Note that this review is more than 6 months old and the company's procedures may have changed considerably since this review was written.
After reading some terrible reviews for this airline, and having already booked our flight, I was a bit worried about the trip. I expected delays and problems but was pleasantly surprised to have none. Our flight was to Dalaman, Turkey from Manchester on 7/8/06. We travelled on a 747 which was huge (about 500 passengers). There was lots of leg room, the seats were leather and the plane was spotless (with an upstairs, which my six and three year old were really impressed with). The food was lovely and the airline staff really freindly. We were delayed by about 30 minutes but were on board the plane at this time and we were well informed of the delay and when we would be taking off. All in all, I couldnt fault it, nor the return journey, which took place a few days after the terrorist scare - so Excel had the perfect opportunity to mess it up - but no delays at all. The only complaint - and this could be the booking company (Perfect Choice) rather than Excel - we pre-booked our seats (eight in our party) and didnt receive any confirmation on our tickets. After a couple of phone calls, where we were told not to worry and that everything was booked, we asked for confirmation anyway. We eventually received a letter confirming that we HAD prebooked our seats. When we checked in at Manchester, we were told we HADNT prebooked, and had to show them the letter of confirmation. This did the trick. If you book throught either of these companies, I would suggest you get confirmation of any extras, just in case.

Note that this review is more than 6 months old and the company's procedures may have changed considerably since this review was written.
Well to be brutally honest with XL you get what you pay for. I've been flying for a while now and usually only fly decent airlines such as Qantas, BA, Emirates etc I hate budget airlines and have some shocking experiences with Ryan Air. In order to fly to Sharm I had little choice other than flying XL or some other budget airline. BA flies there but at some ungodly hour. Anyway back to the flight, check-in staff were ok, not particularly friendly, check-in was ok, but only as we got there very early. A massive queue built up behind us. Seats were tiny, food average, in-flight entertainment average. They had these adverts screaming at you out the speakers at a stupid level. Way back was worse. Long long check-in, flight delayed by 2 hours, heaps of pikie chavs on the plane getting drunk, really average food... I could go on. Overall it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good enough, but then it was cheap and was miles better than Ryan Air who are awful.

Note that this review is more than 6 months old and the company's procedures may have changed considerably since this review was written.
Just read the other reviews and very common theme here... I was delayed 5hrs on way to Cuba on the runway, then 55hrs on way back!!! 12 of them spent trucking 800kms of fun all the way to the next airport... hahaha... really had fun... also the plane was so cramped the food tray crashes against your ribs when lowered (I am 32" waist for heavens sake!) and escape in case of emergency from the decidedly dicey plane would have been impossible. No brace position is acheivable either, just a head tilt... Oh well, should have done my research... Have reported them to the Civil Aviation Authority about safety concerns and they are investigating. I urge everyone who has similar experiences to do the same. GLAD TO BE BACK SAFE AND SOUND! Don't risk you life pay up and fly with someone else. Thanks!!! Dave

Note that this review is more than 6 months old and the company's procedures may have changed considerably since this review was written.
Jack1, you think yours was bad, I think today 318 passengers just topped yours!

We endured a 53 hour delay from Puerto Plata from Dominican Republic to LGW. We were due to arrive Tuesday 25 Oct morning but we arrived this morning Thursday 27th Oct!

We originally flew from Punta Cana on a 25 minute flight to Puerto Plata. Just when we were on the plane on the runway ready to take off, we were then told they have some kind of "air conditioning" problems and an engineer was sent out while we waited on the plane for 2 hours or so. No further annnouncements had been made while 300 frustrated passengers waited in the heat no information and no food. We were told later to wait in the terminal for further information.

Hours later we were told our flight had been cancelled. The service desk was unhelpful and didn't know any answers. No announcements were made whatsoever.

We were only offered one can of drink per boarding pass which had to be stamped and checked. No food was offered and we had not ate since our flight from Punta Cana 8 hours before. How stingy!

We were finally told that we had to stay in a local hotel. Hahah...

Upon collecting our luggage we discovered several passengers including ourselves had had their luggage broken into. This must have been done between transfer from Punta Cana to Puerto Plata somehow. How awful.

Just think we would not have found this out really until we would have arrived at Gatwick. :S What a day.

