7DaysinParadise
Travel => Airlines => Topic started by: bellagio on May 30, 2005, 05:45:00 AM
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Just HAD to post this as it is to do with Excel Airways and the flight from Cayo Santa Maria that should have arrived back into London Gatwick this morning at 0650 hours. This is the corresponding flight that I returned on two weeks ago. Excel only fly this route fortnightly alternating it with Cayo Coco.
I had intended to start a thread to say 'Welcome home Nige' - a forum member who was on the outbound flight to Santa Clara the day I was returning home. He was also bound for the Melia. Looks like Excel Airways have come up trumps again as this plane that should have arrived at 0650 this morning, is now not scheduled to arrive until 0230 Tuesday morning. Now whether or not there was a delay on the outbound flight I've no idea because I didn't think to check it out yesterday.
For the Brits who might read this check out teletext page 446on BBC2 this Bank Holiday morning or any one else can log on to:
BAA Website (http://www.baa.com/main/airports/FlightInfoSearch.html?FlightNum=&Origin=&Terminal=S&Airport=LGW&SearchType=arrivals&x=52&y=3)
and look for details of this flight:
This is from the BAA website which says:
Monday, 30 May 2005
06.50 XLA675 DUE TUE 0230 S
Poor sods. Just hope they weren't cooped up in Santa Clara airport overnight!!!! Neither teletext nor the BAA website says where the plane is actually coming from. Maybe Excel have lost it - who knows. It just goes to show what a really crappy airline they are.
Can you believe that they were actually voted Charter Airline of the Year in 2004!
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Thats Evil form what i've read the airport is not geared up to cope with delays like that
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That's true Garin. We were cooped up there for five hours and it was bedlam. Of course I doubt that passengers on this flight will be there. If the flight was delayed on Sunday leaving the UK they will be enjoying an extra day at their respective resorts.
Who knows, I just hope that Nige comes online on his return and tells his tale - it should be very interesting!!
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True but if they do the usual trick of getting you to the airport checking you in then letting you know about the delay, if they know in advance they don't need to take you to the airport at all, a mate spent 23hrs at Paphos airport in Cyprus with no proper info for the reps :wall:
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Well I don't think it would be possible to keep 300 people at Santa Clara Airport for anywhere near that length of time. First of all there is just not enough seats to go around.
There is only one room, it's the smallest airport I've ever seen. Holguin Airport is like Heathrow or Gatwick compared to Santa Clara!!!
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:) I look at the sell offs and vacation packages from Toronto and think how much easier it would be to go to Cuba from there and shorter--3.5 vs 4.5 hours. (Halifax) Never happy! ;)
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I just hope that Thomas Cook don't charter out there flights to Holguin in November, our luck we would get as far as Varadero then no further and spend two weeks on a camp bed in the arrivals lounge.
Its terrible, its about time these travel companies realised they are playing with people hard earned money and most importantly there "time", we work hard for our holidays and expect to be treated better, delays are part of the course of holidays but Excel seem to be taking that to the extreme.
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Huskypup:
Can't you arrange for a Harrier to fly direct from Wittering. There's a large area of grass in front of the PP one of those Harrier's could easily set down there.
:rof: :rof:
You'll be OK in November. Excel are only operating until the end of October. How the heck did they ever get Charter Airline of the Year in 2004 though?
I would have thought that I would have had more chance of winning Wimbledon than they would have of being awarded that.
:th: :th:
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Latest update:
Just checked on the BAA website and it's now scheduled to arrive at 0430 UK time in the morning, that's two hours later than when I first posted.
Don't think I'll be waiting up to see if it lands at this new scheduled time.
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But Bellagio do you look as good in white tight shorts as Tim Henman does!! :D
I think that a Harrier would blow all the palm tree's away, though it would be quicker.
As the expert do you know what type of plane we will be travelling on, they have finally sorted out the flights we are now leaving at 0945hrs, but can't tell me what sort of plane it is (Holiday Hypermarket that is) and Thomas Cook can't tell me as Im not a customer of theirs but ones of Thompsons, I want to prebook seats but you have to know what type of plane it is!!
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Originally posted by huskypup:
But Bellagio do you look as good in white tight shorts as Tim Henman does!!
No, definitely not!!!
I think that a Harrier would blow all the palm tree's away, though it would be quicker.
Ain't no Palm trees there, sorry. Plenty of room to land a Harrier.
As the expert do you know what type of plane we will be travelling on, they have finally sorted out the flights we are now leaving at 0945hrs, but can't tell me what sort of plane it is (Holiday Hypermarket that is) and Thomas Cook can't tell me as Im not a customer of theirs but ones of Thompsons, I want to prebook seats but you have to know what type of plane it is!!
