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Taken January 2004 from London, England (Gatwick Airport) - LGW to Dalaman - DLM

On Monday 27th September we arrived at Gatwick on time for our 0910 check-in for departure to Dalaman at 1140. Whilst in the queue we were handed a letter from Air Atlanta informing us of a 9 hour delay with a revised departure time of 2045. When asked the reason for the delay we were told that our aircraft had been stranded in Florida since the previous Thursday due to hurricanes. An alternative Excel Airways aircraft had been found to operate the flight.

With the knowledge that their aircraft had been stranded for 4 days I would have thought it possible for all the tour operators to have contacted their clients to advise a much later check-in time.

So we duly enjoyed sitting around Gatwick for 12 hours, the only relief being a hot meal provided in the Hilton Hotel.

At 2030 we boarded our Excel 757 which I have to say was a lovely aircraft. The Excel crew were a very nice bunch and did everything to make up for our delay. We were offered a complimentary drink which was gratefully accepted. A hot meal was served at around 2300 but, by then, I think most people were past it.

We eventually landed in Dalaman at 0330 local.

For the return flight on Monday 4th October there was more fun to come. An aging 747-200 turned up to transport us home, but it had a different seating layout to the one used by the Dalaman handling agents. There were no Seat F's in any of the rows, so about 50 people either had no immediate seat or sat in someone else's seat. As you can imagine, this caused a huge delay in boarding and some frayed tempers. When asked what she was going to do to sort it out, a more mature female flight attendant, just shrugged her shoulders. Clearly this was a regular occurrence.

After much seat swapping to accommodate families wishing to sit together we departed, amazingly, on time.

The service of drinks took just for ever with, seemingly, only one computer/credit card machine which had to be passed back and forth from aisle to aisle. An announcement was made to the effect that as this was an EU flight, no alcohol or tobacco products could be sold during the duty-free service. I think Air Atlanta should know that Turkey is not in the EU.

Finally came the hot meal service; or it did to some. Approximately half our cabin was served with a full meal and then the other half were given their trays with the usual roll, butter, cheese, biscuits and dessert and were advised to 'eat in reverse' as the hot meals would be brought along last. Apparently some of the galley ovens had failed and could not be fixed. We finally received our meals after about an hour.

We landed at Gatwick on time and can say that we were genuinely pleased to have made the decision never again to travel with Air Atlanta Europe.