We cancelled flights for July this year because excel changed the date. Decided to go package with Cosmos and were given Monarch flights with meal, drinks and increased luggage. Guess what, letter arrived from cosmos 2 weeks ago to say our flight has been changed to an excel airways flight with no meal and less luggage, back to square one and I could scream. Have flown with excel before and had several severe delays, so not happy. - Trish

Oh Wilson how annoying, XL have already changed our flight times by a full 12hrs they did this only a couple of weeks after we booked it with them last Sept, they must have had some idea then that they were going to change them. We fly this Friday with them for the first time so fingers crossed

I flew with XL at the beginning of may to Faro (Portugal). £50 each return. A bargain no to be missed! I have never flown with them before, I had never even heard of them. I remember laughing when I showed my kids the reviews that they got. They 'gulped' and asked if we could change the Airline
Our booking was changed twice! The first time it was changed meant that we were going to have difficulty getting to the airport and back (I live about 40 miles from Gatwick) and the trains wouldn't be running. The second time it was changed was similar to the original time but actually worked out slightly better for us.
I would fly with XL again. It was a no nonsense flight, there were no delays and on the way back and we landed 30 minutes early. So, I would that I was a happy customer

To those who talk about XL's delays, it should be noted that these are from previous seasons, and their punctuality so far this season has been exceptional. I was picking a couple of friends up from Gatwick this morning, they were flying on XL from Gran Canaria. Their flight landed around 40 minutes early, there was also a flight from Rhodes around that time which landed 30 minutes early, and a Tobago flight which landed around 70 minutes ahead of schedule.

Since 2006, when they had the severe delays, they have dumped 6 older aircraft and have not leased out any unreliable aircraft (the MD-83 which they leased to base at East Midlands, for example). They offer much fewer seats these days, but their punctuality has improved significantly, and they've had very few problems so far this year.

Twinkletoes,
I wouldn't worry too much about all being seated separately, children under 16 are not allowed to be seated away from their parents. Of course you and hubby may have to sit away from each other, but your children will be able to sit with one or both of you. The other alternative is to book in as early as possible, so you have much more chance of all of you sitting together.
I do think it is terrible the way we are being 'blackmailed' into paying extra for each and every little thing, for fear we will have a spoiled holiday/flight if we don't comply.
Denny

Hi

After looking at holidays with Kosmar they seem to use XL on all package holidays.

When going to the booking stage theres no mention of meals
Also read some reviews on here and they don't sound good at all.
Shame as the hotel sunshine studios in stais crete we want to stay at only seems to be through Kosmar

Would anyone go the extreme of not booking a holiday with kosmar just because the airline ?

GavF123,

That's a decision only you can make. Refer to the dedicated XL Airways thread for more details. If the hotel and holiday suites your requirements, then I wouldn't let the fact the flight is operated by XL put me off. They aren't that bad! You can easily sort inflight catering yourself or purchase snacks onboard.

Darren

I've flown with XL before and found it no better and no worse than any other budget airline. As for not getting a meal, I think you will find that most of the airlines now make a charge for a meal (if they do it all). Anyway it's not as if you're flying long haul - eat before you go or when you arrive, or take butties with you!!!!!

Just arrived home on sat on a 4 hour flight from Dalaman and can honestly say what a rubbish experience we had both ways, outward flight was delayed by 3 hours,first of all they had no flight crew, then when they arrived we waited over another hour for the fuelers to turn up even though the plane had been sat on the tarmac in front of our eyes for 2 hours!! The crew and plane were Italian but the plane was very old, looked like it was from the 90's it was called 'blue Panorama' so I guess they must have leased it out, but one consolation was we got a free meal and drinks on board which we weren't expecting and the leg room between seats seemed to be quite reasonable.
Return journey: middle of the night flight delayed by 2 & half hours, brand new XL plane this time so no free meal just the usual rubbish snacks to purchase (malteezers, mini chedders at 5 in the morning) and seat pitch was awful, I struggled with leg room when the seat in front was reclined and I'm only 5'6", hubby is 6ft and was so uncomfortable the entire journey and we had been hoping to try and sleep. Drinks trolley only came round once and towards the end of the flight my little boy needed a drink of water as he was coughing but when my husband asked for one the attendant said everything was put away and gave us a glass of ice cubes, then 5 mins later I saw another attendant take a bottle of water which was in one of those packs of 6 clear plastic covers that you purchase at supermarkets from the overhead locker (obviously for their return flight). So they did have water handy
Didn't enjoy this flying with these at all, the delays alone were enough to put us off using them again

