Excel Airways

...there must have been taping Excel for some Airline programme because most of the Excel staff were pretending to sing Christmas carols in front of a video crew. Yes, I said PRETENDING because they were just mouthing the words and there was a tape in the background with a choir singing!!! I guess they wanted to look good!

When we were finally able to check in they gave me a little bit of a hassle with my passport. I have an American ...
...a bit pricey if you are on a budget. A one way premium seat from UK was £300 and from Canada it was £100. We were never able to work out why there was that difference.

WILL WE USE EXCEL AGAIN?

NO  ... more

When you think of long haul flights, you know if you go economy class it won't be the most comfortable trip in the world as it is. You can choose to go Business or 1st Class and have a virtually hassle free flight. Well, when we wanted to go on a skiing holiday to Canada we booked a middle of the range holiday that included flights with Excel. At the time of booking, they didn't know WHO the airline would be to take us from Manchester to Calgary (appx. 10 hour flight). At the time we though nothing of it. We had booked the holiday in January 2004 for December 2004.

PRE-FLIGHT
A few months later we were informed that we would be flying Excel. I had read both good and bad reviews on the airlines and usually take bad reviews with a grain of salt. However, what I did know from reviews was that the seats and leg room for European and Caribbean flights were quite small and that we should book Premium seats. When we tried to do this, we were told that we couldn't until closer to the time of departure. I thought, "No problem! There will be loads of premium seats and we will get at least one for my Semi-pro Rugby playing husband." Yet, when the time came, there were no seats available! Then we thought, "Oh well, it is a LONG HAUL flight! They will have a plane with more leg room for such flights. Right?"

CHECK-IN
Check in was a muddle from the get go! They didn't start checking in people until 45 minutes before loading was to occur. I wasn't paniced about that, but others were. The anxiety of the lines seemed to grow by the minute. Oddly enough the Premium line seemed to have only a few in it. I found that a tad bit strange since it had been full. To top it off, there must have been taping Excel for some Airline programme because most of the Excel staff were pretending to sing Christmas carols in front of a video crew. Yes, I said PRETENDING because they were just mouthing the words and there was a tape in the background with a choir singing!!! I guess they wanted to look good!

When we were finally able to check in they gave me a little bit of a hassle with my passport. I have an American passport that has been amended with my married name in the back. Usually, there is a little confusion when I check in. However, they were making it a big deal when there should have been NO deal made about it. Finally, it took someone in Senior management to explain HOW to put in my details. When we got our boarding cards, we noticed that we were in the last two rows. HMMMMMMM..... we weren't too sure about that.

BOARDING
When they finally posted the gate for boarding we were told that there would be a 15 minute delay. That turned into a 30 minute delay- at which point we all realised that the plane wasn't even at the gate!!!! The 30 minute finally turned to 1 hour. We were finally allowed on the plane only to find ourselves t he the VERY last row with seats to fit minature adults!! As we are trying to squeeze ourselves into these seats we were told that the flight would be delayed ANOTHER hour because now the plane was too heavy and could not hold enough fuel to get us to Calgary. We would have to land in Quebec and refuel and continue on. This would increase our flight time. HMMMMMM..... So, what time were we to get there?

At this point hubby realised he would NEVER make it in such small seats. When a stewardress came by an asked if there was anything we needed, hubby replied "Bigger Seats!" She quickly walked off and came back minutes later. She said she had a surprise for us and asked us to take our things and follow. We did and were then seated in 2 empty seats that were in the row right after Premium which had more leg room! THANK GOD!! The width of the seats were still small but at least hubby's legs were not to his chin.

We finally took off. Snacks and drinks (which you must pay for) were brought out. The prices were reasonable. A can of pop (small) was 50p and a small can of Pringles was £1. However, I had packed some drinks and snacks in my carry on so we needed nothing of them. Lunch was finally served 3 hours into the flight. There was a beef curry and a chicken dish. Hubby had one and I had another. They were both tasty and we were pleased with the meal.

At the beginning of the flight we were offered headseats for the celing tv screens. From my seat, it was VERY hard to see. So, I just read my book. Hubby had a good view and said that the movies showed were mostly BRAND NEW and never shown in the UK yet.

Sometime during the flight I was able to fall asleep only to be woken up by the captain saying, "On your right you will see the coast of Canada. That is Goose Bay. We will be landing their shortly. Please prepare for landing." WHAT??? Weren't we to land in Quebec? What is wrong? No answers of course. It was snowing and you really couldn't see anything. We feel the plane going down to land and then all of a sudden pull up sharply. The captain again comes on and says, "Sorry about that folks! I couldn't see the runway. We will try again!" WHAT? What place were we landing at. I have NEVER been scared about landing before. But, this landing was VERY scary. The plane rocked back and forth and shook! Finally we landed and were told it would take 1/2 hour. This is also when we were told that we had landed at a military base because we didn't have enough fuel to get to Quebec and it was an emergency landing!!! Well, 1 1/2 hours later we finally took off.

16 hours after we boarded, we disembarked!!!! A 10 hour flight took an extra 6 hours!

FLIGHT HOME

When we landed we immediately asked our holiday rep to see about booking us premium seats for the way home! We keep on her about it and 2 days before we left she confirmed that she had gotten premium seats for us! YEAH!!!

Check in was very quick with the premium seats. The seats themselves are wider and have more leg room. You also get free drinks through out the flight. After that, the flight was not much different. This time I could see the tv screen but my earphones did not work! So, I took some sleep medication and slept through the entire flight home. This time it took only 7 hours!!!! CAN YOU imagine??? Flight in- 16 hours Flight out-7 hours!!

OVER ALL

Food- Good quality! Better than a lot of airline foods I have had in the past. I found no difference in quality in the economy and premium class. The only difference is the dishes it is served on.

Customer Service- Check in staff were poor and could only deal with the normal everyday problems. If there was something different for them to deal with they got all flustered.

The flight crew were better with excellent marks for seeing to my hubby's needs on the flight out.

Punctuality- POOR!!! That is all I can say about that!

Space- WHAT SPACE??? It is better in premium. However, there are only about 30 premium seats on a flight that holds about 300. You are VERY lucky if you secure one of these and they are a bit pricey if you are on a budget. A one way premium seat from UK was £300 and from Canada it was £100. We were never able to work out why there was that difference.

WILL WE USE EXCEL AGAIN?

NO 

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