Hi Every one,
We have recently returned from Florida, and vowed we will NEVER EVER Fly Excel Air again!
We booked our holiday with Thomas cook at the Metro Centre Gateshead
last year, My wife and i booked first class as we had travelled with them on various occasions and thought it is wonderfull,
When we booked we were told by the agent that we were lucky, as a lady wanted another 30 seats as her daughter was getting married, as we had booked there was only 15 left for first class. So we were informed this lady was most upset.
In Sept last year we were informed that due to the economic climate and the aftermath of 911 Thomas Cook were no longer flying from Newcastle on a thursday. They had passed the flight side over to Excel and that all the seats were going to be economy,
We were told that the Excel Economy seats were actually bigger than Thomas Cooks First class and as it was going to be a new service starting May 2005 it had to be spot on.
We were given a refund for the first class side of the flight and as i am a big guy 6-4 and twenty one stone i was informed to book extra legroom
with Pre-flight which i did at a cost of £60 per head,
I was then informed by my agent that as i had had a DVT in the past then i was unable to be allocated an Extra leg room seat as they are at the Emergency Exits. but if i got a doctors letter which a did at a cost of £15-00 pounds i would be allocated a medical seat.
I was informed by Thomas cook about this and was told everything was in hand for me and on arrival at Newcastle i would be given priority boarding with my disabillity. and given my seat in the medical area.
What happened next was a shambles Flight was delayed nearly three hours because of a technical problem then i was made to look a fool at the airport check in, i was informed that there was no such thing as a medical seat and was given what was supposed to be a reasonably large seat what a joke it was in front of a bulkhead and when i tried to sit down my knees hit bulkhead and i could not sit down or even get into the seat remember earlier i told of the seats being larger than Thomas Cooks! forget it, Seats are only 15.5 inches wide and the pitch of the seats was 24.5 inches no one was able to put there trays down for there food as from the edge of the tray to the back of the seat was only 10.5 inches
I have Photos to prove this! There was no priority boarding for People with children or was there priority boarding for Disabled, which there were three people in wheelchairs we were all hearded like cattle at a market.
The senior purser saw we were distressed and did everything he could to help, Staff were great on the Flight Out, he even took me to an area of the planes mid section and showed me two rows of seats Row 28 CD&E
and Row 29 CD&E and said would these seat be ok, i said yes and he replied he would log it on the manifest and i would have these rows of seats on the return flight, The holiday was brilliant the Villa was Brand new at Sandy Ridge Near Celebration it was out of this world
When vacation was over we returned to Sanford for return flight, only to find the flight was delayed three and a half hours upon arrival at check in
i handed the clerk the card with seat numbers given to me by the senior purser to be informed that the plane we were flying back on was a different configeration when i protested i was informe i would be given a larger seat in another area i again was made to look silly when i tried to explain about my size and problems but they took no notice.
when i got on the aircraft the seat i was allocated was ok but cramped whan a chap approached and said i was seating in his seat, i said no i was in 39 E, he said i was seating in 39 F when the Senior Purser came up and informed him that he had been allocated the wrong seat as there was no 39F just a blank space on floor, you could see that there had been a seat there as the holes were in floor, the purser then turned to one of her colleauges and "quote" if i get any more complaints from this lot then i am going up front and getting p####d. a lady on the aisle informed an airhostess that the wires on the armrest were sparking where her kids were sitting all she said was tell them not to touch and when she further complained she returned with a plastic bag placed it over the arm rest
and taped it up.
The planes meal trays on board had Spanair written all over them and in my opinion to small for a long haul flight.
The planes call sign was GoldenIndia and had stamped on her side TF-ATU and upon checking this aircraft was actually an old Air Atlanta aircraft and over 15 years old have i any chance of any help or recompence on this issue