We do get very attached to aircraft. Particularly when we are in them at 30,000 feet. Just imagine then, how much more intimate a moment you’d have if you were on first name terms? Elisenda Masanda and I clicked almost instantly. Her smooth yellow tones and XL seats were made all the more attractive by the soft Spanish words that were emanating from her speakers.
Now, I’m all in favour of chocolates and champagne on a first date but somehow when you know that the new object of your affections is quite literally holding your life in her hands well, then it’s a whole new ball game isn’t it.
Sadly, our brief relationship was over before it had really begun, but I knew in my heart we were destined to meet again. And we did, some three days later in Seville airport. There she was, tantalisingly out of reach in the arms of another on her way to Athens, so on the bounce I turned my affections towards Connie Barjara who had a much better set of engines on her anyway.
Before you think I’ve lost all my marbles, let me just say that flying with Vueling Airlines makes you think a little differently. It’s an airline that has a refreshingly alternative way about it. It was the first airline to let you choose your seats on booking, it has XL seat options, you can put your boarding pass onto your phone and you can pay using Paypal. Its ground breaking in-flight themes have royally entertained passengers with cat walk shows to Cirque de Soleil. They have even presented a French version of the vagina monologues! But my personal favourite? The Jade Jagger designed night club version called Jezebel in partnership with MTV, complete with gold seats, pink lighting and even a glitter ball to round it all off so to speak.
Vueling Airlines is a thoroughly modern thinking Spanish airline sitting between low cost carriers and scheduled services, proving that value for money flying is not just all about treating passengers like production line cattle. This is an airline with a personality and a visionary CEO who cannily understands that providing passengers with an entertaining and positive economical alternative makes good business sense. And with a 7% increase in revenues and 11% increase in capacity compared with the same quarter last year, the signs are that he is bang on.
Their fleet of 35 aircraft (which includes my lost loves Connie Barjara and Elisenda Masanda named after their 2 millionth and 5 millionth passengers by the way) are state of the art Airbus 320’s and operate out of southern Spain connecting directly to many destinations in Europe including London, as well as north Africa and Russia.
So, bring on my flying night club and crank up that audio. Now, where did I leave my medallion and chest hair wig…..
