It is true that an aircraft can be weight restricted even if seats are empty. This can be due to cargo. It can be due to weather/climate or altitude of the airport. It can be due to other things. If only it was as simple as looking around you and seeing empty seats to conclude there isn’t a weight issue.

You can’t know if wind incidents are true or not, you were not the flight dispatcher for those flights. I’m pretty sure weather reports you look at online are not going to the the same one airlines/flight dispatchers/pilots look at.

I’ve been on flights where nobody’s luggage was loaded for some reason. I’ve had luggage delayed for days. All part & parcel of travel. Airlines do give out essentials eg toothbrush etc or allowance for essentials. Medicine should be in hand luggage where possible.

And yes sometimes airlines don’t know where delayed luggage is, until it turns up somewhere, on the system or even on your doorstep. Agents like Estefania can only tell you what she sees in the system.

Vueling and BA don't partner. They're both owned by the same company.

Florence often has weather issues.That's why most people fly out of Pisa.

Not to pile on but you should never check medicines. I also wouldn't check a phone charger but at least these days those are fairly easy to replace.

I have flown Vueling and had no problems.

We have flown them without a problem but also had big problems when they canceled our flight and moved it to one at midnight!

Here is the recap of our Vueling flight from Barcelona to Granada from my trip report.

Arriving at the airport, the Vueling line stretched all the way to Madrid, but I spied another line with only a couple of people. “What could it hurt to try?” I thought. We did have boarding passes. It turned out be a good call, because we had something called Optima tickets, meaning we could go in this shorter line.

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I pretended that I knew I had purchased them for this very reason. Hopefully, Kim, Mary and Tracy won’t read the trip report and find out I was just plane lucky.

Along with seemingly 200 other people, we got in line for our flight at about 12:45. We waited…and waited…and waited. It was now past our scheduled flight time, and still no sign of a plane. Then the intercom announced a gate change.

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Suddenly we were at the beginning of the Boston Marathon as 200 impatient people all turned and scurried for the new gate. A little over an hour later, we settled into our Vueling seats for the short plane ride to Granada. The flight was uneventful (my favorite kind).

Gracias and adios Barcelona…we will return! Hola Granada"

With such a little time difference with all things considered, I'd go for the train.

Oops, see this thread is from 2019. Hope they took the train (:

It's unfortunate that you had a bad experience. I've learned over the years to always keep my medications and charging cables & battery pack with me for the exact reasons cited here.

Florence airport has one of the shortest runways I've ever been on and doesn't even have a taxiway. At 1750m / 5700 ft long (which is very short by any standard) that can also limit takeoff weight...The last thing anyone would wish for is an overweight plane traveling at 200mph failing to take off.....

People often forget that one has to get to the train station - it may not be as far as the airport - it still takes time.
Also, one assumes, most travellers prefer to be at the station more than a few minutes before departure of their train.
The last time we were in Seville, there was a language security check at the station.

[QUOTE=dreamon;17012750]So, the flight is say 2hrs plus 1hr in advance (I'd be there earlier if it was an unfamiliar airport but that's just me). If you take public transport to/from the airport to/from your hotel, that's approx 1hr plus wait time and assuming you know where you're going and how to buy a ticket. That's at least 4hrs. And, at best, the journey is boring.

But I guess in the end it's just what you feel comfortable with. We


People sometimes forget that one has to get to and from the train station - it may not be as far as the airport - it still takes time.

@danon - with few exception (e.g. the TGV station for Aix) train stations are in the middle, or near the middle, of cities. Airports are not (well, aside from London City, but how many tourists use that?). Also, I cannot see requiring more than fifteen minutes, more likely ten, before departure for a train. The luggage check in Spain is unusual, doesn't happen in all stations even in Spain and is a quick trip through the X-ray machine. Elsewhere you just walk into the station, check the departure board and head to the correct platform.

Well, whatever one prefers. I found Berlin ‘s huge Hauptbahnhof rather difficult to navigate and Madrid ‘s Chamartin a shlep from the city centre.