We flew with XL in May to Larnaca and although we had a 2 hour delay outbound the flight itself was fine.. we were quite lucky as we were had the new 737-900 that had only been delivered to XL a few days before.. the carpet was still bouncey!!!
The food on board (available to buy) was fine and i prefered choosing just what i wanted, rather than the full airline meal.. seating was reasonable by short haul charter standards.. seat's were comfy enough and leg room tolerable for nearly 5 hours.

Inbound we were on one of the older aircraft but.... there were only about 40 pax on board so everyone spread out and had a row each to try and sleep. (7am flight, picked up from hotel at 3.45am!)... food was good, cabin crew were fine... overall no issues with XL (delays happen to all airlines and 2 hours at Manchester is ok)

GavF123 - The reason all Kosmar holidays use XL is because XL owns Kosmar !

Just booked with them to fly to Turkey never flown with xcel before

are they as bad as a lot of people make out or is it they are just fussy , have flown with most of the charter/budget airlines and to be quite honest have never come across a bad one yet - if a plane is delayed many a time it is due to the operational limits airports,support staff , air traffic control impose on the airline

rabrown,

XL are ok, nothing special. They'll get you there and back in one piece which is the main thing.

Darren

I have flown with Excel airways many times over the last ten years from Gatwick airport. I have obviously been extremely lucky as have never been delayed once. Flights always comfortable and food good. Last year I tried to save a few pennies and flew with Monarch to Dalaman as opposed to Excel. What an horrendous experience - will never touch them again. I have never been so uncomfortable on a flight in years. (Given that i spent 20 years as a member of cabin crew i have been on some uncomfortable planes) Now I will always make a point of trying to book with excel which we have done this year. But like all the other airlines they have started asking for extra money to get your 20kgs baggage and meals can only be purchased on the flight not pre-booked. This doesn't bother me so much but my 16 year old son thinks he should be fed every couple of hours or starvation sets in. Anyway whoever you all fly with this summer i hope you all have a great holiday.

Hi all,

I am flying with XL to Paphos from LGW on 16/07/08 and am trying to find out which aircraft it will be.

Its mid week (wed) to mid week and when I went 2 years earlier (mid week) we flew on a 757, which was fabulous!!
But I was just curious if that was a one off or if its likely to be a 757 again??

Can anyone answer please?? Thanks so much!

Ooops! Sorry newbie error! How embarrassing.
What i meant was 767!!

nickyt78,

Have you got your flight numbers? XLA536/7? G-VKNG (767-300/ER) operated the last flight (11th June). It was a 737-800 at the beginning of May, then changed to a 767-300/ER from the middle of the month so I expect that'll continue through the summer season.

Darren

Hi Darren.

The flight number is XLA536 then 537 on return. I hope its the bigger aircraft as there are 4 seats in the middle as my family like to sit together.

I've just been on the website and for shorthaul holidays it says that if your flight number has 3 digits, ie. XL123 then you have a pay on board service and no meals are prebookable. If your flight number has 4 digits, ie. XL1234 then you get a complimentary meal.

I can't remember what mine is, will check my flight voucher this evening.

Two weeks today I will be there!

Yes thats right Sand. Bit of a pain, but hey I've already chosen what I'm having from the online menu! LOL!! Sad i know!

Where abouts are you going in 2 weeks? I've got 4 weeks to wait