I booked a trip for June 2017 on Vueling's recently announced AMS/MAN service. I got an e-mail today to say that I've been re-routed AMS-BCN-MAN (which doesn't work for me) and the direct service is no longer bookable on their website. Anyone know what's going on?

sk736 wrote:

I booked a trip for June 2017 on Vueling's recently announced AMS/MAN service. I got an e-mail today to say that I've been re-routed AMS-BCN-MAN (which doesn't work for me) and the direct service is no longer bookable on their website. Anyone know what's going on?

Yet it's bookable on Skyscanner but on Google flights it doesn't start till the 29th October.

Apparently Vueling couldn't obtain slots at AMS for the summer.

Vueling is useless. I was booked on their Luton - Zurich service last year which was cancelled at short notice and now my flight from Amsterdam to Manchester has been rerouted via Barcelona with a 40 minute connection in peak summer. Quite frankly i would not trust Vueling to get me anywhere, I rebooked myself onto easyJet!

MAN - AMS is still like 14 daily or something. Just take the refund and rebook.

Armodeen wrote:

MAN - AMS is still like 14 daily or something. Just take the refund and rebook.

Exactly what I did. I was half tempted to fly via BCN but I just know it was not a great idea with Vueling.

The route will begin October 29th instead of 26th March.

Quite surprised this is what they come up with as a solution instead of routing you through LHR on BA.

777klm wrote:

Quite surprised this is what they come up with as a solution instead of routing you through LHR on BA.

Just because they share the same parent holding company and that BA sell some tickets on Vueling flights from the UK doesn't mean they readily co-operate across the board.

Vueling are an independent business with reporting P&L targets directly to IAG.
They have in-house route development and marketing and use in house flexible fares algorithms to optimise revenue.

They aren't even an affiliate Oneworld carrier.

As such they would surely bleed crimson if they had to route anyone over BA on their own ticket and pay BA the inter alia rate.

So from their own perspective cancelation and refund (At the latest opportunity to gain interest on deposited funds) or a reroute via their own network seem far more prudent imho.

Once again IAG is global holding company with several national subsidiaries and all remain unique businesses - Its not a US merged company in anyway.

eurowings wrote:

Armodeen wrote:

MAN - AMS is still like 14 daily or something. Just take the refund and rebook.

Exactly what I did. I was half tempted to fly via BCN but I just know it was not a great idea with Vueling.

Yeeesh with that 40 minute connection that they offered you!

http://www.catalannewsagency.com/society-science/item/vueling-president-admits-having-failed-to-solve-the-company-chaos-of-the-last-weeks
President of the Catalan low-cost airline Vueling, Javier Sánchez-Prieto admitted that the company failed to give explanations regarding the numerous flight delays and cancellations that passengers travelling from or to Barcelona El Prat airport had to suffer throughout the last few weeks. “We have been really focused on trying to solve it but I must admit we have failed”, he said this Wednesday in an interview with Catalan newspaper ‘Ara’. “Honestly and being self-critical we should have appeared ahead of time and communicated better”. Vueling cancelled more than 60 flights in the past four days and most of those flights which did operate suffered from delays, affecting nearly 78,000 passengers. A situation which was made worse by the repeated strikes of French air traffic controllers’, the last of which started last Monday.

Last summer presented quite the fiasco, but they have admitted it and I believe are working towards a better solution for next summer. That said, it's quite a hassle, and a back track. Maybe not this time, but in future years - I would likely be tempted to take it, just as well.

Thanks for the responses. It's disappointing that Vueling have sold flights they didn't yet have slots for but these things happen. I wouldn't have accepted a 40 minute connection with the best of airlines and certainly not with Vueling at BCN! I've now booked with KLM on their E190 which will be a new aircraft for me, so not all bad in the end.

The cheapest option would perhaps have been Eindhoven - Manchester on Ryanair. There is a shuttle bus available between the city of Amsterdam and Eindhoven airport that can be booked through Ryanair, so flying out of Eindhoven instead of Amsterdam is not so much of a problem.

PatrickZ80 wrote:

The cheapest option would perhaps have been Eindhoven - Manchester on Ryanair. There is a shuttle bus available between the city of Amsterdam and Eindhoven airport that can be booked through Ryanair, so flying out of Eindhoven instead of Amsterdam is not so much of a problem.

Whilst I would use Ryanair to visit industrial areas south of Tiel and north east towards Nijmegen/Arnhem a ride up the A2 at peak time is not exactly my flavour of the month imho.

But you don't have to drive yourself, you only have to sit in the bus and let the bus driver do the driving. You can also take the train from Amsterdam to Eindhoven and then take the bus from Eindhoven central station to the airport, that might be faster but more expensive.

Given that a transfer in Barcelona was an option if it had not been so tight I figure it doesn't matter much how long the journey takes, and a bus ride is not much different from a flight in that.

PatrickZ80 wrote:

But you don't have to drive yourself, you only have to sit in the bus and let the bus driver do the driving. You can also take the train from Amsterdam to Eindhoven and then take the bus from Eindhoven central station to the airport, that might be faster but more expensive.

Given that a transfer in Barcelona was an option if it had not been so tight I figure it doesn't matter much how long the journey takes, and a bus ride is not much different from a flight in that.

I did that exact journey on the train last month.

I took advantage of Ryanair's £10 off any flight booking offer and booked myself return flights to Eindhoven for £6.99(!!). My train from home to Manchester (10 miles) costs £1.80 more than that.

I then took the train up to Amsterdam which was approximately EUR22.00 return, so let's say £19.00.

So for an extra 90 minutes travelling I paid £26.00 MAN - EIN - AMS return, as opposed to the £89.00 Easyjet were asking for the return flights.

Well worth it!