Vueling has terrible Design.

Troy Nachtigall
Jul 24, 2017 · 2 min read

Terrible Product design, but even worse Service design

Every time I fly Vueling, something rubs me as wrong. I know I am oversensitive to these things, but I am a designer. My job is to identify these things and fix them.
I had my bluetooth headphones on when entering the plane. No one ever asked me to take them off. I know I should have, but I’m in the middle of writing a paper; my mind is somewhere else. So I kept listening to the design book I am studying on Audible.
During the drink service a very rude steward, “Carlos”, decided to shame me. He made a very loud, long speech about how my headphones have no cable. If they have no cable, have no cable they must be bluetooth. If they are thus bluetooth then that s not allowed. He then made a big show of taking the safety instructions out and pointing to the no bluetooth icon to me and those around me. Note that in the image the safety card was/is hidden by the menu card.

Carlos could have been far less rude. A simple gesture to the ears and the shaking of a finger would have sufficed. He could have also asked me to take them off as we passed when I entered the plane. I blame the design of the seat. The seat pocket and the menu design are at fault for hiding the icons on the safety card.

That said, Carlos has an attitude problem. I witnessed him be rude to at least two other passengers. But this is bigger than Carlos. Something like this happened every time I’ve flown Vueling.

Ironically, The book I was listening too was “The Design of Everyday things” by Norman.