Vueling Booking a Flight

The Vueling website is straightforward enough, but like most budget airlines, it often tempts you with extras. The first thing you notice when booking is that you don’t just buy a seat, you choose from fare “packages.” However, sometimes it’s better to buy the basic fare and add on what you need; purchasing upgraded packages isn’t always cheaper.

Cheapest Vueling Fares

The Basic fare is as cheap as it gets, and you are allowed to take on board a complimentary underseat cabin bag with a maximum dimension of 40x30x20 cm. They aren’t as strict as RyanAir, and I genuinely felt like Vueling is fair about their hand luggage and isn’t out to get every penny from you. We wanted to make the experience slightly better, so we chose seat selection for €16 (£14) each, which was well worth it, as we opted for emergency exit seats, which always guarantee plenty of legroom. Then, a 25kg bag was only €32 (£28) to add on.

Vueling Seat Reservation & Baggage

The upsells are there, but they aren’t as relentless as Ryanair. You get a few prompts about adding priority boarding or insurance, but it’s easy to skip past this if you’re not interested. In the end, we booked two flight tickets for €104 (£90) with extra leg room seats together and a 25kg bag. The total price, including luggage, was around €165 (£140) for both of us, £70 per person. We thought the price was very reasonable considering it was a peak flight and out of a major hub airport, and with this, we got baggage and great seats.

Gatwick: Bag Drop and Boarding

Flying out of London Gatwick South Terminal is always a bit of a gamble. Sometimes you breeze through, sometimes you feel like you’ve joined half of Britain in one giant queue. We gave ourselves plenty of time.

Vueling Bag Drop

Bag drop with Vueling was refreshingly easy. They had automated check-in and bag drops, which, for some reason, didn’t want to work for us that morning; however, staff were on hand, and we checked in manually super quickly, and the staff were lovely. 

Vueling Cabin Bag Sizes

There was also no nitpicking over cabin bag and hand luggage dimensions, which already felt less stressful than Ryanair’s “squeeze your bag into the frame or else” approach. The cabin bag size limit of 40x30x20cm on Vueling is fair but also not policed like it is on other budget airlines.

Vueling Boarding

Boarding, to our surprise, was pretty calm. Passengers were called by rows, and people actually followed the instructions, a minor miracle for a budget airline. Within fifteen minutes, we were walking down the jet bridge (another feature RyanAir doesn’t have) and stepping into the yellow-accented cabin. The whole atmosphere felt more mature and had the right balance between budget and flag carrier; you felt like an individual and respected by the staff. They were running on time, and the general clientele isn’t as chavvy.

Onboard the Flight

Our aircraft was an Airbus A320, the standard workhorse of short-haul European flights. The interior looked fresh and well-kept, with Vueling’s signature splash of yellow on the seats and overhead bins. Everything was kept neat and tidy, and it once again felt more like a flag carrier than a budget airline.

Comfort & Space Vueling

We sat in row 14, which is an emergency exit, so the space was plentiful. Well worth what was only £14. We didn’t even have someone sitting next to us, so we had even more space. The seats had built-in USB sockets, which were great, the temperature was just right, and the ambience was relaxing, which was just what we needed for a late-night flight.

Service & Atmosphere

The cabin crew were professional and polite, with announcements in both English and Spanish. The atmosphere onboard was relaxed: families heading off on holiday, a few couples, a handful of solo travellers. No rowdy groups or stag parties, which was a relief.

Vueling Food & Drink

There is no complimentary food or drink, but you can buy from the onboard menu. Prices weren’t outrageous: about three euros for coffee and six for a sandwich. Pro tip: Bring what you like from the terminal and save yourself a few euros.

In Flight Entertainment

There are no entertainment screens, of course, but Vueling offers an app with a few extras if you want something to pass the time or access the internet. Each seat does have a USB socket so you can charge or watch movies without the worry of a dead battery. Mostly, though, people watched movies on their phones, were reading or just relaxing. The flight itself was smooth. We pushed back on time, took off with minimal delay, and cruised over France and into Spain without a bump.

Luggage: The Real Test

For many people, checked luggage is where budget airlines show their true colours. We’ve all heard the horror stories of extra fees, strict weight limits, and surprise charges at the gate.

Vueling Baggage Weight

With Vueling, things were… refreshingly uneventful. Our 25kg bag was weighed at check-in, labelled, and disappeared down the belt without fuss. That was the last we thought about it until Málaga, when it reappeared safe and sound on the carousel. No scratches, no delays, no drama.

Overall, it felt fair and transparent. There were no hidden charges, and there was no sense of being “trapped” into paying more. For once, luggage wasn’t a headache.

Arrival in Málaga

Landing in Málaga is one of those little joys of European travel. As the plane descends, the landscape changes from mountains to coastline, and suddenly you see palm trees and golden light. After leaving London in the rain, it feels like you’ve stepped into a completely different season.

Disembarkation was quick thanks to using both front and rear doors. 

Malaga Passport Control & Baggage Collection

Passport control took about ten minutes, which is really good for a busy airport. They will soon be bringing in digital immigration, which should speed things up even more. By the time we got to baggage reclaim, the carousel was already spinning. Our suitcase came out within fifteen minutes.

Málaga Airport itself is easy to navigate. It’s clean, modern, and well-signposted. Within half an hour of stepping off the plane, we were outside ready to pick up our car and carry on the adventure.

Vueling Value for Money

So, was it worth it? Our total cost was about £70 per person, including checked luggage and seat selection. That’s about the same as Ryanair or easyJet on the same route, but a lot less than British Airways.

For that price we got:

• A smooth booking process.
• A generous 25kg checked bag allowance.
• Calm boarding and an on-time flight.
• No surprise fees or luggage drama.
• A clean, comfortable enough cabin with a professional crew.

It’s not luxury, but it felt like decent value. Vueling sits firmly in the middle ground, not the cheapest, not the most premium, but a balance of both.

The Verdict

Flying Vueling from Gatwick to Málaga with checked luggage turned out to be a surprisingly pleasant experience. The booking was clear, the bag drop was painless, the flight was smooth, and our luggage made it through unscathed.

Would we fly Vueling again? Absolutely, especially for Spanish routes, where their schedules and prices often beat the competition. If you’re travelling light, you might find Ryanair or Easyjet cheaper. But if you need a generous luggage allowance and prefer a slightly calmer atmosphere, Vueling makes sense.