We flew XL (actually a Finnair aircraft) 5 Aug to Palma and returned 19 Aug - less than an hour delay each way - arrived 15 mins early going out and just 20 mins late coming back in.

Flyjet cabin crew an absolute delight - smart, pleasant - one of the best crews we have ever flown with.

Would I book with XL again? Yes!

We have just returned from a nightmare journey with Excel to Grenada and Tobago.

Having paid £1000 each for Excel One services (7 of us) we had really looked forward to the flights. Should have known better. Our outbound flight was delayed by 14 hours and no customer care at the airport. Prior to boarding we were told that the pilots had run out of hours and we would not be flying to Grenada but Tobago instead where another plane would be waiting for us. There were not enough Excel One seats on the old 747 they had trailed down from Manchester and 3 of our party ended up in Premium Economy instead.

The level of service on the plane was diabolical. No inflight entertainment whatsoever, no drinks offered for the first two hours, seats inoperative, ashtrays full of ash and terrible service. Further 3 hour delay whilst waiting for aircraft to fly us to Grenada!! No drinks on board this at all.

We were flying back from Tobago on Thursday afternoon. Plane went technical at Gatwick as did the replacement plane. They then chartered a Tri-Star from Luzair but would not be able to fly us home until Saturday morning. Excel put us up for 2 days in a hotel and allowed us a whopping 1 non-alcoholic drink with each meal per person.

Tri-Star was well past its best. No in flight entertainment, no choice of meals (as we had paid for). 1 drink offered in 11 hours on board. Constant dripping from overhead. Freezing cold at the front of the plane and two blankets on each! The floor at the back of the plane was so hot that passengers had to put their shoes back on. Breakfast was a stale bun and a yoghurt.

Eventually landed at 6.30pm on Saturday night at Gatwick and missed the last flight back to Manchester so had to stay in hotel at airport overnight. Arrived home lunchtime Sunday and should have arrived back 10.00am Friday!

I have written to Excel requesting refund together with resulting costs. They have offered me £50 off our next flights with them! As if!

I am sure they will say that this is a delay rather than a cancellation as the flight number did not change although it was a delay of 37 hours and a different aircraft/crew.

I would have at least expected a refund of the extra £360 we paid per person for Excel One service which we never received, regardless of the appalling customer service, 51 hours worth of delays. To top ot off we were travelling with my 18 month old daughter and our friend was 7 and a half months pregnant!

Do you think this may class as a cancelled flight? I do intend to issue proceedings as Excel are not interested in doing things amicably

Jonathan

johnathon 1, after reading that I think we got off lightly with Excel's abysmal service. Mind you, been waiting three weeks for a response to my letter of complaint. My sister suffered at the hands of Excel last year and they didn't even bother to respond to her letter of complaint.
I don't think good customer service is too high up on the list of Excel's priorities.

We flew to Lanzarote with Excell (Finnair) and they were absoloutely brilliant - so much so that my daughter said she wants to fly with them all the time because they are the best ones that she has ever flown with. They were fantastic, couldn't fault them at all.

Jonathan1,
there's a number of points that are of interest in your post. Your outbound delay of 14 hours MIGHT qualify for a refund subject to certain conditions. I cannot comment on the return delay and whether compensation is applicable - but a know a lady who will advise: Ros Fernihough. She's a specialis travel lawyer and won a respectful refund from Travel City Direct (same company as Excel) in summer 2005 for a 14.5 hour outbound delay. Call her on 01922 621114 a.s.a.p.

I see Excel are up to their old tricks of shuffling aircraft about and providing fatuous excuses. Tobago is actually slightly further away from the UK than Granada so the hours exceus seems odd. It might be that the pilots were not certified for landing at Granada but who knows.

I'm a little confused by the sequence of events outbound - you mention an old plane they had trailed down from Manchester. OK, just re-read things and guess the following is the case - please post if incorrect:

You flew MAN to LGW (as scheduled) but via a old plane that did not have correct seating configuration. You then flew LGW to Tobago on a different plane but one that did have correct seating configuration.

It might be best if you could kindly post a clear detail of the outbound events and likewise the return. This will be needed anyway for your claim.