You'll be flying on an Airbus A 330 with 354 seats. Check out this link:
Thomas Cook Airlines (http://www.thomascookairlines.co.uk/Boeing_A330.htm)
Hey all this info has got to be worth a drink at your local pub!!! Forgot though they won't serve mojitos, will they!!!
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As a part-time barperson a mean John Smith's Smooth or a Nancy measure of Benedictine and Baileys (sounds disgusting but is real smooth). You are welcome at the S&S anyime.
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How bad are Excel we are looking at a trip to sharm next year, the deal we have seen is prety good but the Saturday flights are with Excel, this would be a 4 hour flight and Saturday would be more practical
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Garin:
They are probably quite OK with a short flight like that.
They were not too bad on the flight I did with them to Calgary from Manchester on April 2nd.
They have two major problems IMHO. Firstly the type of aircraft they fly on the Cuban routes are not suited to longhaul travel as they cannot reach Cuba without refuelling. This will not be a problem on a flight to Israel
The other main problem with them is that the entertainment system is very poor, just the overhead TV monitors and with an inferior sound system.
Of course you may not be flying 767's they will probably have 737's on that route.
The cabin crew were first rate though in all fairness.
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At least they haven't creased/buckled/almost-fallen-apart (yet) like the Skyservice planes.
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Very good point westwoman. I think I'd rather have a 24 hour delay in Cuba! :duh:
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That's absolutely true millybess, I do agree with you. Better safe than sorry.
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Thanks for the info, can put up with a bit of discomfort for 4 hours, might even get a decent plane, as long as it get there in one peice we will be happy
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Garin:
Yes four hours isn't too long to endure is it? It's those transatlantic ones that are never very enjoyable after the first few times, but the end result is usually well worth the discomfort that you have to put up with I find.
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Yes they are well worth the effort, unfortunatly Val has an absolute fear of flying, 2 hours to Europe is one thing 9 hours was just to much, we are seriously thinking about getting some medication next time, hopefully this will help her, at the moment even think about a trip to Portugal in Sept is getting her worked up.
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Never realised that SWMBO had a fear of flying. I can well understand her lack of enthusiasm for flying transatlantic in that case. Even 4 hours to Israel will not be a picnic for her either.
I've done 40 transatlantic flights and am now finding them to be rather a bind, but if I want to holiday in caribbean destinations and visit Canada and the USA I have little option.
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It's time we had one of those teleport things that they have on star trek.
Beam me up Scottie :)
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Heather:
Now wouldn't that be great. No more suffering airline food, and you could nip back home every time Canadian Idol or Corrie was on TV.
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OK peeps sorry about the delay ..... work etc etc
This is our take on the whole deal ..... READY !
Our holiday started with a less than pleasant airport check-in experience. We were handed a letter at the desk saying that there had been a change to our plane. The girl at the desk was very miserable and calmly announced that we had 3 kgs of excess baggage to pay for. This cost us £24 and until we’d paid for it we wouldn’t get our boarding cards. At no point did she ask us if we wanted to remove anything from our cases.
The plane was very cramped and everyone was complaining that their knees were touching the seats in front of them. It was also dirty. We had to stop at Gander in Canada for refuelling. We booked Santa Maria solely because it had a direct flight. Once we landed we waited 1 and a half hours in the blazing sunshine to get into Cuba, due to power cuts crashing the computer at the immigration desks. Once Thomas Cook took over things went smoothly and we were soon in our room.
We found out once we arrived in Cuba that the plane hadn’t been big enough for all the passengers and 80 people didn’t manage to board at all. We heard they were delayed overnight and given £70 compensation. They then had to pay for their own transport to Heathrow, where they had a flight to Madrid, then to Havana. They were offered an overnight stay in Havana with free entry to the Tropicana show, or they could travel straight to Santa Maria by Coach. Had this been offered at check-in, they may have had 80 happy volunteers!
We then had a lovely 2 weeks, the food wasn’t as good as we had at Playa Pesquero or the Iberostar Daquiri but we figured we’d been spoilt there. Someone needs to teach them how to make Pizza, or they should stop trying.
Homeward bound we left for the airport in the 1st batch of coaches and pulled out of the hotel grounds at 11.50 am. We were one of the 1st to check our cases in and get through to the departure lounge. Eventually the lounge was over occupied and there weren’t enough seats for all 300+ people. The incoming flight landed at 3.30 pm, just over half an hour late. Not bad we thought as we weren’t due to fly until 4.55pm. Within a few minutes people were looking at the plane and pointing at something the opposite side to which we could see, just to the right of the front steps. This turned out to be an emergency slide and we knew we wouldn’t be leaving on time now. The whole of the airport was buzzing with what on earth happened and would we still be able to go home. (We found out later that one of the aircrew accidentally set if off.) It was hours before anybody came to tell us what was happening.
