How reliable are these airlines (Vueling, TUIFLY) as far as on time and ease of check in? Also, if these low fare planes are not fully booked, will they still fly or will they cancel the flight and re-book people on later flights? I don't want to risk being stuck at an airport for 8 hours or having to find other transportation. I know delay's happen and can accept that, just as long as they are not too long

Thanks!

All airlines reserve the right to cancel flights if they want, so the answer to your question about "will they fly or will they cancel" is "they can and they do but it applies to the traditional airlines as well".

As for "when things go wrong" the airline will put you on the next available flight - but that may be several days away as they won't put you on flights with competitors

>TUIFLY
I did my 10th trip on tuifly since January two weeks ago. You can expect VERY! long lines at check-in in Munich (one counter for all planes in area Z) but rather new planes. Web check-in works great and you can print your own boarding pass 30h before the flight leaves. (just cabin luggage, fast and easy). On a flight to Venice (fog!), the plane was late for over six hours. We left about 90min late, circeled over Venice for about 3 hours and then landed in Bologna. From there we were taken to Venice by bus.

I have flown cheap airlines within Europe a few times and find them to be reliable and fairly close to what I would expect flying within the US.

One thing to consider is that some of these airlines offer one flight out a a given day and don't fly out of that airport every day. Thus, you do need a plan B. (I've never needed a plan B.)

Also, some of these airlines are very picky about baggage weight (15kg for many). That's 33 lbs, which isn't much when you add in the weight of the bag itself. Frankly, this has helped me learn to pack more efficiently.

I would use cheap airlines again given my good experience so far.

We've been fortunate enough to have had very good experiences with budget airlines in Europe but when we do use them we expect the luggage to be carefully weighed and we use our lightest-weight luggage and pack accordingly.

Have a back-up plan as mentioned above for airlines which have few if more than one flight per day although we've never been stranded.

We always consider alternative transportation and compare options before buying tickets. Given security lines, trips to and from the airport, luggage weight restrictions, etc., we have sometimes found taking the train to be ultimately more convenient and just as fast.

Just today I posted about our bad experience with BA on a flight from London to Rome, and it reminded me of a similar flight with them from London to Berlin a couple years ago. BA was insisting our flight would depart on time even AFTER it was supposed to depart and they still didn't have a plane, a gate, or any check-in established. I think it's the total ineptness and not telling the truth that I detest about them the most.

But we've flown Easy Jet in Europe five or six teams and have not had a single complaint. And this summer we flew TransAvia from Venice to Amsterdam. I even ended up loving the departure from Treviso -- actually easier than flying out of Venice in many ways.

So the bottom line? I don't know about the two airlines you mention, but I'd fly Easy Jet or TransAvia any time.

I have flown Vueling and it is perfectly OK. New planes and they usually fly to main airports. Yes, there are usually lines at check-in..but unless you fly business , I think there are big lines everywhere nowadays. Never heard of them being very much delayed here in Spain.

Thanks everyone for your information! Here's my dilema. We only have one night in Venice next month. I'm trying to maximize the time there to see some things. We could take the night train from Munich and get in 8am, but private sleepers are booked,so would have to go couchette route (eh), take the day train and not get in until 6:30 pm, or fly on TUI and get in around 12:30pm. Train, pretty much guaranteed to be on time, flying, not so much.

I think I will take a chance on flying because I'll actually save some money if I do it that way. Question on the luggage, Is the 33lbs what you can carry on or what you can check? Is the carry on size different compared to normal airlines (Delta, US Air)?

Thanks again!

I suspect the 33 pounds applies to your checked baggage.

You need to check their website for luggage allowances. Every airline has different rules, and the budget ones are no exception. Even then it can depend on the check-in clerk and how tey are feeling whether they allow things or not.
On my son's recent holiday in Sicliy for the flight from Palermo to Milan the clerk wouldn't allow the tent to be fixed to his rucksack - it had to go seperately - costing him money as he then had an extra piece of luggage. It had flown out attached to his rucksack on tow Easyjet flights, with no problems. He tied it on to the rucksack again in Milan and they accepted it with no problem. Didn't even weigh it. So do check the rules and hope you don't have a stroppy clerk.

<<< Question on the luggage, Is the 33lbs what you can carry on or what you can check? >>>

If you mean TUIFLY then it's 20kg - 44lbs - checked luggage which is pretty standard for most airlines.

Hand luggage size is SMALL 45x35x20 or about half the size you'd expect with one of the traditional airlines. It's also limited to 5kg (11lbs) which is an incredibly small allowance

www.tuifly.com/en/service/faqs_13881.html

Perhaps that couchette is starting to look a lot better especially as their excess baggage charge is €7 per kg

Thanks for the help! After talking it over w/ my wife, we decided to just take the day train for this leg of our vacation.

Thanks again!