Questions and Answers

I will be in Barcelona for work, first time in the Iberian peninsula. Decided I am going to swing by Lisbon to visit old friends. Trying to decide what airline would be adequate for flying one way?I will just take Delta out of Lisbon back to the states. I am not too familiar with airlines in the iberian region. Not feeling like flying KLM or Air France with making an out of the way connection. Any suggestions would be great. Or tell me which airlines to avoid.
Thanks!

Hi, your nonstop options are either Vueling or TAP Air Portugal.

Vueling is Iberia’s low-cost cousin and part of the IAG group. Tends to fly mainline planes – Airbus 320 family (it may only fly mainline planes – not sure). TAP flies both mainline and regional jets – but the regionals tend to be the larger Embraers, which are often more comfortable than an all economy Airbus.

Iberia is another option, but that means connecting in Madrid. Which is a really nice airport, IMO. Air Europa (which is being bought by IAG, I think) also connects in MAD.

The nonstop fight is ~2 hours, which is tolerable on a low-cost airline like Vueling. Both Vueling and TAP have multiple flights a day. Both are fine for this trip.

[QUOTE=”OCTinPHL, post: 68666, member: 4556″]Hi, your nonstop options are either Vueling or TAP Air Portugal.

Vueling is Iberia’s low-cost cousin and part of the IAG group. Tends to fly mainline planes – Airbus 320 family (it may only fly mainline planes – not sure). TAP flies both mainline and regional jets – but the regionals tend to be the larger Embraers, which are often more comfortable than an all economy Airbus.

Iberia is another option, but that means connecting in Madrid. Which is a really nice airport, IMO. Air Europa (which is being bought by IAG, I think) also connects in MAD.

The nonstop fight is ~2 hours, which is tolerable on a low-cost airline like Vueling. Both Vueling and TAP have multiple flights a day. Both are fine for this trip.[/QUOTE]

Air Europa is an option for me being that it’s still Skyteam airline. TAP was where i was leaning towards. Heard so many horror stories about Vueling, i don’t need a (Spirit, Frontier) of europe experience.

[QUOTE=”CVG traveler, post: 68667, member: 6408″]Air Europa is an option for me being that it’s still Skyteam airline. TAP was where i was leaning towards. Heard so many horror stories about Vueling, i don’t need a (Spirit, Frontier) of europe experience.[/QUOTE]

Air Europa is not a whole lot better (if at all) than Vueling. Some things are better; some worse. If you can credit to DL (or another Skyteam) do it over Vueling. But having flown both I think they are almost equal. TAP is probably the best of the 3.

Sounds good didn’t know that about Air Europa. TAP it shall be.

[QUOTE=”CVG traveler, post: 68672, member: 6408″]Sounds good didn’t know that about Air Europa. TAP it shall be.[/QUOTE]

Plus, TAP is direct.

How much time do you have? If time isnt completely pressing, I would consider the train between Barcelona and Lisbon, with one change in Madrid. That might just be my own personal preference for the train when I can (or perhaps a personal dislike of flying intra-Europe).

I too have heard horror stories about Vueling and although it has been two years since I last flew them, I’ve never had a negative experience with them. While TP does have some regional jets that are more comfortable than the A320s, they only fly their A319s/320s from LIS to BCN, which can be a bit tight on legroom. VY isn’t much better, but legroom on their planes is surprisingly the same if not better than TP’s. If legroom is important to you, I would recommend you to check Google Flights to see what flights offer what legroom.

What I really like about VY is that usually for an extra 20€ on top of the basic fare you can get fast track security (which comes in handy on peak season/ weekends) as well as priority boarding (to secure space on the overhead bins), in addition to free seat selection, one checked bag and waived change/cancellation fees. Even with that extra 20€, they are usually cheaper.

UX is probably the best in terms of legroom and for you also status, but connecting on what would otherwise be a 2hr flight doesn’t seem very efficient. IB is the worst option (legroom and service more alike to Spirit’s or Frontier’s than that of TP/VY/UX).