Review of Vueling Airlines flight from Barcelona to Athens in Premium Eco

A visual of my European trip I took in January 2023.

This trip report's flight route between Barcelona and Athens will take 2hrs 25 mins at distance of 1186mi/1909km

introduction

Welcome to another trip report! This is the start of an exciting solo trip I took around Europe originating in Barcelona back in January of this year. After spending a few wonderful days in my favorite city in Spain, it was time to move to the next exciting adventure in this series which would be Athens, Greece. I was lucky enough to find a flight that suited me perfectly for travel between BCN and ATH with Vueling. When looking up fares, Vueling was very cooperative by offering basic fares starting from 43 USD versus 98 USD to fly Aegean. I ended up bundling my fare and got an extra legroom seat which Vueling calls 'Space Plus' that allowed  a carryon luggage for a total of 68 USD one way which was not a bad price at all. I was quite nervous as I'm not necessarily fond of flying LCC but really didn't know what to expect until I actually experienced it. 

La Sagrada familia which is expected to be completed in 2026.

Metro to airport

The day has come and I woke up super early for my 10am flight and made my way down to the public metro station.  

In total I had to take two transfers (3 trains) from where I was in northern part of Barcelona to the airport. It seemed like a lot however the metro system here is pretty easy to follow, especially since the train lines are numbered & color coded.  

In total it took about 50 minutes to arrive at the Terminal 1 station.

checkin hall

After taking a few escalators up, I made it to the checkin hall here at T1. 

All the departures this morning.

My flight is VY 8100 with a scheduled departure time of 10:45.

Since I checked in online already there was no need to stop at the checkin desks so I made my way straight to security control. 

Security control went very fast and I was airside in less then 10 minutes.

Our flight will be departing out of 'B' gates. However, at least here in Europe exact gate information is not disclosed until 45 minutes before departure which I honestly not a fan of.

Since I had a bit of time before my gate is announced, I decided to stroll around and possibly do some plane spotting.

plane spotting

Arriving into the gate is this DL B767-300ER coming from New York (JFK). I had just taken this flight a few days prior which you can check out here. 

Behind DL is a United B767-400ER that had arrived from Newark (EWR).

It was close to time of boarding so I decided to go and find my gate.

gate area

Today's flight to Athens will be utilizing gate B55.

Some information about my plane:
Flight number: VY 8100
Aircraft: Airbus A320-214
Registration: EC-MAH
Delivered: March 28, 2014
Age: 9.7 years

Here's my aircraft that will operate the flight from here to Athens. There was a last minute aircraft swap, we were suppose to fly on an A320N which I was bummed about.

boarding

Not long after we began boarding. Since I purchased a Space Plus seat I was in group 1 boarding.

It's also important to note that when purchasing a Space Plus seat your also allowed a carryon luggage aside from a personal item which I took full advantage from.

While waiting at the jet bridge I noticed this cool retro Turkish Airlines Airbus A330-200.

onboard

When boarding the aircraft I had the luck of having two people already at my row (an older couple) so I couldn't get a great picture of the seat. Nonetheless at my seat 4A in Space Plus.

These seats offer 31" pitch, instead of the knee breaking 28" pitch for the rest of the cabin behind me. I'm 5'9" or 176cm for reference.

My view which comes with a great view of those CFM International CFM56 engines.

Spotted an Emirates B777-200ER arriving from Mexico City (MEX) on a stopover where it'll continue it's journey to Dubai (DXB).

Boarding was complete and this flight was 100% full.

pushback

We pushed back on time and shortly after the engines began to startup. 

We taxied to line up on runway 25L for takeoff.

takeoff

See you soon Barcelona!

We made a 180° left hand turn flying almost parallel to the airport. 

About 20 minutes into flight the FA's were preparing for the BOB service, later followed the duty free cart. 

We reached cruising altitude at 34,000ft.

sardinia, italy

Approaching the island of Sardinia, Italy.

seatback contents

Let's explore the seatback contents, we first have the air sickness bag.

Followed by the A320 safety card.

Followed by the duty free catalog. 

And lastly the BOB menu which seemed to have decently priced items. However I wasn't in the mood for something to eat so did not purchase anything. 

flying over italy

Flying over the region of Calabria, Italy ??

Port city of Crotone.

First sight of Greece ??.

Initial descent

Beginning our initial decent into Athens.

Charilaos-Trikoupis Bridge

Landing

Linning up to land on runway 03L.

Welcome to Athens!

Arrival

We arrived at the gate 10 minutes ahead of schedule. 

Last look at our A320. Thanks for the safe ride!

This concludes the Barcelona to Athens portion of this journey. Thanks for reading!