Cheers, Mike

Not long to go now! Flying with Excel can anyone tell me the Hand Baggage Allowance rules are with Excel, fingers crossed we don't have delays like some of the people have on this posting
Thanks Bobby

Hi Bobby .. for general discussion about Excel (rather than complaints) ... please click here.

David

Jonathan1,
after your post on this thread on thu aug 31 I PM'd you with info.

It would be helpful to us all if you are able to update us with any progress in your compaint or further info. on your original question.

Thanks.

Just for those fed up with XL if its any consolation the chairman got fired,sorry retired,yesterday and 2 top executives got the bullet in July. The Icelandic owners seem to have come to the same conclusion as a lot of their passengers and finally lost patience.

I got my tickets for a flight with them today telling me to go to the wrong terminal at Manchester. They were adamant I was wrong till I insisted they check and guess what.......Oh and I dont think they`re going to tell their customers on the flight either...

Lets see what the Vikings can do

I received a reply from Excel today, regarding a letter of complaint that I sent four weeks ago.
They are investigating my complaint, but because of the current heightened security measures, they are aiming to give me a full reply within six weeks, but in the meantime, would I kindly refrain from contacting them, as this will slow down their overall response time.
I will just have to wait and see.

bertie3,
I've tried to get a clear idea in the past as to the responsibilities of the company to respond within a set time scale. There appears to be two views:
(1) the company must respond within 28 days
(2) the company must respond within 28 days - and if unable at that time to provide a full answer must state general reason why and ensure full response is sent within 28 days of that point - ie. they CAN stretch the time to 56 days.

Not sure telling you after 28 that within 42 further days they'll respond is valid - of course, if they DO respond within 28 days of the last letter that's possibly OK but later than that is definately not acceptable.

Trouble is, their response is likely to be junk so don't get too excited.

good old xl have just cancelled my next years outbound flight which i booked 2 weeks ago not very impressed, i only found out cos my son decided he wanted to come and tried to get him added to be told theres some problem with the flight and she would look into it for me and shes just rung me back and told me its cancelled grrr, wonder when they would have told me and if i had gone ahead and booked accommodation then what ,good job i have my own apt. now ive got to decide whether to risk rebooking with them or look elsewhere

Hi Karen
They seem a bit unreliable. Are they always the cheapest? If you need a specific day you might be better off looking elsewhere.

i have and wow have i got a bargain bagged it quick lol, just saved me £247 from the xl flights i had booked £623 to first choice £376 im so pleased what a bargain for 3 of us for 19 nights next july, just looked and they have gone up already £30 so got them in time , just hope xl refund me quickly now

Wow, you done well Karen!

As soon as you book first choice flights, the price seems to creep up!

i know they have gone up again, 15 pp now lol mind you still cheap, ive now got to contact xl and try and sort out the refund, they tried to get me to change to another one of their flights last night but luckily i said ill talk to hubby as it was for 22 nights instead of 19 and i didnt think he would want that long, boy am i glad i did change that lol,

i must agree with bertie3 excel dont rate high on customer service. when i recently rang to change my flight from turkey due to the bomb the operator was very rude and uncoperative. i told him that i would never book with them again. his reply im sure you will my dear because we are a lot cheaper than other companies was his reply. but i told him i think cusomer care is worth paying that extra few pounds more and i hope that anyone thinking of booking with them will think twice. thomas cook were great about changing a turkey holiday for my mum and she wasnt even going to marmaris. so the cheapest is not always the best i know who i will be booking in future.

I disagree with Smed about customer service. When I phoned to get a refund for meals that my son and girlfriend had paid for, we had no trouble at all. They were very polite and credit card was refunded in about 4 days.

Having said that, I could not get through on the phone in August so sent a message via their website with the query I had. They then phoned me back after a couple of hours and again the person I spoke to was very polite and helpful.

There are negative and positive feedback for most airlines and tour operators on here so I suppose it just depends who you get to speak too.

Cic

I must just be one of the lucky ones???

We've flown with Excel to Majorca, lanzarote & Ibiza (inbound from lanzarote was in an Air Atlanta 747) and can honestly say we've never had a single problem with them at all.

We landed early outbound to Ibiza, early inbound from Ibiza and bang on time to both the other destinations.

We've been given extra legroom seats free twice, never had a single reason to complain.....

Honestly, i dont know what all the fuss is about