If your ship doesn't come in, you'll just have to swim out to it.
If your ship doesn't come in, you'll just have to swim out to it.
Member since:27.12.2005
Reviews:41
Members who trust:37
We booked our flights with Excel Airways back in January, then I read some of the reviews on Ciao, and thought, Oops!
BOOKING We booked through the website. It was very easy to use. We paid a deposit of £120 (£40 per person) and the balance was automatically debited from my credit card in June, exactly on the day they specified, eight weeks before we left.
There is an optional charge of £12 per person to reserve your seats, but we didn't take them up on this.
Our tickets arrived in the post, about a week before we were due to leave. There were no luggage labels! Is this a cost cutting exercise? A quick trip to Smiths to buy some was undertaken.
AT GATWICK We arrived at the airport in good time. Their website states that the check-in desk will be open at
least three hours before departure, but in our case this was more like two hours. Quite a queue had built up by the time they started work. Eventually we dumped our bags and went off to find some food and do some duty free shopping.
We were called to the gate and set off on the long walk. By the time we got there it was pretty crowded. We hadn't been there long when it was announced that there was a fault with the plane and we would be delayed approximately 45 minutes. Immediately everyone tried to leave the gate (to go to the toilet, or to have a smoke) and chaos ensued. If there was a problem with the plane, why did they call everyone to the gate?
Only a few people had managed to get away when there was another call to say that the plane was fine and we would be boarding shortly.
Eventually we did set off about thirty minutes late, but managed to make up time during the flight so that we were almost on time when we landed.
THE FLIGHT I have to say I hate flying (lots of deep breathing and mental relaxation exercises called for!) so no matter how good the flight was, I wouldn't enjoy it.
Suffice to say, it took four long hours to get to Dalaman in Turkey.
The seats were leather, pretty small, and pretty close to each other. My son is 5' 10" and his knees were touching the seat in front.
We had to pay £2.50 each for headphones which didn't actually work that well. The film they showed was the animation "Over the Hedge" which my fellow travelers seemed to enjoy. There was also a selection of music channels to listen to.
We had opted out of paying £10 each for the in flight meal. As far as I could tell, very few people did have the meal, but the stewardesses came round with numerous trolleys containing drinks, snacks, duty free, and all the other stuff they try to sell you on board aircraft. For the hungry they did sell Paninis for £3 each, but having eaten at Gatwick we weren't hungry.
We landed safely. Phew!
CHECK IN AT DALAMAN Again we arrived early; in fact we were second in the queue waiting for check in to open. This time it was under two hours before the flight when the desk opened. The lady on the desk was rather officious. She asked all the necessary security questions in a rather brusque manner, but we weren't asked where we'd like to sit. When we got our boarding cards we discovered we were right in the back row, by the toilets, not my favourite place.
After check in we went upstairs, checked out the duty free shop (just in case I missed something at Gatwick!) and went for a very expensive beer.
Our flights were called and we duly went to the gate. Expecting a long wait, my husband went to the café (yes, there was a place selling food and drinks in the waiting area for the gate) and no sooner had he got in the queue than they started calling us for the flight.
We set off just ten minutes late, and arrived back at Gatwick also ten minutes late.
THE FLIGHT HOME The flight home was totally uneventful. We already had our headphones. The film this time was Ice Age 2. Being right at the back I couldn't see the stewardess giving the safety demonstration, but being a nervous flyer I wouldn't complain about this. If the plane crashes, I know what I'll be doing - panicking! I had a drink of hot chocolate, which while expensive, was very nice. For other details, see previous flight!
We were given a questionnaire to fill in about how we had found traveling with Excel, the prize being either flights or holidays with Excel. They also gave us pens to fill in the surveys, which we kept!
CONCLUSION We're home, no more flying for ages!
Seriously, there is nothing particularly good or bad I can say about the flights and service from Excel. It was a typical charter flight, the seats were small, the drinks were expensive, but they got us there and back again.
Bon Voyage!
www.xl.com
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Great review, travelled with these a few times recently. You will probably think they are a lot better now
natz_welch 03.03.2007 21:25
I am thinking of using them to also fly to Dalaman to see a friend - purely because they are cheap - brill review at least I know what I am letting myself in for!!!!
Shoka 01.10.2006 17:29
Having just returned from a massive long haul flight experience (3 flights to get to our honeymoon in Belize) I sympathise with your not wanting to fly again for a while thing.
I was interested to read this as last time we went to Turkey we flew to Antalya with Thomas Cook and I wouldnt recommend them to anyone. So it sounds like they arent the only rubbish ones!
Glad you had a nice time away though!
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Record Rent a Car is present in the main spanish airports and has a very wide fleet. We offer: exceptional discounts, free additional drivers,
unlimited mileage... subscribe to our Club Record and take advantage of special offers.
Sep 3rd, 2006
very helpful by (98%):
helpful by (2%):
