mmmm wonder who it is then (eurocypria?) we were told it was XL.

jaimec,

Excel were rebranded XL so are the same company. Your flights are with Eurocypria (ECA) operated by a Boeing 737-800.

Darren

Thanks Darren!

I was told XL by the TA and libra silly billys

Know anything about Eurocypria?...will find a topic about them

thanks again

the full name is Excell airways ltd trading as excell/xl.com/xl holidays, and others based at gatwick surrey

My daughter and I booked the 0700 flight to Dalaman on Sept 14th 2007, We have just been informed that the flight will be delayed 14 hours.

We flew with excel in May, although the flight was not delayed we experienced a very bad flight to Lanzarote on an old jumbo, but silly old us thought we would give them the benifit of the doubt. Now that we have been informed that we will only be getting 6 days holiday instead of 7 days we realise we have made a very big mistake booking with them. Forget the Tesco vouchers it really is not worth it, we all need to wake up and realise that booking with Excel is a risk not worth taking. I have never experienced problems with any other airlines,Thomas Cook, My Travel,Thomsons e.t.c.
We work hard, we love our holidays when we book a holiday,that holiday means the world to us, we are not looking forward to our holiday now that it has all been spoiled.

Just flown XL out to Palma and Thomsonfly back and both flights were bang on time and altogether very good.

A friend has been putting the frighteners on me about XL Air. I am a very nervous passenger in any case due to a plane setting on fire during take off when I was 11. I overcome this by taking a couple of valium but a friend recently flew with XL and said it was horrendous. The plane was falling apart and they felt unsafe.

Anyone travelled with them recently? I don't care about service as I sleep but do care about safety.

Many thanks

I have never flown with XL but have read plenty of reviews.

Their problem lies more with their punctuality rather than the safety and condition of the planes.

I really do not think that a plane in the condition that your friend implies would be allowed to take to the air (especially from this country). I also do not believe that the pilot and the rest of the crew would put not only the passengers but themselves in danger like that.

I have to say that your friend has done you no favours in frightening you like this. They might have been better waiting untill you had travelled before expressing their opinion.

Not sure if you have been to Samos before - if not - it is absolutely beautiful and has a decent airport too!! Enjoy your holiday - try not to worry about XL - being delayed will be the worst that can happen I am sure.

Pippa

We've flown with XL and had no complaints with the condition of the plane. As previous poster said, the crew won't put themselves in any danger by flying on an unsafe plane. I wouldn't worry if I were you.
Enjoy your holiday.

Thank you

hi sooze29 have flown to samos with xl twice they`re no different to most british airlines, just be aware that samos is a short runway and being very close to turkey that you are banking round almost up untill the last min before touch down, and as the runway is short the breaks go on straight away and very hard but its nothing to be frightend of

Flown many times with XL and had no problems at all. The planes were all in good nick. They simply would not be allowed to fly into and out of UK airports if they were 'falling apart' Some 'friend' youv'e got!!! Denny

have also flown with them,in january this year.no problems at all,we were on time,both ways as well!!! flying with them again next week,please don't worry.have a great holiday,
tracy

ive used XL twice this year to go to Lanzarote , on time for all flights , the good usual service you would expect from charter airlines , even got given extra legroom seats free last time on flight out,
i used tesco deal vouchers on both flights and have just booked next year using the deal vouchers again , they are stopping them 31st oct 07 which is a shame , my flights next year to Lanzarote have cost me £76 for 2 adults which is the fuel surcharge, green? departure tax and booking fee i'm more than happy with this.

I think at some time we've all had an unpleasant experience with one airline or another, mine was monarch but that was years ago and would give them a chance again if the flight etc suited me.

We booked a package hol with XL a couple of weeks ago but at the time I wasn't able to pre book seats on the flight but today I noticed on their web site that the seats can be pre booked so I rang them up to book them and was told I can't pre book seats until 3months before departure, does anyone know if this is correct? I wouldn't like to miss out and then not all get seats together (there are 5 of us) also is there in flight entertainment for kids as we have a 4 hr flight? Thanks

A word of warning for all of you who have booked Travel City Direct flights to Florida next year.
TCD (Owned and operated by Excel) are getting rid of their 747's back to Air Atlanta on 15th November 07.

They will then replace them with a 767 and an Airbus A330.

Better more modern aircraft, BUT

1) The classes of cabin will drop to two options, Economy and Premium (Calles Sunshine first or XL One dependant upon which aircraft)
2) economy seat pitch will revert back to 31"
3) Less seats available (around 40% compared to the 747's)

If you are booked for next year in the Sunshine Upper deck, Sunshine Premium, I would talk to TCD as you may find you have been downgraded to Economy!

Twinkletoes
I have been on many, many XL flights and my family and I have never been placed in seats that were not together, either outward or return.

As long as you get to the airport early I would not bother to prebook (PS if you get to the airport late, they are likely to have reallocated your prebooked seats in any case - most airlines do this.)

jdybnsn, Thanks for the info, did you get a choice of what seats you wanted or were you just allocated anywhere?We flew with Globespan this year and the 5 of us didn't manage to get seats together on the return journey, two of us had to sit diagonaly across the aisle and then neither of us was on the outside so we had virtually no contact with each other the whole flight (just lucky I guess that it was only a 2 hour flight) this year though we have a 4hr flight so def want seats together. Do you think it might be worth booking seats for the return incase we get there after all the coach lot arrive? Did you find XL ok? I have read so many bad reports about them, thanks

We have always found XL to be perfectly OK - in all our trips we've only had one 3 hour delay leaving Manchester when the plane had been parked incorrectly on the stand the night before and they were waiting for a tow to reposition it (or so we were told !).
We've always made sure we get to checkin about half an hour before it opens (our kids love the airport so this suits us well) - we asked (nicely)for 2 lots of window seats together and have never been disappointed. We have also had meals on XL flights which were not paid for as everyone was served with them (though I believe there are only certain flights now where this happens).

On our return we have usually hired a car (as we usually book flights, transfers & hotel independently) and we make a point of getting to the airport before the coaches (you can usually find out on the hotel noticeboard when the pick up times are)...this is not just in order to get seats together, but also to avoid the long check in queues and get seats in the waiting area before the crowds decsend..