Excel to Tobago

Liz M · Post by **Liz M** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 10:16 pm

Just back after experiencing Excel flights. We splashed out on Excel One and found them excellent and well worth the extra. Special check in, access to business class lounge at Gatwick. Flights on time both ways. Very spacious seats, excellent food and inflight service. Only two grouses: the "individual DVD players" didn't work - my husband tried four different ones in an attempt to watch a film right through with no success. And coming home, the dinner wasn't served until over 3 hours into the flight - nearly midnight - when what we would have liked was a quick meal and the opportunity to get some sleep. The flight out via St. Kitts was obviously much longer than the non-stop return, but BA stops in Antigua both ways. Not having flown this route on any other carrier, I can't make comparisons, but I would definitely give Excel the thumbs up.

Roseanne · Post by **Roseanne** » Tue Dec 09, 2003 4:01 pm

My sister lives in the UK and I was telling her about Excel flights (I had heard about them from a friend). However, she had not heard of it and neither did her travel agent?? Weird?? How can I tell her to book it and what's the average cost??

Post by **Steve Wooler** » Tue Dec 09, 2003 4:44 pm

Hi Roseanne

Without wishing to be rude, my suggestion would be that your sister changes her travel agent.

In brief, the Excel flights are a charter flight primarily operated by Golden Caribbean. The service is used by a number of tour operators as part of package holidays, but flight-only tickets are also available from Golden Caribbean in the UK or from Tourist Services in T&T (tel: 639-2285). Full details are given in our Air Travel pages (menus: Tobago/Getting There/Air Travel).

Hope this helps.

Jill M · Post by **Jill M** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 10:28 pm

Sorry this is a long time after your post, but I'm new here.

Your sister in the UK might benefit from checking out http://www.meridianlinetravel.co.uk who also do good value prices for flight only to Tobago.

Hope you get to see this.

Andrew Prince · Post by **Andrew Prince** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 3:43 pm

We also struggled to book an Excel flight by any of the major travel agency chains. Both Going Places and First Choice could only offer us BA and Virgin .I guess that on the margins that Excel have to operate on ,they cannot afford the commission that the major travel agency chains now demand.
We used Meridian Line travel who have an on line availability and booking service with Excel.We found the service excellent with the tickets arriving three weeks before our departure date.
As it is a third party charter, Excel do not allow booking from their own site.
While I was on Tobago in January, I was told by someone that if you could afford to wait until 24hrs before a flight, it was possible to ring Royal Carribean and get a last minute deal ,if seat availability allowed.I have not ckecked this out for myself so please don't email me if you find yourself stranded at Gatwick!

Post by **Steve Wooler** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 4:24 pm

Hi Andrew

Nice to see you on the board again.

Can I please reiterate and clarify a couple of your points about the Excel flights.

May I repeat. If your travel agent has not heard of, or does not want to handle, tickets for the Golden Caribbean/Excel Airway flights to Tobago then change travel agent - they are obviously just "brochure" agents – in other words, the sort of agent that employ 17 year old students who couldn’t find their own way to Blackpool and who have been simply “trained” to read the brochures of the major tour operator. They haven’t got the remotest idea what they’re talking about. Sorry if this sounds harsh, but you wouldn’t believe how many disasters I hear of from people who have had holidays screwed by this type of travel agent. I’ve had personal (bad) experience and now use a really good independent travel agent. What a difference! The difference is like comparing Tobago and Faliraki.

Anyway, why waste your time using a third party? Very few are going to give you any discount on the fare and if they do it will not be more than 2-3%. Far better, surely, to telephone Golden Caribbean and book direct, then there’s far less chance of a screw up.

Secondly, you are quite correct - you cannot book tickets for the Tobago flight directly with Excel Airways. ALL ticketing is handled via Golden Caribbean (except for the block bookings made by several major tour operators). Excel simply operates the aircraft – whether empty or full. Taking it a stage further, Excel don’t even OWN the aircraft – it’s leased from Air Atlanta of Iceland specifically for the Tobago service – so it doesn’t even form part of the normal Excel fleet.

Thirdly, Golden Caribbean does not have a website or online booking system currently and do not accept bookings by email. A website is planned, but I don’t know when it will be available. The meridiantravel site does give some basic availability information, but should not be relied upon and only covers holidays of one or two weeks duration - not longer.

Finally, you are quite correct - you can get amazing deals from Golden Caribbean if you leave it to the last minute and there are any spare tickets. Mind you, what a risk if there are no seats left!

Paul J Corney · Post by **Paul J Corney** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 6:45 am

Steve, et al you might be interested to learn that Air Atlanta is now a 40% shareholder in Excel - see below:

Air Atlanta is the largest wet lease charter airline in the world and is the major supplier of Boeing aircraft leased by EAG`s subsidiary Excel Airways for summer only use. During summer 2004, nine aircraft will be leased from Air Atlanta and as part of the share sale arrangement, a five year commercial agreement will be signed for the supply of summer only aircraft to Excel Airways. Air Atlanta`s turnover in 2003 amounted to Euros 240 million* and its assets at the beginning of 2004 were Euros 80 million*.