A Cuban man came and spoke to us twice. He told us a plane was coming from somewhere else to take 80 passengers, 140 or so would be able to go on the existing plane and they would need 42 volunteers to stay. It was about 3 hours before we saw a Thomas Cook representative…….not a soul from the Excel crew. The rep told us less than we already knew, a few passengers told him what the man had told us and he said he would go off and check. He came back to say there was no plane coming from elsewhere and they were waiting for an engineer to fix the door. Some 5 hours after it had been deployed, we watched the slide being detached from the plane. The rep reappeared and told us that the door had been resealed but only 180 people would be able to fly home, due to Health and Safety rules regarding the out of action emergency exit. They asked for 144 volunteers to stay in Cuba and go back to the same hotel. After some time, he came back and asked for more volunteers. He re-appeared again to announce, unfortunately all of us would have to go back to the hotels. The Excel crew made an appearance to hand out small cups of water and then vanished. Where was the Captain/Pilot and why didn’t he speak to us??
In order for us to leave the airport, we all had to have our Tourist Cards back. The elderly, people with special needs and families with young children were asked to go back into the check-in area to collect their cards 1st. The Immigration staff then came through to the departure lounge and we were lucky (we thought) to be the 1st of the rest to get our cards back. We rushed through to the check-in area to find all the others still waiting. Immigration wouldn’t let anyone out until we ALL had our cards back. So the people who needed to sit down the most, had been standing the longest! When we were finally allowed out to reclaim our suitcases it was chucking it down with rain. I went to claim our cases whilst my wife sought shelter outside. Whilst she was waiting the rep reappeared to announce there was a flight from Havana to Gatwick at 3.30 am and to go to a certain coach if we wanted to take it. Armed with our cases we made our way to the Havana coach, it was full. We were then told there were 2 other coaches to Havana. The rep then announced the flight was via Madrid. We made our way in the pouring rain to the other end of the airport and saw our Rep from the hotel, Yasmin. My wife went over to Yasmin to ask advice, we decided to forget Havana and go to get a nights sleep back at the Melia. The next problem was that all the coaches appeared to be full. We made our way back to the side of the airport to seek shelter from the rain, we were drenched now. The male rep came over and told us there were more coaches the other side of the airport, so we ventured out again. The 1st coach was full, as was the 2nd. Yasmin appeared and got us onto a small mini-bus, the poor girl was being run ragged but still remained calm and helping people out. We were finally out of the rain. We waited for all the seats to be taken on our mini-bus, some people had to put their cases on a coach and get in with us and then we finally moved and got in a queue the 1st coach. Once the reps felt everyone was on a coach we set-off for the Melia.
We drove back into the Melia grounds at 11.50 pm, exactly 12 hours after we had left that morning. The buffet restaurant had been opened as we had only been given Pringles, a soft drink and water at the airport. Once we’d eaten we were given a room key and taken to our room. We put the aircon on and went back to the bar, for a well needed drink. My wife said Cuba Libre had never tasted so good. We met a Canadian at the bar who said he’d heard some Brits never got home. We replied, we’re those Brits! We saw the rep who said we needed to be back at reception, ready to leave at 8 am.
Back at reception after some sleep and a shower for 8 am, we were handed a letter stating our flight should be leaving at 1 pm. We would be boarding the coaches at 10pm, so we went off for some breakfast.
Back at the airport, check-in not too bad. The cases were taken quickly and we were told to keep our original seats. 12.50 pm and the Excel Crew arrived, so much for a 1 pm flight!
At last boarding started, rows 1 to 5 and 20 to the end boarded 1st. We were row 8. The seats in rows 6 to 19 were taped off and we had to be seated elsewhere due to the out of action emergency exit.
The Captain finally spoke to us on board the aircraft. He said there had been a Technical problem with the plane and the problem today was getting food for the flight. Once they had the food, there was no transport to deliver it to the airport.
We eventually took off at 3.15 pm, 1 hour and 40 minutes shy of 24 hours!
The final insult for us, was the fact the sound wasn’t working for many of the seats in row 1-5 and those that did have sound couldn’t see the screen. We had an 8 hours flight with no entertainment. We heard that they were running out of meals at the back of the plane and witnessed the Excel crew robbing milk and cups from what looked like old meals. We actually felt sorry for the Crew by this point.
