 posts, RR: 2 Reply 8, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 4566 times:
Hi CaptainRed,
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 4): thanks for this interesting report with some great pictures. Was a nice day of flying. I have never tried Vueling before, and after reading all the reports here I am not so sure if I want to. But then when the fares are ok, I guess I will give them a try as well.
No problem, glad you enjoyed it! I have the same now, if they're way cheaper than other airlines i'll fly them again. If not, I will surely be avoiding them!
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 4): It is the airport of Liege (or Luik) in Belgium.
Thanks, that's what I thought but wasn't 100% sure.
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 4): Ouch, that looks indeed very tight, but I guess that was expected.
It sure was tight, especially with me being 2 meters long haha
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 4): What's the point here, that's really ridiculous. I could understand it if you took pictures directly of other passengers, but just plain cabin shots there's nothing about it. Good that you continued to take pictures at least from your seat.
I'm not sure what his point was either, but oh well still got a cabin shot.
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 4): Cool, at least a very interesting substitute. Flying a Mad Dog is definitely something special. And also service and seatpitch seemed to be way better than on VY. Glad that in the end you made your connection in BCN despite the long delay.
It sure was a nice subsitute and very special. For a while I thought I wouldn't make my connection but I was lucky, although I woul'd've liked to spend some more time at BCN. But oh well, better luck next time!
Quoting C8fromONT (Reply 5): Cheese + bacon = YUM! I wish Mickey D's had menu items like that here!
haha yeah, it was really good!
Quoting win1290 (Reply 6): Very nice report on a series of flights on your day trip!
Hi Win,
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
Quoting win1290 (Reply 6): the Club Menu looks very nice!
It was really good!
Quoting 63bobster (Reply 7): Thanks for the trip report and for the first hand info on VY: The reason is that I saw some good fares in C-class with IB from BCN to AMS in C, and needing to make that trip anyway I almost made reservations until I saw the very small asterisk directing to a very small note "Operated by Vueling". Hmm, C-class with Vueling???? That can't be right. And now I know about the seat pitch...
No problem, glad you enjoyed it. Didn't see c-class on my 3 flights with there aircraft actually.
Quoting 63bobster (Reply 7): It's policy on some airlines not to make any photo inside the aircraft, probably for reasons of privacy, happened to me on IB some 10 years ago.
hmm ok, didn't know that actually
Quoting 63bobster (Reply 7): too bad Swiftair doesn't fly scheduled services, would be nice to have them doing the AMS service too..
That sure is too bad, would have been nice indeed!
reifel From Germany, joined Feb 2005, 1127 posts, RR: 1 Reply 9, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 4549 times:
Excellent report, thanks for sharing! VY runs an impresive operation in BCN... I only flew once with them, that was before the Clickair merger, and they even had IFE with the Simpsons showing, I guess this is all gone now...
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter): I had checked in online the night before. No problems with checking in for the AMS-BCN-AMS sector, upon checking in for the BCN-MAD-BCN sector I had to pay an extra 6 EUR. No idea why actually, anybody?
Strange, if it don't even show why I wouldn't have paid and aborted check in and sorted this out at the airport...
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter): I approached them and 5 min later I had my BPs for the other 2 sectors as well
Just out of curiosity: Did they use VY branded boarding passes in AMS? I would expect to be IB branded or some generic stock of some gound handling agent.
adamspotter From Netherlands, joined Feb 2011, 774 posts, RR: 2 Reply 10, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 4518 times:
Quoting reifel (Reply 9): Excellent report, thanks for sharing! VY runs an impresive operation in BCN... I only flew once with them, that was before the Clickair merger, and they even had IFE with the Simpsons showing, I guess this is all gone now...
No problem, glad you enjoyed it! Sure was a lot of VY at BCN indeed! Yes, I guess it is, no IFE on any of my flights.
Quoting reifel (Reply 9): Strange, if it don't even show why I wouldn't have paid and aborted check in and sorted this out at the airport...
Yeah that was a better idea, but didn't think about that at the time.
Quoting reifel (Reply 9): Just out of curiosity: Did they use VY branded boarding passes in AMS? I would expect to be IB branded or some generic stock of some gound handling agent.
AMS-BCN sector only VY branding. On BCN-MAD-BCN-AMS sectors all VY with IB brand also on them.
Quoting reifel (Reply 9): Seems they already moved to their one world partners, they did move to the new BCN terminal a few days ago, too (or maybe even today?)
Yes, they allready moved. I also saw an Air Berlin taxi out of the new terminal at BCN so I guess so
sultanils From Belgium, joined Mar 2010, 1173 posts, RR: 29 Reply 12, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 4269 times:
Hi Brandon,
Nice report on your day of Vueling-ing. Like Air Europa and - IMHO - to a lesser extent Iberia a carrier to avoid if you can. Still after a major letdown on Air Europa last year (see here) I still have to take my first flight with them. At least the livery is quite nice and they use the magnificent T4 at MAD and the beautiful T2 at BCN
And btw: nice score on the Swiftair Mad Dog!
