Thanks, I will do that now

I was told as from November 1st all meals would I flew to Dalaman with them in October and when the hostess anounced the "complimentary" meals would be served I told her I had paid for ours.She informed me all their meals are free apart from flights with V in the code.It seems travel agents and flight only agents have been charging knowing they are free.

I thought in flight meals were complimentary on flights to sharm even tho they give you the option to pay for them when you book which i thought was very naughty

lyn

Well, I checked the website, and if you want panninis, crisps and snacks you are ok, but not very substantial on a 5 hour journey and certainly a problem when one of us has a wheat intollerance It will be interesting to whether we get a meal or not after the previous comment. I dont think our flight has a V though

looking at the website Helene it sounds as tho in-flights meals are now included in the price unless you have booked a budget flight ending in V.So sounds like thats why you have been sent a cheque back. i have also booked with xl for sharm and didnt purchase the in flight meal as i had read somewhere that you get them anyway on flights to sharm. something to do with flights over 5 hours if im correct. Im feeling confident we will get a meal of some description.

lyn

in case anyone else wants a look http://www.xl.com/Customer_Info/Additional_Short.asp . that should take you there

lyn

That sounds promising, when do you fly, if its before me (24th December), you will be able to let me know. Until my tickets arrive I dont know if I have a V or not - heres hoping

Not going until easter Helene - so maybe you could let me know :

lyn

ok, wonder if anyone on the ht site has been or going in the near future with Excel. I think as soon as I get my tickets, I shall be ringing their customer services to double check.

Hi ya Helene,

I booked for Tenerife last February for 15/12/06 and our confirmation states flight no XLA614V.

Tickets awaited.

Good Luck

Dave.

well ive just gone and done something i should of done a couple of days ago . acturally checked my flight numbers on the booking confirmation. I have XLA6090 going out 12.55 and XLA665V 18.10 coming back so that will be interesting think i will also double check nearer the time.

lyn

maybe the MODS could swop this query over to the XL flight forum or the Egypt forum from where Helene posted her original query . I have a feeling that many may not have seen this and i know many of the sharm regulars use XL frequently.
lyn

This is a long thread Lynn so better to point the members to here.

We flew back from Lanzarote yesterday and had complimentry meals on the way there and back, everybody on the flight got them. We had booked through Airtours but had Excel flights, I said no to meals when we booked.

Hello,
first of all I would like to clarify some of the things I have read over various posts with concern to agents or tour operator charging for meals on Excel where they should have not done so. With concern to agents they have charged what the Tour Operator had displayed in their system. The in flight meals are a non commissionable item for the agent and therefore nobody has earned a single penny on adding them on the bookings. As agents we cannot afford to guess and I believe that all of us, so far, had to offer the service of the in flight meals and if not taken advice the customers that they may not receive them. I too paid for meals on Excel when I flew last May to Hurghada and they came as an extra charge in the Panorama system but did not want to risk a possible change of service from Xl itself. Complimentary meals and drinks on board of the airlines can be withdrawned at any time as they are extra services offered to their customers.
Just imagine what is going to happen now to agents that have booked holidays, as I believe some of them have done, telling customers that even if they were not purhasing meals on the XL flights they were going to get them anyway. It is a big risk to guess .
Regardless of what the trade may have done, I have checked the XL website and it seems that all the flights to Sharm or Hurghada flying over Friday, Saturday and Sunday do not have a V at the end of the flight code, meaning the meal will be served on board. The midweek flights ( Hurghada is only on Fridays anyway ) have all a V at the end of the flight code and therefore customers will not receive any meals.

All this can change of course. The majority of the flights to the Canaries are not offering a meal any longer but still the best way is to play with the XL website and check for fresh availability for the same dates in which you are travelling. The shame is that the meals cannot even be prebooked and on a flight over 5 hours and that is going to add a nuisance.

My XL flight was booked through Flightbookers and they charged for the meal.Strange, considering they have the same address as XL.They are probably part of the same company.

Hi Jay Trip.
Flightbookers was the old name of ebookers and they are not part of the same company. Whichever Flightbookers you may have used you may have been charged because they have used a tour operator system to book your flight with Xl and therefore they have been presented with the extra charge for the meals. At this stage double check on the XL website if you are going to get your meals otherwise you may need to ask for a refund .

I have already sent my invoice to them for a refund which they stated in a phone call I was entitled to,but I got a reply stating due to the increase in security at airports they cant do anything for 6 weeks!.They told me not to contact them during this period!

Well, I guess its just going to be a surprise if we get served a meal or not, We are actually flying to Sharm on a Sunday so according to this site and info, we might be due a meal. I just hope we get one coming back as thats the main problem, trying to find food for the journey in Egypt.
As I said before, As soon as I get my tickets, I will contact customer services and clarify the position, which I will then post on the site.