We finally landed in the UK at 4.20 am and we couldn’t wait to get home. We have been back for a week and there has been no apology letter from either Excel or Thomas Cook. This leaves us very disappointed. We were treated very badly and we expected better. Needless to say, we shall be writing to them both.
Nige & Mia the wife
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Well Nige that is horrendous. I really slagged Ex hell off in my trip review and what you have said only proves how right I was.
I flagged up on the lead post on this thread that there appeared to be a major problem with your flight but I never ever thought it could possibly be as bad as what you have described.
I have written to Thomas Cook saying that as a seasoned traveller to Cuba with them I will no longer be flying with them whilst they continue to use Excel as a carrier. Their planes are just not suitable for transatlantic travel.
Obviously you will need financial compensation and I would hit them hard. You can quote from my experience on May 1st and my return flight on May 15th if you like (you'll find my review in the Trip Reports at the top of the page). My journey was nothing to yours but the problems were there to see on May 1st and May 15th so one would have expected them to have been corrected by May 29th. That 767 200 series aircraft needs scrapping.
Thanks for posting such a comprehensive report of your journey from hell and welcome home.
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Nige, that would probably turn me off transatlantic travel forever. I'm very sorry this happened to you. However, I'm glad you had an enjoyable two weeks in Cuba. One wouldn't have been enough.
bellagio, I take it back. Maybe I would rather have bulldog's flight.
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Welcome back
Excellent report, but I'm sorry that you had to live through all that.
Thanks for posting that.
I hope you will be well compensated for your troubles. I have a feeling that you will have to fight for it though.
Good Luck
Heather
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From Excel's website:
December 2004
EXCEL AIRWAYS AWARDED "WORLD`S LEADING CHARTER AIRLINE" FOR 2004
On the 11th of December 2004 at the World Travel Awards in Barbados, Excel Airways was presented with the award of "Worlds Leading Charter Airline" for 2004. This award was from votes by travel agents and tour operators in the past year and follows on from the Daily Telegraph readers voting Excel Airways "Best Charter Airline" in October 2004. It shows that our product and service really are the best.
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Nige
Your report on your journey with Excel is absolutely shocking mate. I was on the flight before yours with Mr B and Avid, so kinda understand what you went through, but this is unbelivable.
Wossa
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Wossa:
Makes you wonder what we were complaining about really doesn't with regard to our flights with Excel? That's another one of their fleet out of service for a while I would imagine, I wonder what aircraft they will dig up to fly the route this coming Sunday.
Can you imagine what it must have been like cooped up in that cattle pen at Santa Clara Airport for that length of time.
I'll bet the reps had a nightmare that day, because first of all they had to get all the incoming passengers back to the Sol and Melia and then organise the coaches back to the airport to sort out Nige and Co. who were flying home. Who'd want to be a rep?
The flight from hell with Ex hell!!!
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COMPENSATION!!!!!!
Thomas Cook have compensated me, at long last. I have a cheque in my hand as I write.
Now modesty forbids me to inform you as to the amount of the cheque, so I'll just leave it for you to speculate. However I will say this - It cost me £46 to fill my car up with petrol last night (price had just risen by 1p per litre) - well the cheque would not have covered that - it was, as they say, a gesture of goodwill!!!
They have sent a quite long apologetic letter also, but as I don't possess a photocopier I can't post it. I'm happy enough because they have acknowledged there was a major problem and they are in discussions with the Cuban Consulate in the UK and the local authorities to provide extra facilities at Santa Clara Airport.
With regard to Excel Airways the issues that I have raised will be discussed as part of future negotiations with Excel and they thank me for bringing them to their attention. They do say that the seat pitch was in excess of the minimum guidelines as set out by the Civil Aviation Authority, but I would strongly dispute that, as the seats only moved 2 inches maximum.
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Well Mr B
I suppose this is good news. They at least made a gesture, and I'm sure you made a gesture right back at them. :D
So the drinks are on you at CN3 I take it?
:w:
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Originally posted by flopnfly:
So the drinks are on you at CN3 I take it?
Hardly enough to buy a mojito for Wendy and myself :rof:
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I hope I get the same Mr B. That amount would fill my car twice :) Still want new headphones for yvonne though
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Avid,
I take it you haven't received your compensation yet.
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Havn't heard a thing. Been working my rear end off since i've been home, so havn't had chance to chase them back. They have till next week or they will feel my wrath lol
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I threatened them with the King of Cuba if they didn't cough up!!
Cheque arrived today, CARE package of salmon expected tomorrow :rof: :rof:
Talking of CARE packages, mine from Gambitt should be destined to arrive shortly I would think.
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After a very firm phone call.......RESULT :b:
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And the results are...?
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Talk about delayed reaction......................I had 90 quid :)