Anyone reports on excel?

[Alexandra Taylor Presslan]

Anyone used the new excel flights and if so how were they? Cheers.

[Steve Wooler]

Hello Alexandra

Yes, I flew out in Excel Premium Economy last Thursday. It was the most comfortable, painless flight I've had to Tobago. The direct routing on Thursday makes all the difference. 9.25 hrs Gatwick to Crown Point. Saving that 90 minutes or so not landing at Grenada or St Kitts make SUCH a difference.

At 34-inch seat pitch, the space was adequate for the journey. I wandered back through standard economy to have a look at the seating. It's a mixture of 29 and 30 inch pitch and I think it's luck of the draw which you get. The old Monarch service was 29 inch, so either way it's no worse.

The food was good and the cabin crew as friendly and efficient as I've ever come across. The only criticism I might levy would be the entertainment systems, which are not up to the stadards of the best scheduled services, such as BA and Virgin.

All in all, my first impressions were more than favourable - and that's without bringing cost into the equation.

[Alexandra Taylor Presslan]

thanks steve hope your having a fab time which i am sure you are!!!!!! There was a lot of confusion whe i booked my flight first i was booked to go on thursday then i was told that they were no longer flying on thursday but i could go on friday instead whih was fine by me, i did ask if it was direct and was told it was, however i have since found out that the thursday flight out is the only direct one but that my flight back will be direct and either way if you fly out on an even amount of days ie out on a thurs back on a thurs then if you dont have a stop one way it eill be the other. Obviously non stop is preferable because after 9 hours or so all you want to do is get off that plane!!!!!! I have gone for economy but have paid for extra leg room seats as that seemed like a good compromise and then your seat pitch should be pretty good!!!!!!!

[Tim Green]

Alaxandra,

I flew with Excel on the 1st Jan '04, returning on the 15/16th Jan and like you I plumbed for the economy seat but paid the extra for the extra leg room. Now, I have to say, that was the best £60 I ever spent because me and my partner used the 'facing' cabin crew's seat as a foot/leg rest which effectively gave us as much room and comfort as any 1st Class 'seat' on any airline! For the first time in my life I managed to get some sleep on a flight!

Regards

Tim

PS. Steve, I'm disappointed in you.... I mean, between you and your wife I'm sure you could have smuggled me in at least one of your suitcases...?

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Tim

With the best will in the world, I couldn't have squeezed a sheet of extra paper into our cases. You've never travelled with Jill. The medicine chest alone must take one case and her makeup kit another two. Books filled another and nearly broke my back lifting the case. We weren't over-weight with Excel, but we must have been close. Mind you, I could have done with a bag carrier.

[John Hill]

Don't start down that line again remember last year you were to old to carry a certain ladies bags if you remember, but at your age I expect you can't.
Hope you are having a superb time bet you are looking forward to coming home to the snow.

[Steve Wooler]

I don't carry the bags, John, that's what I bring Jill along for.

No, I don't need to consider the snow. By the time I get back in early March, spring will hopefully be just around the corner.

Yours
Smug Bastard

[Jean Sampson]

The return flight was far better than the outgoing flight for the following reason. On the outgoing flight we had seats in row 10. The four seat block together in row 10 were behind a three seat block in row 9, and the space between the two rows I swear was a lot less than 29inches. I have a photo to illustrate that. The rest of the seating on the plane seemed fine. TIP-Don't have the four seats together in row 10 if you are taller than 5feet.
The food was good, some of the best airline food tasted anywhere and the airline stewards were very pleasant and helpful. We were a bit confused about the luggage allowance as on the Golden Caribbean tickets it stated 40kg, but at the check in desk there was notice of a lesser weight. Worth checking that out if you are carrying the kitchen sink. I agree with you regards the video screen, if you are small and sitting behind a taller person you cannot see it, and it can be too far away if seated at the back. Otherwise very satisfactory.

[Terence H]

Hi

I am now wondering what is the weight allowance for Excel economy then?

Do they not have to honour whats printed on the ticket?

[Steve Wooler]

Terence

Fear not - the Excel baggage allowance is exactly as shown on our Air Travel section (Tobago/Getting There/Air Travel menu above) - 40Kg in all three classes.

The only note I saw at check-in when departing from Gatwick was a big notice about CABIN luggage, which is restricted to 5Kg. This caused me no end of problem, becuase my combined computer/camera case is 9.6Kg. Mind you, I managed to half the weight by slipping (???) the laptop into a Duty Free bag and everybody seemed fine. It was the heaviest bag of ciggies I've ever had to carry, mind you.

[Terence H]

Cheers Steve.

....I shall have to take up smoking again....

[Paul J Corney]

We made our booking through FirstCall (sub agent for Golden Caribbean) and could not really fault the service on either leg of the journey though Vegetarians will struggle – despite ordering both ways the crew did not have a record.

Punctuality was good (only 30 minutes late on the outward flight via Grenada despite the ground handling people at LGW losing the catering) and the (leather) seat pitch in the Excel Airways revamped B 767 a lot better than last year’s Monarch Airbus.

