Review of Vueling Airlines flight Amsterdam → Barcelona in Economy

During my previous holidays I received a call with a job offer from one of the competitors to my current (past) employer whether I was willing to move to them with better conditions offered to the one I've previously had. Fed up with the employer I worked for, I decided to accept their offer and the process of me moving to them was quick. They booked me this flight with Vueling only a few days ago to start my ground trainings with them.

Even though I used to live some years ago in Spain for about three years, I've never flown with Vueling and was curious to what they'd offer on the Amsterdam-Barcelona leg in comparison to KLM & Transavia which I used before.

I decided to proceed to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol via Public Transport, which meant that I needed to travel for approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes from my hometown. Utrecht itself is pretty good connected to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol with a train departing to the airport every 10 a 15 minutes. 

Public transportation was of no issue today and dropped me below the main square of the airport. Vueling is using check-in row no. 19 in Terminal 3, which I find odd as we need to go back to terminal 1 or 2 to proceed to the B gates.

Four check-in counters were open to drop your bags off, but there was no line at all. It took only a minute or two to drop my bags off. The ground attendant also told me if I was carrying a face mask with me as it's still mandatory for flights to Spain, so if you ever decide to go to Spain in the upcoming days or weeks, expect to wear it on your flight.

Security was a breeze and took a total of ten minutes to clear….. The lengthy duration was not because of any line, but I was stuck behind a family with two kids (one in a buggy) and that definitely decreases the speed of security.

With about 90 minutes to departure, I decided to grab a coffee with Starbucks and do some work before I realized that I needed to hurry before boarding's closure time as the walk itself was approximately 10 to 15 minutes to gate B23. Though upon arriving about 2 minutes prior to the supposed closure of boarding, they were still boarding Group 1 and 2.

EC-NFI is being fully prepared for the departure to Barcelona. It is an Airbus A320neo newly delivered to Vueling in July 2019. It is configured to carry up to 186 passengers and is powered by two Pratt & Whitney's.

While boarding was nearing completion, I decided to board too in which some Dutch travellers were asked whether they've had a mask and were told that they can't board if they do not have them and to buy them as quickly as possible. Upon entering the cabin, I was not greeted by the flight attendants who seemed to be in a heated discussion with a Spanish passenger for some reason.

The view of my seat however was pretty good. 

Legroom however was not really the best for me as I couldn't move my legs freely with this seatpitch, however to our luck it turned out that the middle seat on this flight was not occupied. The comfort of the seat wasn't the best either, yet it was acceptable for this flight given that the seats I've had with Lufthansa two weeks ago were even worse.

An impression of the cabin when boarding was completed and apparently the aircraft is equipped with WiFi.

Pushback was engaged right on time and was done simultaneous with the Boeing 737-800 (PH-BXV) of KLM who was performing a flight to Copenhagen as KL1133.

While taxiing to the departing runway, I was somehow curious to the presence of an Aeroflot Airbus A330, but I realized it that it was an A330 of Turkish Airlines who still has an bird partially being in the colours of Aeroflot. The taxi ride itself took not long as it was going to be an intersection take off from Runway 18L.

The Airbus A320neo's take off roll is significantly smoother and quieter than their CEO versions. 

The foggy weather of Amsterdam is soon to be replaced by this wonderful sunset.

Somehow I fell asleep during the entirety of the flight and did not experience any of the BoB services, so I can't really judge the flight attendants other than their performance on welcoming me and saying our goodbyes…. I only woke up by the sudden call of the captain informing us that we will be beginning our descent into Barcelona Airport and would arrive approximately 20 minutes ahead of schedule.

I only now realized that I didn't really take any photos of things in the cabin, which I decided to do so right now.

The literature in the seat pocket contains of an BoB Menu, Sickbag and the most important safety card. 

The aircraft is also equipped with individual air vents and I'm glad Vueling decided not to opt them out as they are very handy when the cabin is too warm…. It's also a handy tool to calm down from those hot summers you can expect in Spain.

In the descent to Barcelona El Prat.

My apologies for the mobile phone users for the next two photos, but the WiFi prices charges by Vueling you can find below. If you'd be willing to browse the web, use your social media and watch some videos, the prices were 5.99 EUR for an hour or 8.99 EUR for the entirety of the flight and instant messaging for the entirety of the flight would cost you 3.49 EUR. I found those prices reasonable and not too steep.

An impression of the cabin about 10 minutes prior to landing with the flight attendants still being busy in their galley.

Landing was planned for the 25R and was done smoothly by the pilots, though were hard on the brakes to make that early left turn to Terminal 1. It's however also the first time I've been using Terminal 1 in Barcelona El Prat and is definitely more pleasant than the 2nd Ryanair terminal.

Docking at gate B27. 

Disembarkation was done by five rows per time and was strictly monitored by flight attendants who pointed passengers back to their seat if it wasn't their turn. It's a rather slow process to be fair, but it does maintain a calmer atmosphere with passengers being able to grab their bags in their own pace compared to the all-in attitude, however it didn't take long for our row to be called as we were more in the front of the cabin and were wished a pleasant stay in Barcelona by the flight attendant.

Signage is somewhat poor and confusing at Terminal 1, though I managed to find my way to our baggage belt for today's flight and it took about another 5 to 10 minutes for our bags to appear with only 10 or so people from our flight who opted to drop off their bags.

Once my bag was obtained, I headed to the busstop for hotels and waiting about 20 minute for my shuttle bus to arrive. Unfortunately given the use of 2 terminals that far apart, the shuttle of service takes roughly 30 minutes to complete a round with most hotels in the vicinity, so if you miss a bus by just a few seconds or minutes, expect a wait with little to no shelter.