My wife and I along with two friends of ours booked to fly to Barbados on Friday 5th October 2007 with Excel Airways. The cost of the flights almost seemed too cheap at the time of booking. They were indeed.
When we arrived in Gatwick we where told that we only had two of the four extra legroom seats we had booked and that there was a one and a quarter hour delay. This turned out to be two hours because the plane battery was discharging and had to be replaced. At that point we could not have made up what was to happen on the return flight. What return flight? It never actually got off the ground.
On Friday 12th we arrived at Barbados airport and boarded the plane as planned. Now I don't know for sure if it was the same plane we had travelled out on but I suspect it was. We sat there for two hours. After an hour or so they told us there was a 'technical problem' and the engineer was looking at it. The pilot then explained the fault in a little more detail. I'm not engineering minded so it passed me by really. When the second hour was up we where told that the plane needed a new part and we would be found hotels for the night. We where lucky and managed to be first in the queue to be allocated and got a nice place to stay. At this point we were thinking 'oh well, we can't complain about another night on the island.' It was a Friday so nothing was spoiling in terms of getting back for work. After collecting luggage we were at the hotel by 8.30pm.
The following day we were transported back to the airport at 5pm. After check in we heard a rumour that the plane still wasn't repaired. This turned out to be true. We sat for five hours repeatedly being told of another hour's delay due to a 'technical problem' and that the engineers were working tirelessly to fix it. This in itself worried me a little. It turned out they had been working for 24 hours solid. Why on earth did they make us sit in the departure lounge when they knew the plane could not fly?
We were getting some information from an airport member of staff who was pretty good but there was no sign at all of anyone from Excel. At 10.25pm the aircrew ran 'out of hours' but this made no difference as the plane still wasn't fixed. The flight was cancelled. This was actually a relief to some who were getting more than a little concerned about the safety of the plane.
To the captain's credit he came out to speak to us all and explained the problem was with a back up system that automatically restarts the engines if they stall. He said that while this was highly unlikely he would not take any risks with safety. Reassuring in the circumstances. He had also expressed concern about bringing passengers to the airport in the knowledge the plane wasn't fixed. He said he'd been overruled by operations in London. As you can imagine the departure lounge was a tense place and tempers were becoming very frayed.
We were sent to another hotel for the night. This time it was not so nice and by the time we got there and checked in it was 1.30am. At this point the extra time on the island was not so welcome.
The following day we made our own enquires by telephone to Excel. A number of options were on the cards. They still hoped to fix the plane. They thought about bringing in another plane from Trinidad. They mentioned booking us onto another airline. We persisted in calling them every so often and eventually found out that we had been booked onto Virgin Atlantic to get home. We opted to fly to Manchester instead of Gatwick as we live in the north east and we'd missed our connecting flights by more than two days.
Virgin were excellent and very accommodating. When we arrived into the UK approximately 52 hours late there was an Excel rep waiting for us. Thankfully only around a dozen people had opted for Manchester. The rep waiting at Gatwick, if there was one, must have been mobbed. She was very good and could not be more helpful. Although at this point I think she had little choice. We explained we'd missed connections and she booked and paid for an airport taxis mini bus to bring us home at a cost of some £280.
We were all due back at work on the Monday but obviously missed it. Just as well we have understanding employers otherwise it might have been suggested this was a tall story. I assure you it is not. This all happened.
The result? We will think very very carefully about using Excel again. In a sense we were lucky. The major delay was on the way home so it extended our holiday. If it had been the other way around we'd have been very unhappy. Worth bearing in mind if you are thinking about using Excel.
not if they`ve went and took XL off altogether.
what a nightmare. I`m lucky i`ve only ever been delayed for 3 hours outbound.