All in all a marked improvement on Monarch and a substantial discount on BA!

NB The stop over time on the Friday flight via Grenada is a mere 45 minutes and as the plane is refuelled / cleaned in Tobago you don't get off in Grenada - I echo Steve's comment regarding the airline - the best flights we've had in the 5 years we've been travelling to Tobago.

[Steve Pitts]

I can confirm that the baggage allowance is 40kgs per person and that cabin/ carry-on allowance is 5kgs, one item per passenger. This rule seems to be ignored with regard to duty-free, where I have witnessed a number of ciggie and alcohol addicts with two yellow carrier bags each! God Knows what the additional combined weight of that little lot was.

There are now boards at most check in desks advising that no suitcase over 32kgs in weight will be handled, due to health and safety concerns.
I think that is perhaps causing some confusion with travellers assuming that this is the baggage allowance.

Cheers
Steve

[John Borkum]

Hi Tom,
I don´t understand full what did you mean with fee 60 GBP for the extra leg room. Did you paid this fee by booking (Premium) or on the board?
Regrads John

Alaxandra,

I flew with Excel on the 1st Jan '04, returning on the 15/16th Jan and like you I plumbed for the economy seat but paid the extra for the extra leg room. Now, I have to say, that was the best £60 I ever spent because me and my partner used the 'facing' cabin crew's seat as a foot/leg rest which effectively gave us as much room and comfort as any 1st Class 'seat' on any airline! For the first time in my life I managed to get some sleep on a flight!

Regards

Tim

PS. Steve, I'm disappointed in you.... I mean, between you and your wife I'm sure you could have smuggled me in at least one of your suitcases...?

[PaulineC]

Hello John.
We are flying with Excel in March and have booked extra legroom seats. These cannot be booked through Golden Carribean, but have to be booked with Excel Airways direct. This was quite straightforward. We paid by credit card and the seats will apparently be allocated when we check-in. Extra leg room seats costs £60 return per person and are the seats in economy class adjacent to the passenger doors. There are a limited number obviously. I guess that if they are not all reserved, you could request these at the airport prior to the flight. However, when I booked ours a couple of weeks ago there were only extra leg room seats left, so it's probably best to reserve them as soon as you have booked the flights.
I will report back after our trip.
Pauline

[Paul J Corney]

All a bit of a con really and another way of charter airlines making up for the lower fares. All of them now offer a chance to "buy" seats across the emergency exit rows and those near the exits which in theory sounds fine. Problem is that:

1. Very often the people on the ground in the remote location are not told
2. The aircraft (especially on the Friday flight to Tobago) is half full and so you can choose where you want to site anyway
3. The seats by the exits are also near to the loos and can suffer from constant traffic - not a lot of fun when you are travelling at night!

So yes it gives you peace of mind but to be honest I wouldn't do it again.

NB If you are worried about sitting together as a group you can also "buy" for £15 per head a guarantee that your party will be seated together.

Good luck

Paul

[Gio]

hi there!
can anybody please tell me how to contact Excel through the Internet? I live in Italy and am always searching for cheap flights to Tobago which apparently all seem to be departing from England
by the way if anybody knows of other CHEAP ways of going to Tobago please let me know
peace & love
gio

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Gio

Sorry, but Golden Caribbean have just confirmed to me that they can currently ONLY accept bookings via telephone to their UK office (Tel: +44 1342-316900). They do not have a website at the moment and cannot accept bookings by email.

I think you will find that Golden Caribbean's Excel Airways charter flights are by far the cheapest way of getting to Tobago from Europe.

[Paul J Corney]

Steve, far be it from me to correct the "Sage" but Golden Caribbean (GC) also use FirstCallTravel of Chigwell to sell some of the seats on Excel - see http://www.firstcalltravel.com/

We booked in November 6 weeks before travel (31st January) and paid £297 for 14 nights. The best price alternative on Excel through GC was £315 - both incredibly cheap and astonishing value for money.

I also found the guy at First Call very knowledgable on Tobago and able to offer some very good deals on last minute accommodation.

There is an alternative - the tickets will be sent to you by GC
Paul

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Paul

By all means correct me.

In our main Air Travel page, I state:

Excel Airways charter flights are normally only available as part of package holidays. However, flight-only tickets can be obtained via your travel agent, or directly from Golden Caribbean of East Grinstead, West Sussex (Tel: 01342-316900).

First Call Travel are travel agents. Therefore - and in accordance with my statement above - you should naturally be able to book Golden Caribbean Excel Airways tickets through First Call, in exactly the same way that you can with any half decent travel agent in your local high street. Whether or not they will offer you a discount on the relatively narrow discount they receive from GC is another thing, so I've never found it worth shopping around. In all these cases your ticket(s) will come directly from GC, not from the travel agent. Therefore there is little advantage to booking via a travel agent, so I always recommend contacting GC direct.

Hope this clarifies the position. However, all corrections are gratefully and humbly received - and all serve to make the site more worthwhile and useful.