myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

We flew out with Excel on 2/10/04 flight was on time, food was OK, seats were quite comfy - premium economy. Staff were very friendly, my daughters got to meet the captain - all in all a very pleasant journey.

But oh my what a different story on our return, our flight was delayed by 48 hours, and excel did not keeps us informed and if it wasn’t for the wonderful staff at the Coco Reef I really think I would have pulled all my hair out in frustration. I will give you a summary of what happened and you can judge for yourselves whether I am bring fair or not.

We were due to leave Tobago at 7.20pm on Saturday, I checked our flight in the morning and was told there was a 3 1/2 delay, a member of staff at the Coco Reef then told me that excel has phoned asking how many rooms they had available that night - so we then knew that the flight was going to be delayed longer. OK we all accept that flights get delayed and we were lucky enough to stay in our hotel, and excel were to give us a one course meal and one non-alcoholic drink!! At 9.30pm that evening we received a letter from excel informing us that our fight had indeed been delayed and that we would be flying out at 6.30 on the Sunday. We were told to check out of our hotel room by 3pm – which we duly did. My husband then took our luggage to the airport and we remained at the hotel until 6pm when we phoned excel to see if the flight was still scheduled to depart at 6.30, they replied yes and that the flight was flying in from St Kitts and they had confirmation of this. We were then informed by one of the waitresses at the hotel that the flight was still in St. Kitts. At 7.30 the manager of the hotel informed us that our flight was again delayed but we would be leaving at 12.00 the following day. We phoned excel who confirmed this and said that our luggage would be sent back to the hotel, 2 hours passed and still no luggage so we went to the airport to be told that we couldn’t have our luggage as customs was shut – after quite a long discussion we managed to get our luggage – Yippee. On the Monday we checked out of the hotel at 11.00am and once again took our luggage to the airport, we saw from the hotel our long awaited flight come in at 2.45pm so we went to the airport. We boarded the plane and sat in the heat with no air conditioning for 1 hour – not pleasant I can tell you. We finally left Tobago at 5.30 to be told that because of a problem on the aircraft we would have to hug the coast all the way home so our flight would be 10 1/2 hours.

We finally arrive at Gatwick50 hours later than expected and waited at baggage reclaim for our luggage and it didn’t appear. After an hour we were told that because they had to have extra fuel on board our luggage was coming in on the virgin flight.

I accept that things go wrong on flights but nobody from excel ever kept us informed, the first time we saw anybody from excel was at Gatwick Airport on Tuesday. The only information we ever got was what we found out ourselves or what staff at the hotel told us – a very unprofessional service in my mind.

I still love Tobago though.

Sue, back me up here!

Kirsten

Blimey.
And I thought we had problems.
Hope you are recovering from the experience.

Hi Kirsten,

Like you we flew out on the 2nd October. We were in the middle of the front row of Premium Economy (think of a fat bloke and his pretty wife and you might have seen us). The service from Excel was completely unsatisfactory in this case. I had to miss two days of work (I am self employed).

The problems with the plane had been going on for over a month before we flew out. The reason they had to carry the extra fuel was that they had to take the long way round (hugging the eastern seaboard of the US) instead of taking the direct route. The reason that they had to take the long route was they had a long standing problem with the aux generator on the aircraft. This probably was not fixed sooner as Excel only have one aircraft capable of flying the distance to Tobago.

Had Excel admitted the problem and said there would be a two day delay, we could at least have enjoyed the extra two days instead of being couped up at the airport waiting for a plane that was never going to come.

Did you see that Oriental Woman who was trying to get the local rep at the airport to sign a piece of paper to cover her loss of earnings? My question to her would be, If you are earning £1000 a day (like she claimed), how come you are travelling on Excel? In economy?

I am currently chasing Excel for payment of a number of additional purchases I had to make (like medication, cleaning of clothes etc) that I had to make due to their incompitence. Don't hold out much hope though.

Like you, I can't wait to go back to the Island.

Regards,
Mike

We flew out in July and arrived at Gatwick to be told that there was no Premium Economy or One on the flight as the usual aircraft was still in the caribbean having sucked a bird into an engine, which apparently necessitates major repairs. The result was that we travelled out on a plane they had drafted in from Veal-Crate Airways, but at least we all got there in one piece, and not too late. On the way home the normal plane had been fixed and we had a really good and comfortable trip back. Anyway, the point of this note was that they can obviously get another plane if they want to, presumably through Air Atlanta, if I understand the company structure. I wonder why they didn't get one in this instance, particularly if this one had been playing up for a while? Cost presumably. Regards, Neil.

I see that 'Just Tobago' on their website say that they use Excel Airways, "The leading U.K. airline with an unmatched puntuality record......)
well I suppose they don't say it's a 'good' record! Neil.

I have been intouch with quite a few people from the flight who are all trying to claim compensation from Excel and failing!! Got a fantastic letter from Excel though!! Not!

Still love Tobago and hoping to go back next year. Next weekend we are having a tobago revisited weekend - meeting up with our friends we met in 2003 and can't wait!

Happy Christmas to you all and especially to everybody in Tobago.

Kirsten x x x

In fairness to Golden Caribbean, when we had to travel in the "all economy plane", the refund of the seat upgrade cost which I had paid was already waiting for me when we returned two weeks later. Although I was obviously due this money, I didn't expect to get it without having to ask. They had also put on a hundred pounds each for the inconvenience. The upshot of what I considered to be their fair-dealing is that I have booked with them again for next year, although I must admit that their reasonable price for the extra legroom in 'One', compared to Virgin and B.A., had a lot to do with it. It would be good to have a complete record of their punctuality performance week to week, but I doubt if that would be made public, unless it was very good! Neil Roberts.

Excel passenger opinions - http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/excel.htm

after reading about some of the experiences , I feel quite lucky! but it does seem to be a question of luck whether you get a decent flight and decent staff.

We've just returned. ExcelOne both ways, on the new aeroplane.

Absolutely no complaints at all, at all.

batty.

That is interesting, as I had heard that the new plane won't fly until February? Was it definately an Excel plane, and not a borrowed from Brittania as reported by another member recently? Did you notice if it was marked with Excel banners / ensignia?

It would be great if they have already started with the new plane.

Steve F.

It was definitely the brand new aeroplane.

And, it's absolutely splendiferous.

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batty

Sorry,

I was stuck up the front. It was so new, that the staff hadn't a clue how the posh seats worked (and they aren't quite a match for my Audi seats).

Premium Seats, a little way back from the pointy end, looked to be more comfortable than the ExcelOne divans.

I didn't have a chance to have a real look at steerage class, but feedback suggests that it is more comfortable than hitherto.

My own gut feeling, is that ExcelOne is not really worth the extra, whereas Premium certainly is.

Not sure if Premium gets you into the Lounge at Gatwick, but it's worth it, even if you have to pay a little extra. (avoiding the 2-mile queues for the loos in the duty-free area)

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batty.