Thomas Cook arranged for us to be put up in a local hotel... a Fun R***L Tr***** ...(a very deceiving apparently 4 star hotel. My own rating 2). My advice - don't go there. Some fellow passengers may relate to this.

- Bedding soiled, stained towels
- Bathroom ceiling dripping with water.
- Creepy crawlies along the corridors
- Food - I can't even find the words to describe it ... but we had to fend ourselves away from flies and crows inside the restaurant from sharing away our food. A swamp was between the restaurant and golf course. Smart!

As were about to embark on the coach back to the airport after a distressing night, we were for the 2nd time told that aircraft still had "technical problems" and not ready for flying. boo hoo. We wanna go home!

Many passengers who had felt uncomfortable the hotel requested another hotel to stay in. Thanks for the Thomas cook reps for making this possible and to the other passengers for asserting this.

This was sooooo much better :)

Finally, 3rd time lucky, we were confirmed a new flight time and a new aircraft was flown in to take us back home. Yippee!

You think you've heard the last? ...

Half an hour after the scheduled departure time, we were all still sitting in the departure lounge waiting and waiting and wondering why we have not boarded the plane. After 3 changes of gates (why?), and almost a pile up at the bottom of the escalator, we finally boarded the plane.

You thought this was bad? But ...

As we had not been allocated seats, it was a chaotic scamble to find seats and many families and honeymoon couples were separated through no fault of the new airline.

We then discovered that XL had supposedly not provided the new airline a passenger name list which is a regulatory requirement "apparently" under aviation rules. What a *bulls* up.

We as passengers had to write down our own names on a scrap piece of paper one by one as this was being reconciled. We were informed by the captain that we had only half an hour to do this before we would miss our flight slot and we would have had to disembark to the plane once again.

Thankfully all the passengers and crew were very cooperative and helpful and we managed to take off within the time slot given. Many applauds.

We felt extremely let down by XL and we are now seeking compensation for the 53 hour delay to our journey.

I'm sure other passengers will be seeking the same.

It would be nice to know if there are other passengers who have been able to seek compensation successfully concerning this ordeal.

Please keep us informed.

Note that this review is more than 6 months old and the company's procedures may have changed considerably since this review was written.
I have just had the misfortune to travel with excel airways.....Never again. Be warned..This is an amateur airline to say the least.A 43 hour delay in total on a round trip of one week, is highly un acceptable..The fact that this was my honeymoon made it even more appaling..The cabin staff were immature, unfriendly,un helpfull and rude at times..(even covering their name badges up with sindy stickers, when people started to complain)!!!!!! I encounterd a 24 hour delay on the way out to the dominican republic, therfore missing a whole day of my honeymoon..And on the return journey, the plane made it into the air, only to turn around and take us back, and wait while it was fixed for a further 19 hours..I understand aircraft will from time to time experience technical difficulties, but the lack of information , understanding etc etc was tottally un believable..My husband was told when he asked for a drink of water, that the water had been given out to us the day before, on the flight that had turned around.....I will tell everyone i know to not fly with xl airways(and some that i dont know)

Note that this review is more than 6 months old and the company's procedures may have changed considerably since this review was written.
After being told that the plane we should be on had been involved in a collision with another aircraft on the runway, we had a 4 hour delay before boarding another plane. Then we were told the plane had been over-fuelled and that a third of the luggage was being taken off to make it lighter and the luggage would reach us at our destination within 48 hours. Then after a further 2 hours sitting on the plane, they cancelled the flight. It was then due to take off the next day, which would have made it a 20 hour delay, but it was then delayed a further 2 hours. It should have been a direct flight to mombasa but we were diverted to Luxor to refuel. There was also a drunk on the plane who was making everyone feel very uncomfortable by being abusive and who should have been thrown off at Luxor when they refuelled. The crew let him stay on until mombasa, making this awful trip worse for other passengers. He was eventually arrested in mombasa. Finally we arrived in Mombasa 24 hours late, which meant that we missed a full day of our holiday. The return flight wasn't as bad but was still delayed 2 hours. The food given to us on the plane was covered in mould and the in-flight entertainment couldn't been seen by any passengers as the crew were constantly standing in the way. The check-in staff at Gatwick are probably the most unhelpful and arrogant people I have ever come across. This airline is full of nothing but excuses.