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter): No problems with checking in for the AMS-BCN-AMS sector, upon checking in for the BCN-MAD-BCN sector I had to pay an extra 6 EUR. No idea why actually, anybody?
So this charge is only levied on domestic runs. Maybe to get some extra revenue?
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter): I always find it very amusing how at a lot of Spanish airports people always line up way ahead of boarding time which give an amusing sight.
Apparently that’s a Spanish and quite hilarious.
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter): The lady behind the desk wasn’t that good in English but after a bit of talking she said that there was a technical problem with the FIDS and after I asked if it would appear later on she answered with: I suppose.
What a lousy explanation.
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter): When getting closer I realized it was a 24 year old MD-83 of Swiftair!
adamspotter From Netherlands, joined Feb 2011, 774 posts, RR: 2 Reply 13, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 4087 times:
Quoting roberts87 (Reply 11): Thanks for posting!
Only flew VY once, on AMS-BCN as well, found them to be okay.
And a great suprise with the MD off course!
No problem! Glad you enjoyed it. The MD was a very welcome surprise indeed
Hi Sultanils,
Quoting sultanils (Reply 12): Nice report on your day of Vueling-ing
thanks! glad you enjoyed it
Quoting sultanils (Reply 12): At least the livery is quite nice and they use the magnificent T4 at MAD and the beautiful T2 at BCN
Yes, liked those 2 terminals very much.
Quoting sultanils (Reply 12): Interesting name Was the contents any good?
airbuseric From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 4015 posts, RR: 52 Reply 14, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 3886 times:
Hi Brendan,
you're becoming a frequent flyer it seems; tripreports coming quickly after eachother these days haha.
I told you VY, terrible legroom and you confirms again haha... for me, not really first choice for this airline. I wonder, HV get new seats (slimline) and in april the whole fleet has new interior. I guess HV is definitely the better way now, to Spain.
Did you notice VY have introduced flights to GRQ? I actually might have a look into this, since it would be an interesting route to fly.
Congratulations on the MD83. For me also in Spain, once an A320 changed to MD83 on Spanair, plus it happened on AB once, when the B737-800 was changed to a FlyNordic MD83 running TXL-AMS. Definitely no complaints.
Spanish airports, BCN T1 and MAD T4, among the most beautiful in Europe these days.
btw... how about joining us to the meeting in BER in 02/03 June, opening of the new Berlin airport.
Eric
"The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going"
adamspotter From Netherlands, joined Feb 2011, 774 posts, RR: 2 Reply 15, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 3723 times:
Hoi Eric,
Quoting airbuseric (Reply 14): you're becoming a frequent flyer it seems; tripreports coming quickly after eachother these days haha.
Haha, yeah it has been a pretty busy month with flying, got 2 other trips coming up the coming weeks actually
Quoting airbuseric (Reply 14): Did you notice VY have introduced flights to GRQ? I actually might have a look into this, since it would be an interesting route to fly.
Yeah I did notice that, was actually thinking the exact same you are haha, interesting indeed
FlyingFinn76 From Finland, joined Jun 2009, 1705 posts, RR: 42 Reply 16, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 3715 times:
Hi Adamspotter or Brendan, whichever you prefer
A nice report on Vueling, not exactly a favorite carrier of mine but with Spanair's demise I guess they will be around and growing for the years to come... You described the quintessential Vueling experience - horribly tight seat pitch, typical Spanish behavior in queuing up for the flights hours before boarding and the inflight crews that seem to share the African belief that shooting a photo of someone will suck up their soul right out of their body into the memory card of your camera! Hope you didn't pay too much for these flights as IMHO they aren't worth it!
...well apart from that very nice surprise on the MAD-BCN leg. Since Swiftair only does ACMI gigs it is a very hard carrier to log and here you did it quite casually, congratulations! The Mad Dogs of course are excellent planes sadly being retired from the European skies so you should be really happy you got to log another one! Was the cabin crew on that leg from Swiftair?
Thanks! Yes, you describe it nicely also though they seem to be doing good business as all the flights we're completely full except for the BCN-MAD sector (but still decent).
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 16): Hope you didn't pay too much for these flights as IMHO they aren't worth it!
Luckily I got some good fares on them. They sure aren't worth paying more
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 16): ...well apart from that very nice surprise on the MAD-BCN leg. Since Swiftair only does ACMI gigs it is a very hard carrier to log and here you did it quite casually, congratulations! The Mad Dogs of course are excellent planes sadly being retired from the European skies so you should be really happy you got to log another one! Was the cabin crew on that leg from Swiftair?
Nice surprise indeed. Thanks, was very happy to log it. Loving flying the MDs while I still can. Yes it was Swiftair cabin crew, on the short 55 minute flight they gave a good impression.
MSS658 From Belgium, joined Oct 2010, 2202 posts, RR: 14 Reply 18, posted (1 year 1 month 3 weeks 5 hours ago) and read 3580 times:
Hi Brendan
Another nice trip report, quite surprised to see the swiftair MD83 appear on the MAD-BCN leg. However, it does not seem to be the reason for the delay. Quite poor of how Vueling handeled this one.
