myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Just come back from my second trip from Tobago and wanted to share some thoughts on Excel Airways.

I used Excel on my first trip and although the plane was old and the service was poor, it was great value for money - so couldn't resist rebooking when I picked up another great deal from them. I wish I hadn't!

I arrived in Gatwick for my 7 day holiday to be told due to a mechanical fault and lack of extra planes we were to be delayed 24hrs and were to spend a night at the Hilton hotel. With such a short stay it was incredibly disappointing and I only wished I'd paid the extra few pounds to travel Virgin! Talking to one of the staff at the hotel he was not at all surprised by the delay and said this is common practice with Excel and out of all the airlines they put up more Excel passengers then any others.

Once we finally boarded I soon realised nothing else had changed with Excel the plane had padding missing off my arm rest and the staff were as unprofessional as ever. Yes Excel fares are great and if you are going for a long stay a day’s delay won't impact you to much, but I will certainly not use them again.
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Sorry to read about your experience Tim,i have to say that i have travelled with Excel now 5 times since 2004 and once with Virgin.My experience of Excel is very good and i have always had good service and planes that have been on time...give or take an hour on the last trip.
Virgin though are in a different league altogether,couldnt fault them at all...just brilliant!
You do get what you pay for though and although Excel are excellent value for money,given the choice i would definately fly with Virgin.

I also got caught on that flight And a three hour delay on the way back with a crew change stop in Barbados on the way back. I would also think twice about booking again with excel.
Is there any monetary compensation Excel issue for the delay or was it just the hotel they were obliged to pay for?

My experience following a similar delay problem on a return flight from Trindad to London with BWIA (may it rest in peace!) is that the airline is only responsible for providing food and a hotel when a flight is significantly delayed. You can however claim on your travel insurance if this has delay compensation built into it. We received £80 (ie £40 each) for our 24 hour delay - not a vast sum, but at least something. (We also got an unexpected night in Antigua - but that's another story!)

Jane

Alex,

We came to Tobago on the flight you returned on, the flight delay was a carryover from the snow delays in Gatwick the previous Thurs. I know that Excel have had problems with their planes but our/your delay was caused by the UK's inability to cope with small amounts of snow, and it was forecast well in advance! Don't write Excel off on this experience,
we have flown with them for the last 3 years and this was the first delay we have experienced.

Kevin Pallant wrote:Alex,

We came to Tobago on the flight you returned on, the flight delay was a carryover from the snow delays in Gatwick the previous Thurs. I know that Excel have had problems with their planes but our/your delay was caused by the UK's inability to cope with small amounts of snow, and it was forecast well in advance! Don't write Excel off on this experience,
we have flown with them for the last 3 years and this was the first delay we have experienced.

Thanks for the info Kevin - they did not tell us what the problem was on the homebound flight.
What has made me very hesitant about booking anything with Excel was the 23 hour delay on the way out tho. Little information, and a a refusal to telephone us if we went home (we live 30 mins away) and they 'managed to find another plane'. It was several hours later before Excel actually confirmed that the flight would not go until the next day - at which point it was hardly worth retrieving the car, going home, and getting up early again.
That said, it is a balance between cheap price and the risk of losing a days holiday (+ non refundable hotel costs)

Alex

Still fun and games with Excel. I saw the headline on the TV5 News "Excel Passengers Stranded" on 22nd Feb and crossed my fingers. Sure enough, my flight on Thursday 1st March was delayed until Saturday 3rd March in the end and some of us were put up at The Blue Haven Hotel. It was fabulous!! Obviously a nuisance for anyone needing to leave but the icing on the cake after my month in Tobago with local friends!

Yep,2 day delay due to problems with the Radar equipment...waiting parts...nice couple of days extra for some eh?

Andy D wrote:Yep,2 day delay due to problems with the Radar equipment...waiting parts...nice couple of days extra for some eh?

and not so nice for the folks waiting to travel out there stuck in LGW

Alex Bindy wrote:

Andy D wrote:Yep,2 day delay due to problems with the Radar equipment...waiting parts...nice couple of days extra for some eh?

and not so nice for the folks waiting to travel out there stuck in LGW

Very true Although i'd rather be delayed at LGW than Heathrow,god what a dump that place is! Hardly any shops and very few places to eat!

yeh I agree heathrow must be the most"user unfriendly" in the universe

Just been informed that our return flight (24th May) has had a change of plane because of ' an operational decision' .

A rather terse letter ending glibly 'sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you' and an offer of a cost reduction or refund.

Our first experience of flying XL 1 and it's all gone **** up!

Phoned Golden Caribbean and XL to try to salvage the situation, but was told that the replacement plane has fewer XL1 seats and these have been allocated on a first come - first served basis.

Met with very polite and helpful staff but no joy in aquiring any comfy seats at the front for the homeward journey, which was the main reason for the XL1 seats in the first place

Accomodation is booked, plans made, so it looks like we are to be added to the growing list of dissapointed XL passengers.

Not a happy bunny!

Cheers
Steve

Hi - Steve - interested in your problem as we are flying Excel One in April - have they put you on a different flight or just changed class of ticket?? Worrying, whichever but the first is a terrible scenario. It's harsh that they can just do that and ruin your best laid plans.

I think flying is always a risk - we lost 24 hours of a South America trip purely because KLM couldn't get us to Brussels in time so we missed the connection. We were livid. And despite long arguments never got any compensation from KLM.

I shall be dreading the post now in case Excel write to us! Ann

Hi Ann

To put your mind at rest - hopefully - our flight departs UK 10th May and this aircraft hasn't been changed, so we fly out XL1.

It is the inbound flight (departs Tobago 24th May) that has had a change of aircaft, due to the aforementioned operational decision.

I am getting conflicting info, though.

One person at Golden Caribbean thought that there are no XL1 seats on that replacement flight, which I find hard to believe and another says a reduced number of XL1 seats, so we get bounced back to economy, as we booked recently.

We've mainly flown economy before, so this is certainly no hardship, but we planned on going XL1 because one of our party will be recouperating from an operation and the extra space / comfort, especially on the homeward route, would be welcome.

I don't even think that the reduction in cost adequately reflects the dissapointment and inconvenience, but what the hell - I'm just a passenger.

I hope that your flight doesn't suffer from a similar operational decision.

As Tim says - You get what you pay for; so it's a risk you take.

Cheers
Steve

Hi

I was on the flight that made TV6 news on 22 Feb...
and although it was great having two days extra holiday, it was the first and last time I'll travel Excel
I had no idea that the plane they fly is actually 20 years old!
and apart from that just all the hassle of waiting around, really isn't worth the lower cost of the ticket

so it's back to BA for me!

Hi Nerissa

I shouldn't worry unduly about the age of the aircraft. The global average is 15 years and British Airways average is 10.6 years.

I suppose so...although 10 years extra seems a lot - all those extra millions of miles
I just noticed that virgin has a much lower age of aircraft

but apart from the age, it's really the waiting around that's the awful thing
of course other airlines experience delays as well, but excel seems esp prone from what I have heard from other people (pity I only heard this after I had already flown!)

I guess it comes down to the title of this thread

Traveled XL One going out on 14th April returning on 21st April. Both flights on time (return flight arrived an hour and a half early). Excellent service. Well worth the extra money.

they seem to be early quite a bit these days... bad for the pick up, we always go like half an hour early anyway, but who can expect one and a half hour? do the have a flight on time page like BA and the others?

Try the website below, it worked when I tried it a few weeks ago.

http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightSta ... Airport.do?