As well as providing Excel with a long term source of flexible seasonal capacity, Air Atlanta with their skill and experience in operating in the worldwide wet lease market will be able to assist Excel in exporting its successful business model to other parts of the world. The opportunities for jointly accessing potential economies of scale will be vigorously pursued by both airlines as a result of this partnership.

Phil Wyatt, Chief Executive, commenting on the transaction said:

"With Air Atlanta now becoming a significant shareholder in EAG, we are able to secure a very important trade partner who has provided substantial funds to Libra to facilitate a full repayment of its indebtedness to EAG. At the same time, Libra, who is an important customer of Excel Aviation, will have realised a significant gain on their investment."

As I've said in previous posts you can also book Excel filghts through Firstcall (http://www.firstcalltravel.com/) travel.

Beverley · Post by **Beverley** » Thu May 06, 2004 8:48 am

Phew, there's a relief. We charter Excel Airways for ski flights and I was expecting one of the planes they use for ski!! Nothing wrong with the ski planes of course, but they are a bit small. Current prices on Excel are £249 return Gatwick - Tobago

Geoff M · Post by **Geoff M** » Thu May 06, 2004 5:36 pm

[Current prices on Excel are £249 return Gatwick - Tobago[/quote]

Cheapest I can find is £350 in September. Where did you get that price from?

Post by **Steve Wooler** » Thu May 06, 2004 5:59 pm

I confess that I was surprised by Beverley's claim of £249 return, but couldn't find my Summer 2004 fare schedule. Geoff's post has kicked my butt of my chair to dig a little and, Hey Presto! there it was in the wrong place.

I can now confirm that the LOWEST official listed price for the Golden Caribbean/Excel Airways flights to Tobago is £357. This is based on a one or two-week return on the Thursday (non-stop) flight and is available for most Monday's between now and the end of June, then again from 16 September to 7 October. The Saturday flights (via St Kitts) are £23 more expensive at the moment, but drop to £11 more in September.

You might be able to shave £10-£15 off these prices if you have a particularly generous travel agent, but otherwise I imagine that either Beverley was mistaken or the price she quoted was a last-minute price quoted for an under-booked flight within the next day or two.

Geoff M · Post by **Geoff M** » Thu May 06, 2004 6:06 pm

Many thanks, Steve. May I also say what a fantastic site you have created here.
My wife and I are considering Tobago in September for a couple of weeks diving, and your site has been invaluable.

Beverley · Post by **Beverley** » Fri May 07, 2004 8:26 am

Yes it was a special offer from Tropical Places, I think it's still valid for the next couple of weeks, but I booked two weeks ago to fly next week. Although I can't get on to their website today to check current offers. Although I booked through a travel agent my friends parents then booked direct for about the same price for the same flight, so I guess they were trying to sell them off quickly? Apologies if the same deal is still not running

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Tue May 18, 2004 12:25 pm

You can use westernair, website address: http://www.westernair.co.uk
I used them to Travel to to St.Kitts and noticed that they also travel to Tobago. Flight was good considering I paid £249.00 for 1 week. The travel consultant was also very helpful. I usually book with Newmont Travel, but on this occasion they could not inform me of availability of seats immediately, whereas Westernair could.

Lisa Sweeney · Post by **Lisa Sweeney** » Sun May 23, 2004 10:03 pm

I would strongly reccomend anyone thinking of flying with Excel to either ask for a seat with extra leg room (for a small extra fee) or splash out and book Excel One. My mother-in-law flew excel one and looked relaxed and happy, or drunk on champagne (I'm not sure which) after both flights.

We flew economy based on the seat pitch of the old Monarch service.The staff are very friendly, food was surprising edible but the legroom was a joke. The only way I could reach my seat was to climb into it over another passenger. Leaving me feeling incredibly guilty to ask him to move when I needed to stretch my not so long legs.

The sound quality on the films was appalling, meaning that I now have to watch Along Came Polly again just for dialogue!

Other than these few gripes we had an amazing holiday.

Lisa

Beverley · Post by **Beverley** » Mon May 24, 2004 9:47 am

I would upgrade if you are anything over five foot! Very cosy on both journeys (space wise) Dress warmly as it was really cold, even with a fleece and two blankets. Poor quality audio on the return journey, food out there ok, but not so good on the way back (perhaps I had been spoiled by good food in Tobago) Had a peek in the next class up and it looked lovely and comfortable. Space only really becomes an issue when you are trying to sleep, other than that they're fine! I think I was a bit harsh on the questionnaire though!

Jill M · Post by **Jill M** » Mon May 24, 2004 5:02 pm

We upgraded to Premier Economy on the return journey and I would definately recommend it. I paid for the extra legroom seats for the journey out to Tobago. We got the exit seats where the legroom was great, but because the seats have fixed arms to accomodate the trays, if you are anything over a UK womens size 14 (I'm not much more). You are stuck in the seat.

I'm trying to get some money back off them at the moment, but I have had to wait three weeks so far. I keep being told, 'we will let you know within the next seven days' They've done this twice so far and the second lot of seven days is up tomorrow. I can feel a bout of anger coming on

Jill

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