Otherwise, Vueling looks like any other European LCC! No frills, no pitch
Another nice trip report, quite surprised to see the swiftair MD83 appear on the MAD-BCN leg. However, it does not seem to be the reason for the delay. Quite poor of how Vueling handeled this one.
Otherwise, Vueling looks like any other European LCC! No frills, no pitch
Greetings
Marc
Hi Marc,
Thanks! From what I heard one of their A320s went tech lso they quickily subsituted it with the Swiftair MD-83. Of course we had to hear this from the Swiftair crew!
Eurohub From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2005, 230 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (1 year 1 month 2 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 3353 times:
Hi Brendan,
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter): When I arrived at the platform an announcement was made that due to a technical fault there will be now trains coming to and going from the station
That explains a lot for me, I flew EMA-AMS that morning and the queue for Car Hire took 70 minutes to negotiate instead of the usual 10! Someone said something about the trains not working so now I understand.
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 2): nice report about this daytrip to Spain! I flew VY only once some years ago and I wasn't impressed at all. That's a carrier to avoid, just like FR.
I tried VY for the first time last month (ALC-BCN) and the legroom was really tight - but FR is better IMO!
Great report btw, regards
Eurohub
Forget A vs B - Give me E or BAe any day of the week!
They get a terrible slating on here but if you approach a journey with them with an open mind, ready to accept that you will be herded like cattle in the terminal, bombarded with sales pitches on board and forced to check your luggage whilst everyone else seems to get away with it, then travelling with them can be acceptable.
Sure, they're not going to be winning any awards for customer service or on-board comfort; but they are very effective in getting you from A to B (or to C thinly disguised as B) and doing so profitably. I travel with them frequently because they fly where I need to go on a schedule that is acceptable and at price levels to match my expectations. If I can fly LX in J-class then that's my preferred option, but if FR is more convenient, I don't hesitate.
Regards,
Eurohub
Forget A vs B - Give me E or BAe any day of the week!
dc9northwest From Romania, joined Feb 2007, 1734 posts, RR: 4 Reply 23, posted (1 year 1 month 2 weeks 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 3232 times:
Hi Brendan,
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter): I proceeded to my gate, gate B27 in this case and already saw a long line for boarding while we were still 5 min short from boarding time. I always find it very amusing how at a lot of Spanish airports people always line up way ahead of boarding time which give an amusing sight. Boarding started at 10:30 and I was one of the last to board:
Ah, yes, tell me about it. I'm usually pretty good at boarding among the first passengers to do so... In Spain? No chance. Spanair's BCN-SVQ and MAD-BCN... same story. Huge queues even before boarding time. Spain has to be the winner in "earliest queueing". People queue up in Romania too, but Spain must have it down to an art form.
Quoting adamspotter (Thread starter): After deplaning I decided to go landside for a bit, as I had some time to spare. The baggage claim area:
I remember the bag claim area at BCN, quite well. I waited 45 minutes for my bag, so I got to know it really well
Quoting adamspotter (Reply 1): Overall I had 3 OK flights on Vueling. AMS-BCN, BCN-MAD and BCN-AMS I didn’t have a lot to complain. Of course there is a tight seat pitch but I already knew that when booking my flights. And then the delay. Very poor the way Vueling handled it. There was no reason for the delay , no information on anything! I would only fly Vueling again if they are much cheaper than other airlines and if I don’t have a tight connection!
Yes, that's basically the consensus. Most flights won't make most people complain. Well, at least you got the MD-83 instead of the same-old Airbus! The seat pitch looked better too, no wonder!
Thanks for taking the time to write up your report!
Of all those things you said I have no problem with only problem is that they mostly fly in the middle of nowhere, oh well one day I'll give them a try
Quoting dc9northwest (Reply 23): Ah, yes, tell me about it. I'm usually pretty good at boarding among the first passengers to do so... In Spain? No chance
Very crazy in Spain indeed. I'm mostly always one of the last ones to board.
Quoting dc9northwest (Reply 23): Yes, that's basically the consensus. Most flights won't make most people complain. Well, at least you got the MD-83 instead of the same-old Airbus! The seat pitch looked better too, no wonder!
Thanks for taking the time to write up your report!
No problem glad you enjoyed it The MD-83 was the only positive of that sector with very adequte seat pitch indeed
cheers,
adamspotter // Brendan
25 EL-AL: Hey Adamspotter, Thank you for a great report. Looks like you had a nice day trip, I would have take a night in Madrid too. Everything (and I mean eve
26 adamspotter: Hi Jonathan. No problem, glad you enjoyed it! I thought so too very ridiculous indeed hehe indeed, and luckily enough I got my connection at BCN too!
27 akhmad: Hello Brendan, I take my hat off to you for choosing Vueling for a day trip. After my experience with the airline two years ago, it is disappointing t
28 adamspotter: Hi Suryo, Thanking for taking the time to read my report and comment on it. I'm glad that you enjoyed it Thank you very much! Yes, that wasn't a very
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