There is always bad talk about low-cost airlines, but if Vueling is considered one of the best in Europe there is a reason: here is my experience
I could call it "the trip of the first times." First time with Vueling (the only European low-cost airline I had never flown with), [...]

I could call it "the journey of the first times". First time with Vueling (the only European low-cost airline I had never flown with), first time with a very short stopover (of only 45 minutes), first time that I miss the connection and first time a company has re-protected me and reimbursed me for the delay. It should have been a long weekend, possibly relaxing (and even romantic) but, in the end, there were some hiccups; as I always say, however, it could have been much worse.
In this article:
Let's go in order. In early October, I booked a round-trip flight from Cagliari a Granada via Barcelona: The outbound flight, as written earlier, included a connecting only 45 minutes BCN. I did the math, compared with the Barbone and then decided: I'll buy the tickets. I am not a fool, I know the risks and snags that can happen but I also know my rights: since it was a single PNR, in fact, in case I missed the connection (through no fault of my own, of course) I knew that the company would be obliged to re-routing me to the first available flight. I mean, I had put everything in place: then, of course, I hoped that everything would go smoothly. But it didn't.
Due clarification. Alas, I did not have who knows how much flexibility as far as dates were concerned: I had to leave strictly on Saturday (October 26) and be home no later than the following Wednesday (October 30). If you then consider that Vueling does not connect Cagliari and Barcelona every day, it is quickly said why I chose to fly under these conditions.
On Saturday afternoon I went to the airport a little early although I had seen, through Flight Radar and Flighty, that my flight would leave at 5:55 p.m., half an hour late. "Not too bad," I said to myself: the CAG-BCN flight takes at most 1 hour and 5 minutes, so I would be able to board the other plane. The delay, however, became first 40 minutes, then 50, and finally over an hour; We finally took off at 6:55 p.m., exactly when I should have already been in El Prat.
As soon as we landed in BCN, the cabin steward approached the front rows and asked who had a connecting flight: myself and several passengers raised our hands and, in no time, we were made disembark. But, alas, it all turned out to be in vain: after a short (and intense) ride, once I arrived at the gate from which I was supposed to depart to Granada, the airport employee told me "I'm sorry, as you can see the door is closed, the plane is about to take off". I thank him, close my eyes, take a deep breath, and prepare to spend a night in one of Barcelona's airport hotels: not exactly the Saturday night I had envisioned....
There was nothing left for me to do but go to the counters of Vueling to Explain the situation and ask to be reprojected: the company, I must say, turned out to be. really efficient. In a short time he assigned unfortunate passengers like yours truly a room in theAlexandre Hotel Frontair Congress (not exactly the best airport hotel of my life, but so what): the assistance, of course, included dinner and breakfast as well as transfers to/from the airport. All of us, then, were placed on the first available flight: in my case it was the flight VY2010, departing at 07:25 the next morning.
I want to specify one thing: I travel quite often but I do not possess any status, much less with Vueling/Iberia. Despite this, VY sent me--between Saturday evening and Sunday morning--I don't know how many e-mails through which they offered apologies for the delay of the first flight and the consequent missed connection. A little attention that I appreciated and which, honestly, I had never experienced from any other company.
The next morning, with a couple of scarce hours of sleep, I finally manage to reach Granada and my partner (hence the romantic trip); as soon as I arrive at the hotel, I take my mind back and think "I arrived at my destination more than 12 hours late, I am undoubtedly entitled to a refund". And so I log into my Vueling account, go into the "service center" section and click on the "Claim compensation for loss of connection".
I begin the rigmarole, I enter the data (reservation number, emails, phone number, flight number, etc...) and I send it. After a little more than 24 hours, on the evening of Monday, 28/10, Vueling sends me an email through which it asks for my bank details: "First of all, we express our gratitude for your patience and cooperation during this process," the company writes me, "In order to ensure the proper processing of your bank transfer, we kindly ask you to cooperate Providing some essential data We do not currently have."
Said, done: within minutes I also enter my bank details and Not even 48 hours later, on Thursday afternoon, a notification from the bank's app notifies me that the credit has been credited.
In short, all's well that ends well. Of course, I would have preferred not to receive the refund and to arrive in Granada at the scheduled time, but I have to admit that it could have been really worse; in the jinx, I was quite lucky. E I can only congratulate the company: there is always bad talk about low-cost, but if Vueling is considered one of the best in Europe there is a reason.