Honest Transavia Review: Is It Worth It?

If you’re flying into Paris Orly on La Compagnie or French Bee, Transavia seems like a smart way to reach dozens of destinations across Europe at low prices. Connecting on this French budget airline fits neatly into our strategy of finding the cheapest premium flights to Europe rather than booking one itinerary straight to your ultimate destination. We were excited to try Transavia on a direct flight from Paris Orly to Malaga in the spring, but wound up disappointed. Here’s the full breakdown, including what we paid, what went wrong, and how Transavia compares to the other European budget carriers we fly regularly.

The Route and What We Paid

Paris Orly to Malaga is a direct flight of about 2.5 hours. We paid around €300 round trip per person after adding all the extras we typically build into a budget airline booking: carry-on bags, bulkhead seating in Row 1, and priority boarding. That’s our standard approach on carriers like Ryanair and easyJet, and it usually gets us a comfortable enough experience for a short European hop. On Transavia, it did not. We were also seriously considering Transavia for a longer route to Armenia – about 4 hours from Paris Orly – and this trip convinced us to look elsewhere.

Heads up: Some links in this post are affiliate links. We may earn a small commission if you book or buy through them, which helps keep our website running at no extra cost to you.

We had an overnight layover in Paris and decided to do a Seine River cruise that night

👉 Paris: Top 10 Touristy Things That Are Totally Worth Doing

The Seat (1 Star)

We booked Row 1, seats D, E, and F, which is the bulkhead row on the right side of the aircraft in a 3-3 configuration. Bulkhead seats are our go-to on budget carriers because the extra legroom at the front usually compensates for the fixed armrests and lack of under-seat storage. And being at the front of a packed airplane eases my claustrophobia.

On Transavia, while the seat width was 18” like its competitors, it felt super tight due to the extremely tall armrests with the tray tables inside. We’ve never felt more crammed into a seat, and we’ve flown a ton of budget airlines. We fly 50 to 60 flights a year and have happily flown Ryanair and easyJet across Europe without complaint. The Transavia bulkhead was worse than any of them.

Even though the fixed armrests made the already narrow seats feel even more constrictive, a glance back at Row 2 made us grateful we hadn’t booked there. There was no legroom at all, at about 28’ pitch. For a 2.5-hour flight it was manageable, but we crossed Transavia off the list for the 4-hour Armenia route.

Pro Tip: Before booking any flight, check it out on SeatMaps.com, which has amazing detail and 360 photos. Our seat photos here are from their website.

Boarding (2 Stars)

We paid for priority boarding but it barely mattered. The boarding process at Orly was disorganized from the start, with no clear management from staff and a free-for-all atmosphere that priority status did nothing to improve. The staff did eventually separate people into their designated boarding groups, but other passengers were pushing past us to board, pulling on our seats once we were settled, and by the end of the flight running from the back of the plane practically trampling everyone to get off. We rarely experience crowd behavior this poor, and the crew made no effort to manage it.

The Crew (2 Stars)

Unhelpful and disengaged throughout. There’s a baseline level of professionalism we’ve come to expect even on the most bare-bones budget carriers, and Transavia didn’t meet it. Nothing rose to the level of a specific incident, but the overall tone from boarding to landing was cold, unresponsive, and frankly unpleasant. On a 2.5-hour flight you can survive it. On anything longer, we wouldn’t want to.

The Cancellation (1 Star)

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) Transavia canceled our return flight from Malaga to Orly. While cancellations happen across every airline, the experience of dealing with it was consistent with everything else and added to the unhelpful and stressful experience of flying (or not flying) with them. We took the cancellation as an opportunity to get our money back and rebook on Vueling instead, and that turned out to be the best part of the whole Transavia experience.

We did thoroughly enjoy our time in Malaga and Benalmadena, Spain

👉 Is Malaga Worth a Trip? Here’s How We Spent a Week on Spain’s Costa del Sol

How Vueling Compares

This is where things get interesting, because SeatMaps.com shows Vueling basically having the same set up as Transavia, just with a few more extra legroom seats at the front. But somehow, even in the bulkhead (on a different trip), we didn’t feel as cramped. Maybe that’s because the overall service was much better, so we weren’t as bothered by the seat?

Vueling is a Spanish budget carrier we’ve flown several times, and the difference on this trip was immediate and obvious. The crew was noticeably more pleasant and engaged. The seats were better designed – even if they were the same dimensions, they were way more comfortable. On this trip, we opted for the emergency exit row, which makes me a little claustrophobic, but added comfort with the normal armrests and significantly more legroom.

On Vueling, the boarding process was smoother. The overall feel was still very much “budget airline” but they still invested in the passenger experience. If you’re weighing Transavia against Vueling for a similar route, take Vueling.

Is Transavia Worth It?

Safety is the most important thing, and we got from Paris to Malaga without incident. Everything else, though, from the seats to the crew to boarding and the overall experience was below what we’ve come to expect, even from European budget carriers.

Would we fly Transavia again? Reluctantly, yes, if it were the only affordable option to a destination we wanted to reach. But we would first book literally any other airline we’ve flown before – and if we had to settle on Transavia, we’d probably go for the emergency exit row rather than bulkhead.

Transavia emergency exit row view from SeatMaps

If you’re connecting at Orly and looking for a budget carrier to extend your trip, check Vueling, easyJet, and Ryanair before defaulting to Transavia. The price difference between these budget airlines is rarely enough to justify the experience difference.

Pro Tip: This is really important to note. Many budget airlines operate out of smaller airports that are much farther from the city and difficult to reach. For example, Ryanair operates out of Paris-Beauvais (BVA), which is too far to make it worth it for us. We were focused on Orly for the convenience of connecting from our French Bee flight. If your international flight is through Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), which is most common, you’ll want to check routes from there. If you’re staying in Paris for a few nights before and after your trip, this doesn’t matter as much, but it’s still important to keep in mind.

Vueling emergency exit row view from SeatMaps

Luxe-for-Less Tip

We love the French Bee premium economy experience as one of the most affordable ways to get to Europe in a premium cabin. You can read our full review here: French Bee Premium Economy Review: Too Good to Be True?