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-   -   Plane travel from Barcelona to Paris (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/plane-travel-from-barcelona-to-paris-876158/)

sharona555 Feb 1st, 2011 01:36 PM

Plane travel from Barcelona to Paris
 
Hi!

Has anyone flown EasyJet, Vueling Airlines or Iberia Air?
My husband and I are trying to decide on a babymoon in Europe and are thinking about Barcelona and Paris (after weeks and weeks of going back and forth about different options).

I just checked Kayak for flights from Barcelona to Paris and the cheapest fares (as low as $31 with EasyJet - shocking?) are from the above three airlines.

Thanks!

Michael Feb 1st, 2011 01:44 PM

EasyJet is fine. I've taken it RT from Basel to Istanbul. None of these airlines have planes held together with baling wire. On the other hand, extra fees may vary and change the total price from the advertised price considerably.

jkbritt Feb 1st, 2011 01:54 PM

Be sure to read the luggage regulations and follow to the letter for Easyjet. For example, 1 item in cabin, not a laptop and a purse, pick one, check one. 1 backpack in cabin. You can put laptop or purse in it. Luggage weights are very small. You will have to pay more, much more if you are 1 kilo over. I buy the extra luggage allowance online before I go, so it is a bit cheaper. No free food or drink of course. You can buy bad sandwiches and drinks. Also, boarding on Easyjet is somewhat chaotic, to say the least. Line up early, get pass, and run to the cabin if you wish to sit together. You can buy, for a fee of course, early boarding, but I never have.

alihutch Feb 1st, 2011 02:13 PM

Eastjet are fine....have used them loads

travelgirl2 Feb 1st, 2011 03:06 PM

I've flown them all and they are all fine. Out of the three, I'd choose Easyjet. There is no assigned seating, so it feels a bit stressful boarding, but there are so many seats that I've never had a problem getting seats. Also, you do have to be careful about their baggage rules, both in terms of number of pieces and weight.

Vueling was fine. Here is my trip report from 2006:

While waiting in line to board the plane in Amsterdam, the ticket agent woman pulls two young women out of line. Just as we are handing in our boarding passes, one of the women comes over and asks why she is being asked to wait to board. The ticket agent says that she is trying to board with a suitcase that is not hers. The young woman argues, saying of course it hers. The ticket agent says they know it is not hers and security is coming.

Once on board, the captain makes an announcement that there is a ten minute delay due to congestion and also someone is working on a problem with their luggage and we will be leaving soon. Further special announcements are made only in Spanish, but I can surmise that something is happening with the luggage and it will be another half hour. It turns out that they are unloading everyone’s luggage and re-checking it. We can see this out our window. After sitting on the plane for two and a half hours, we finally take off. The two young women were never allowed to board and I never find out why they felt the need to check everyone’s luggage.

This flight was on VUELING. Everything was okay, but we had the longest check-in line yet. We were at the beginning of the line and it took us an hour. The seats on the plane were leather and very comfortable. But, there was absolutely no leg room and it felt like the seatback in front was almost in your face. The flight attendants didn’t really speak much English. There was a short wait for the luggage to come out onto the carousel. It was clearly a budget airline. It was fine, though, and I would fly it again.

Iberia was my least favorite. The flight was excruciatingly hot and they lost my luggage for a few days.

travelgirl2 Feb 1st, 2011 03:10 PM

I think Barcelona and Paris will be wonderful. EasyJet prices are lowest purchased early. The prices rise as the cheapest seats are sold out, so don't wait too long to get the best prices.

lowcountrycarol Feb 1st, 2011 04:48 PM

Have flown Easy Jet and Vueling. Easy Jet had a long delay in Lisbon with no one to get any info from creating a lot of frustration with waiting passengers.

Another occasion leaving Rome on Vueling we were boarded and the plane behind in the line up noticed we had a flat tire and we had to go back and disembark....with a 10 hour wait as a new tire was flown in from Barcelona. I think all these low coast airlines and the regular ones all have "issues" and are basically about the same. As mentioned read about the baggage (cabin included) guidelines.

soleilombre Feb 1st, 2011 09:40 PM

Vueling is a generally low-cost option for getting to, from, and around Spain. They are a Spanish airline with the main hub in Barcelona. Don't know anything about Iberia but EasyJet is obviously also a low-cost option based out of the UK.

isabel Feb 1st, 2011 10:04 PM

I've flown Easyjet many times (including Barcelona-Paris) and they are fine. They are the first airline I check for intra-European flights. If purchased well enough in advance they are very cheap. There are extra fees but they are still cheap, even with them, and if you know about them in advance you can work around it. Carry on is one bag only but it can be a regular 20 inch roll-on and there's no weight limit (for carry on) so if you can stuff your pocketbook/laptop/etc in it and lift it you are fine. They also charge a fee for using a credit card to book. And if you want priority boarding that's another fee. But even with all that they are much less than other options including other airlines and train. They tend to use convenient airports unlike their main competitor Ryan-Air (which has even more fees).

Iberia is the main Spanish airline. It's no better-worse than anyone else. I've flown them several times including transatlantic.

I would not hesitate to fly any of them. Every airline is occasionally late, canceled and looses checked luggage.


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