Debbie

We're looking at Signature Tours offerings this year but note they are still using Royal Airlines. We had a very bad experience with Royal 3 years ago when they literally left us sleeping on the beach in Aruba (plane broke, couldn't fly out, no place to stay, etc) overnight until a plane could fly down from Canada and take us out. Anyhow this put us off any package vacation using Royal. <BR>However we are very interested in booking into Iberostar in either PDC or Coz but Signature is using Royal Airlines and we don't want another bad experience with them. <BR>Can anyone tell me how they've been in the last few years - any improvements in service, etc. <BR>Much appreciated. Thanks

Jim Claveau

I flew Royal from Toronto to Cancun in 1999. Aircraft looked a little beat-up but otherwise we were impressed. In three years of Caribean flights I have never been offered a free drink on any carrier other than Royal ! Otherwise I find that they are all the same. A damaged aircraft will leave you stranded no matter who the carrier is ! <BR>

John from Barrie

Debbie: My girlfriend and I had a two hour delay at Pearson (Toronto) on our way to Cancun because the Royal Airlines jet overshot its "parking spot" at the terminal. This meant that the ramp that passengers (and crew) use to board the plane wouldn't line up with the doors. We were delayed until one of the tractors was available to back the plane up. We could see the problem from the terminal but were not informed by Royal staff for over an hour. I've flown Canada 3000 twice without problems. Unfortunately, Debbie, we Canadians are too laid back to get upset with these charter "sardine-cans". John from Barrie, Ontario, Canada.

debbie

Hi John from Barrie - I agree with you on the laid back Canadian approach. Don't get me wrong Jim and yes were were appreciative that Royal wasn't going to try and fly us home in a damaged aircraft. It was just the whole stinky treatment of the situation. There were 269 of us (one in a wheelchair and two or three families)and they left us sitting in the airport until about midnight then bused us back to the Holiday Inn who were kind enough to feed. Then the Royal crew retired to their rooms for the night and the rest of us had to settle with a few hours of uncomfortable sleep in beach loungers covered by sheets and towels only as provided by the hotel staff. We were told to be back in the lobby at 4am to be bused back to the airport. At the airport we settled back down on the floor as they would make no firm announcement as to when we were flying out. The Royal crew then sailed back into the airport and we were finally loaded onto the plane about departed at 7am back to Toronto. We were supposed to depart at 9pm the previous night, we had only our carry on luggage and were still in the same clothes from the previous day. All we got from Royal was a lousy "sorry about that folks" on the flight back. You can bet this Canadian collected signatures and wrote a nasty letter to Royal (John, we may be laid back but we do write scathing letters when we are riled up) with nary a response from them. <BR>John after seeing your post, I'm glad we choose Sunquest and Skyservice once again for our Feb trip!

Elsa

We fly from Toronto to Cancun annually. We like the Skyservice flight leaving toronto about 6:00 - 6:30 a.m. The flights have always been on time & very comfortable. We have flown Royal a couple of times - not a good experience. We try to avoid Royal & much prefer Skyservice or Air Canada.

John from Barrie, Ont. Canada

Debbie: <BR>You said that Royal didn't give much of a reply to your "petition". What exactly was their reaction? Did you complain to Signature at all? Strength in numbers, eh!

debbie

Hi John - I started writing my scathing letter to Royal on the floor of the airport at 6 am (as soon as the shops opened and I could scrounge some writing paper). On the plane I then sent around a piece of paper and asked for names and addresses of those people who wanted to be part of the 'petition' letter. Back in Thornhill, I then typed up the letter and copied in all the people who signed up as well as Signature. A few weeks later, I got a letter from Signature saying they were sorry to hear about the situation but that it was Royal's problem to respond to (which is true as it wasn't Sig's fault) and that they had forwarded my letter to their Royal contact people and that I would surely hear from Royal after the busy vacation season. Well, it was just around the time that that Royal plane went off the runway out east somewhere, and then I recall there was another incident in the news after that....and well, needless to say Royal never responded. Obviously once Royal knew they had passed the point when they would be even able to fly into Toronto International (isn't there some rules about flying in after 1am??) or that a plane would have to come down and pick us up, the least they could have done was communicated honestly with us and provided for a more comfortable way to spend the night until we flew out at 7am, almost 10 hours after we were scheduled to depart. <BR>The sad part is is that we now go through Sunquest (Skyservice) and won't use Signature again until they stop using Royal. Kind of cutting our nose off to spite our face I know...Signature offers that great two centre Iberostar in Cozumel and a week over in PDC which we would love to try some day but can you imagine trying that with Royal at the helm!!

Elizabeth

I'd like to add my own experiences with Royal to the list of complaints. I have used many charter airlines and faced delays with them (and with scheduled carriers too, to be fair) but each of my four flights with Royal has been a nightmare. The worst experience was a flight I took last year, that was delayed 17 hours! I realize that "these things happen" but what really burned me up was the way that Royal and Signature handled the situation. We were all boarded on the plane with our seatbelts fastened when they said there would be a delay. Three hours later, we were still sitting there! As the flight was at the dinner hour, people hadn't eaten anything, children were crying... you can imagine. Finally, they let us back into the airport, to sit around for another four hours (people passed the time by swapping stories about other terrible experiences they'd had with Royal) before finally taking us back to the hotel. The flight was rescheduled to depart at 11:00 the next morning, but it changed to 9 a.m. instead. No one informed us - we were sound asleep and missed the bus to the airport, along with several other couples. They got us another bus, and we arrived at the airport and literally had to run for the plane. We were told that we'd get a $150 gift certificate from Royal for our troubles, but after three months of waiting, we heard nothing from them. I wrote a scathing letter both to Royal and to Signature. After another month of waiting, I finally heard from Signature, who basically said "sorry, not our responsibility". Six months after we took the flight, we finally received our certificates from Royal. We never used them. I would definitely recommend that people avoid dealing with Signature if they insist on using this terrible airline and then absolve themselves of all responsibility when things turn out badly. This happened over a year ago, and I'm still angry!

debbie

Good God!!!! You know I'm glad that we finally ended up booking through Sunquest and Skyservice for our two weeks at the RIU Yucatan. Well, without even hearing this last story my hubby is still dead set against flying with them. <BR>I wonder if Signature will ever clue into the fact that they could be losing customers to Sunquest because they insist on using Royal!

Nina

It's my understanding that Signature has a contract with Royal Airlines that they have signed up with sometime ago - guess they can't break it. I have flown with Royal with no problems - also flown with Skyservice last year to Italy - flight from "HELL" coming home. No utensils for eating - gave us swizzle sticks - try cutting chicken with a swizzle stick! Washrooms broken down half way through the flight and then our luggage was left in Rome due to the plane being over weight. This was on a brand new airbus A330 - had to wait until they gather staff up so we could put in luggage claims - 2 hours later. I did write a letter to Sunquest and Skyservice voicing how unhappy I was - did get a reply back 6 months later - two $25 vouchers from Sunquest.