Excell's limping planes/delays

[Andrew And Sue]

We flew out with Exclell (Excell One) on 2 Oct 2004. In the main a good journey, lovely crew, ok food and on time. However a slight hiccup in St. Kitt's when all the power went for a short while - we now know that this is a common occurence and a forefunner to the problems on our return.

Our flight was due to leave at 7.20pm (ha ha) on the saturday. If it had not been for Kirsten and her family (fellow guests who have stayed at the Coco Reef many times) we would not have had any information about the delay - no rep from golden caribbean or excell. We reeived our letter from excell at 9am on the following day - really helpful, but the information in the letter was rubbish anyway.

We were allowed to remain in the hotel and were given basic provisions e.g. basic meals and one non-alcoholic drink. This is after being there for two weeks on an all inclusive basis. To buy drinks - alcoholic or non-alcoholic is very expensive. Cases were packed, so anything we needed had to be dug out of the case and ironed etc to enable us to have clothes to wear.

The hotel room was paid for up to 3pm on the Sunday. We checked in as requestred and was told that the flight was on it's way from St. Kitts. However, staff at the hotel told us the plane was still in St. Kitts.

Staff at the hotel then told us that the flight would not be leaving until the following day (Monday).

Throughout this time I had been trying to contact a representative of Excell to come and talk to (and listen to) their customers. I did eventually manage to contact someone but they said they were too busy. I also telephoned the emergency telephone number for Golden Caribbean in the main there was no reply - some emergency number!

During our meal the hotel staff told us that if we wanted ourl uggage we would have to go the the airport to collect it. We then went to the airport, but were told that customs were closed and we could not have it. After a good deal of discussion and assertiveness they gave in and we got our luggage. We had to pay for the taxi's both ways $100 TT's. We then returned to the htel and attempted to finish our meal - not really in the mood to eat now.

Both my husband and myself spent most of the night awake. I was upset a good deal of the night. I had a heart attack on June 27th 2004, I am also diabetic and asthmatic and therefore I have to take many pills, however I had taken the last of them. I had packed a few extra in case of a delay, but never expected to be delayed for this long. And at this point had no idea how much konger the delay woud be.

On the Monday morning the Hotel was very helpful and contacted a doctor
for me. Both my husband and I were so worried we were unable to eat more than a bowl of cereal for breakfast. The doctor arrived, wrote a prescrition and my husband then spent the next hour of so at the pharmacy. They filled as much of the prescription that they could, but I was still missing some medication.

During the day (Monday) I made many phone calls to England asking my family to contact Excell in England to find out some information. Excell were unhelpful to say the least. My family also contacted Golden Caribbean, but the information they gave was more like misinformation.

Just after I received a phone call from my son to say the flight would be landing in Tobago within 30-40 minutes, the Golden Caribbean rep (yes he had arrived at last) told us the plane would be landing at 1.45pm

We were told that we had to vacate our rooms by midday, which we did. We watched the plane land at about 2.45pm and duly trecked to the airport. We then sat in the airport getting hot and bothered. We then boarded the plane and sat without any airconditioning for over an hour. As we walked to the plane they were refuelling it, just 5-6 feet away - fuel was leaking from the pipe and the smell was dreadful.

We eventually took off at about 5.45pm. We were given food at approx 7pm - as far as the airline is concerned we had not had any food since breakfast. We were then given a meagre breakfast 9 hours later. The attitude of the crew on the homeward journey left a lot to be desired.

During the time of the delay we were told that there was a technical fault and that staff had run out of time. This technical fault has been an ongoing problem. Apparently Excell lease the plane from Air Atlanta and have been trying to get them to fix the fault for some time. Staf at the Hotel informed us that there have been many delays with excell often 2 days at a time.

Because of the fault we had to fly close to the US coast etc, therefore extending our flight by several hours.

After waiting in the baggage hall for over an hour we were told that our luggage was on the Virgin flight. The reason for this was the extra fuel that excell needed to take on board for the extra length of the flight. The people on the Virgin flight were also tol that the Excell flight would be landing in New York and would likely be grounded there. Thank god we made it home in one piece.

After spending a good deal of money on a fantastic holiday in a wonderful place (both Tobago and the Coco Reef) I feel I need a holiday to get over the experiences of the delay and flight home. I was also due to satrt a new job on my return, but due to the delay I do not have a job to go to.

Believe it or not this is the experience in a nut shell.

Excell Airline should be renamed Heath Robinson Enterprises.

Sue

Speak soon Kirsten!



[/b]

[V Wragg]

Hello Sue,
Glad to hear that you managed to get home safely, we couldnt beleive our eyes when we got off the Virgin flight and saw so many of you waiting at our luggage belt to collect our luggage, what a way to end a holiday!!!

Best Wishes

John & Valerie (the Maldives lady)

[Rachel Harries]

Hi Sue (and Kirsten and co!)

Delays are vile at the best of times, but when it's actually life-endangering, it's REALLY not funny. I feel desperately sorry for you - it must have been horrendous. Holidays are lovely, and the Coco Reef is great, but I wouldn't want to be stuck there - when it's time to go home, it's time to go home, isn't it?

I sincerely hope the recovery is quick and that you get the compensation and apology you deserve.

Rachel

[Julia C.]

Really sorry to hear about your terrible experience Sue. There is never any excuse for not communicating honestly and promptly with paying customers. It sounds like several myTobago posters have had bad experiences with Excell.
Please can anyone who has had a bad experience with them write to Excell or to whoever you bought your flights from and tell them.
I must admit our one return trip to Tobago with Excell in Premium was OK and having looked at the alternative prices it is the only way we can really afford to go to Tobago. So please make your complaints known to them and then hopefully they will make some positive changes.