New(er) Excel Plane from November

[Steve Fifield]

New(er) Excel Plane from November?
I'm counting down the days to the proposed introduction of a newer 767-300 by Excel, which has been described as having improved legroom and possibly better in-flight entertainment.

Judging by the recent rash of poor publicity postings, I guess that this could not come soon enough, but if Excel are up to standard, I guess that it may miss its arrival time.

Please could I encourage anyone who travels on the NEW(er) plane over the coming weeks / months to let us know ASAP on this thread, as to exactly what difference we can expect.

I am supposed to fly out on January 1st 2005 (in Economy). Will it be ready by then I wonder?

Steve.

[Andrew Prince]

I see that Air Atlanta, an Icelandic company,who own and maintain the Excel 767 have increased their shareholding in Excel from 40%to 71% on the 19th of October. This presumably now gives them a controlling interest. Newspaper comment at the time suggested the share purchase was at a discount. Hopefully now that the future ownership of Excel has been clarified Air Atlanta will move to upgrade the aircraft.
We did travel on the Excel aircraft to Tobago in Economy on January 1st this year and were on time in both directions and have rebooked and are travelling economy again on the 6th January next year.
Excel economy is not the most comfotable way to fly but is no worse than other charter airlines and better than many.It is however £450 cheaper than the competition and that buys an awful lot of fine meals in Tobago!

[Terry Gilbert]

Is the Excel / Tobago flight always with the same aircraft? They obviously have several 767-300s flying to and from numerous European destinations ...
The one we flew out with on 16th Sept and back with on 23rd September was the same aircraft, but with different crew.

An upgrade to a little more legroom on a 9hour+ flight would be very welcome!
Mind you, I must admit that flying out on a Thursday was a bit cheaper (by £30 each) than a Saturday. Also flying out was a very good journey being daylight all the way and we were in the rear half of the plane which happened to be far from full - which meant people spread out - or in two cases lay across all four centre seats. I was by the window ( row 28 ) and had no-one next to me. I had done a swop with a lady (native of Tobago I think) who wanted to spread herself along 4 seats - preferred sleeping rather than looking - she said!

The flight back on 23rd was a different story though. Obviously a night flight, but 4 hours late leaving! Every seat taken, but unfortunately some considerable time was spent sitting on the plane waiting for them to start the engines - and to make matters worse the air conditioning was not working! It was nigh on unbearable! They obviously were trying to "jump start" the jet engines by external means.
That said, Excel still offer good value, (yes, a £450 saving does buy a lot in Tobago!) and the crew were all excellent and very friendly, I have never flown with Excel before but the crew were very good - and that sure helps on a long journey.

Terry

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Terry

Yes, it is the same aircraft. It does nothing but the Tobago-Grenada-St.Kitts run all week, with different crews, obviously. The aircraft isn't part of the standard Excel Airways fleet, so quite different from the aircraft used for the short-haul European runs.

[Steve Fifield]

Any plane spotters in Tobago with nothing better to do? I doubt it.

Only four days now, and somebody might fly on the new one

Steve.

[Steve Fifield]

Update - I just called Goden Caribbean to pay the balance on our hols on 1st January, and they informed me that the introduction of the newer plane would be delayed, possibly to the end of January, so I won't be on it this year

They also confirmed that the in-flight entertainment will still be a single screen in economy (no seat back screens), but that the cause of the delay IS due to the change in seat pitch in economy.

Steve.

[Terence H]

Cheers Steve, thanks for info.

[Paul Tallet]

Gosh ... don't know what to make of all this.

There have been some rather negative threads about this airline which have concerned me ... or should it really concern me?

The point is ... as many others have said ... it is cheap and they don't demand all the dosh up front like money-grabbing Virgin and BA do ... and I took the opportunity to upgrade to Premium Economy for my trip next March (2005).

So ... still happy with a big seat and kicking space ... if everything else goes to pot then I will ensure that I have a nice bottle of Vintage Port and a bottle of Gin and some bitter lemon for the wife ... may even take some sandwiches.

... we should coast it, whatever happens !!!

The morale of this story is ... BE PREPARED !!

[Paul Williams]

We went with Excel last month and like many of you we were concerned, I have to say we found it to be one of the best that we have encountered on any charter flight that we have taken.
OK the leg room was not great in the Economy section but this gave me the excuse to go back and get a beer from the extremely friendly cabin crew and also had the opportunity to talk to other travellers about the island and it was surprising that nearly everyone I spoke to knew of mytobago.info.
I think for my next trip I will take a Thursday flight so that we can go non stop both ways (and believe it or not save some money for more rum punches).
While I understand that you pay your money and you take your chance as far as I am concerned I am in credit before I go again as the most important thing is it gets me to Tobago.

[Mark Palmer]

Just back from 2 weeks on the island and we flew on the Thursday flight in the Excel One cabin. Both flights near enough on time, just a few minutes late, and the cabin crew were great. Excel One is fantastic value, at under half the price of BA, and you arrive feeling as if you haven't been on a 9 hour journey, ready to start your holiday. We have never flown'first' before but we certainly will be using Excel One when we fly out again at Easter.

[Steve Fifield]

Hot news from 'Batty' on another thread:
http://mytobago.info/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9373#9373
is that the new plane has arrived.

I'm guessing that he did not travel alone, so can we have some more confirmations and details from other travellers please?

Has the legroom in economy increased?

Steve F. (2 weeks to go!)