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Home > Travel > Holiday Essentials > Airlines > United Kingdom Airlines > Excel Airways

User Reviews

for Excel Airways

Rating Summary based on 48 reviews

  • 5 Stars
    		13
  • 4 Stars
    		11
  • 3 Stars
    		7
  • 2 Stars
    		2
  • 1 Star
    		15

Detailed rating

  • Customer Service
  • Food Quality
  • How often do you travel with this airline
  • How well does it cater for disabled people
  • Punctuality
  		• 3.2
  		• 3.4
  		• 1.4
  		• 1.0
  		• 3.3
Previous page Next page Page 1 of 5 | 1 to 10 out of 48 Review(s)
  • 47 of 47 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of ukusa

    ukusa

    2 Stars Like a Sardine in a Tin Can!!! Diamond review 09/02/2005
    User doesn't recommend the product

    Advantages Advantages Attendants that TRY to help when they can

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Very small seats both for width and leg room!

    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 ... more
  • 135 of 135 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of phil2001

    phil2001

    5 Stars AN EXCEL-ENT RIDE Review with images 10/01/2004
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Punctual, Leather Seats, Friendly Staff

    Disadvantages Disadvantages None for me personally

    Back in October 2003 my girlfriend and I flew to Luxor,Eygpt with Excel Airways, I had only heard about this airline via a friend who said they were famed for their punctuality and comfort, this I found out to be was very accurate……… = About Excel Airways Excel Airways has only been flying since 1999, however don't be alarmed as it is one of many trading division's of the Excel Group and is fully bonded by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Air Transport Organisers License (ATOL) 1999. The Excel Group consists of the following divisions…… Excel Aviation: the commercial selling division ... more
  • 37 of 37 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Liv712

    Liv712

    5 Stars Not top class but would definitely use Excel again 16/08/2005
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages smooth flight,good food,entertainment,helpful and friendly attendants

    Disadvantages Disadvantages delays, cramped

    I just recently flew from London Gatwick to Larnaca, Cyprus with Excel in Economy class. This is around a 4 and a half hour flight each way. I was overall very satisfied with my experience with this airline but, as with most things, there was room for improvement! The worst thing was the delays, I was delayed both ways. On the way out we sat on the runway for an hour and ended up taking off around an hour and 15 minutes after the scheduled time. On the way back we were also delayed by about half an hour but this was not the fault of the airline as this was due to late passengers. The first ... more
  • 51 of 51 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of tracy2002

    tracy2002

    3 Stars Would I fly excel again? (UPDATED 03.11.05) 31/10/2005
    User doesn't recommend the product

    Advantages Advantages Friendly staff, nice flight

    Disadvantages Disadvantages loosing my bagge, slow response from airline

    Well as I'm sure many of you know (and are probably fed up of hearing about now), we went on holiday in September to Tenerife. We were flying EXCEL airways. We have never flown with these before but my mum had on a couple of occasions and couldn't fault them. On arrival at Gatwick with tons of time to spare we thought we'd go and see where to book in thinking it was early and we'd be at the front of the que of people...how wrong! Excel had about four flights checking in on as many desks so the que was pretty massive. It moved steadily and soon we were at the front. We were asked all of the ... more
  • 60 of 60 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Madge11

    Madge11

    3 Stars Not really Excellent, just Average 03/09/2006
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages they got us there and back

    Disadvantages Disadvantages none particularly, in my experience

    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 ... more
  • 14 of 14 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Ruthie25

    Ruthie25

    4 Stars Excel - Cyprus-ingly good 21/10/2006
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Quick check in at Gatwick, good food, reasonable price

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Cramped seats, worrying anouncements from the captain

    Booking - I had never heard of Excel, but discovered them on a flight comparison site. They fly twice a week from Gatwick to Larnaca, and for the dates that we were looking at were about £100 cheaper than BA and Cyprus Airways, and the flight times were better. I booked on the XL.com website, which was simple. The cost is showed at all stages including tax, which is very clear. As we chose not to book an in-flight meal (of which more later) the flights were £170 each. Check in and boarding- at Gatwick, there were five check in desks open, and not one person waiting to check in - result! We ... more
  • 41 of 41 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Nameless

    Nameless

    4 Stars A Well named Flight Company 02/09/2001
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Good crew, nice food and well organised throughout

    Disadvantages Disadvantages none especially

    After the varying reviews seen here on Ciao about Excel airways I was very interested to see what my flight would be like. If you read my last op you will already know that our destination was the sunny Island of Corfu, and that our flight was at the ungodly time of about 6am. We flew from Manchester Airport, and we got there in plenty of time to check in. This was the first thing that was good about Excel, they had opined the check in desks early and we were first to be there, so we managed to acquire the extra legroom seats on the plane. The attendant was very helpful and made light work of ... more
  • 43 of 44 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of belinda9

    belinda9

    4 Stars MOVE OVER FATTY 17/03/2002
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Friendly hostesses, nice food, nice flight

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Fat man squashing me.

    As I work for Blakes Boats, who are owned by a company called Cendant, who also own RCI Timeshare holidays, I got the privilege of having a two week holiday away at any of their centres throughout the world. I thought I would just use one week up and go to Tenerife and then use the last week for June. I searched on the internet for cheap flights, and I was starting to get a bit frustrated as all the flights were coming up at £198/£202 each, I thought that was expensive, and almost gave up, when I came across Club 2000 site and saw Excel Airways. After a few initial problems with the club 2000 ... more
  • 16 of 17 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of roons_y

    roons_y

    1 Star Ex Hell Airways 28/05/2001
    User doesn't recommend the product

    Advantages Advantages At least the plane didn't crash

    Disadvantages Disadvantages 33 hour delay

    In May 2001 I flew with Excel Airways from London Gatwick to Heraklion, Crete. Sadly I was supposed to be flying to Santorini some sixty miles north of our arrival point so I imagine you can tell this isn't the start of a glowing recommendation. My girlfriend and I arrived at the airport at 4am for the 6am flight. Just after checking in we were told there was going to be a two and half hour departure delay and handed a letter of explanation along with some complimentary airport vouchers. We thought that giving out vouchers, albeit only four quid’s worth (not enough for breakfast anywhere ... more
  • 15 of 15 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of LucyJW

    LucyJW

    5 Stars A good choice for charter flights 04/02/2003
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Extra Legroom, Leather Seats, Good Food, Nice Staff

    Disadvantages Disadvantages None

    We flew from Gatwick to Malaga on 25th Jan on Excel airways 06:30am flight. I almost cancelled my holiday when the tickets arrived and i found out Excel were the airline, i was a bit apprehensive about the flight because i am a very nervous flyer and i had never heard of Excel before. I am so glad that i diddnt, this is a nice friendly airline. On boarding we were offered free Daily Mail newspapers which i thought was a nice idea. The leather seats really are comfy and there seemed to be so much legroom, usually on a charter plane your knees are touching your chest in minutes, we were able to ... more
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