Your calls always answered within 5 rings.
Air India, despite its quite recent privatisation, is simply awful in every way. I was at Gatwick for 11 hours , with zero information about what was happening. Apparently the previous two Air India flights to Kochi were cancelled. All very stressful, but no fault of DAF!
There is a great deal of reassurance in knowing that your trip has been arranged by people who really know what they are doing. And that you are not just abandoned to the anonymous machinery of an airline that doesn't really care, in spite of all their rubbish claims about caring! Also that if something goes wrong you can get advice with a telephone call that is actually answered!
Although my baggage was lost from Dubai to London Gatwick I was able to speak to DialAFlight and ask for guidance on how to process the forms to reclaim my baggage. This they did readily which was a comfort at the time. You'll be glad to hear I now have my lost baggage!
Archie was brilliant - sorted everything out. Will definitely be using you guys and recommending to friends
Great service, especially from Ray Taylor.
Zoe Lane is an excellent travel agent.
It's not until something goes wrong with your travel plans that you realise the benefits of booking with them. After sitting on the plane at Gatwick for a couple of hours our flight was cancelled due to a technical issue. At 11pm there aren't that many people in the airport to help. Fortunately a call to DialAFlight's emergency phone line had me talking to Korinna within seconds. She was able to see there were no flights from Gatwick the following morning but there were spaces on the Heathrow flight and she changed our booking to this flight. She also re-arranged our connecting flight for Dubai to Delhi. All this whilst my husband was trying to talk to the airline's customer call centre who were saying they couldn't do anything as the flight hadn't been officially cancelled! A big thanks to Korinna for her help.
Efficient and helpful
No hitches on the way despite the potential for this to happen. Radisson Blue Hotel in Connaught Place excellent service and very convenient for shopping and restaurants.
Always very helpful and a pleasure to book with.
Other than the changes with the flights everything else was great
Amazing customer care
Excellent service
None. Good service
Alfie was very helpful, as usual and ensured all went smoothly
You didn't have to rearrange a flight home for me after a last minute international flight cancellation on this holiday, as you did on the last, but it was so good to know that - far from home - you were there to help me should I find myself stranded. Thank you so much for being there.
Excellent service and they were there for me when I needed assistance. Will definitely use again.
Always had good customer service from Michelle
Flight suggestions worked really well
All perfect!
Everything was handled promptly, professionally and it delivered an experience in India that was everything we hoped for. Great to have a team that were readily available to support us in both the planning and execution! Particular call-out for Brody Letchfield who was our main contact and ensured that, through liaison with Tamarind Global on the ground in India, everything ran smoothly
Connecting flight from Heathrow was delayed because of fog in Delhi, causing us to miss the connection to Goa. Seven hour wait for the next flight.
Great service yet again
Brody once again has provided excellent service and planned our holiday to perfection
Edward Scudder is a star - above and beyond. Quality service
Absolutely seamless holiday to Goa with all the flights booked with Rosie at DialAFlight Thanks again
As always, excellent service especially by Gino. If only BA could learn a thing or two from you about customer service.
Raphael was very helpful throughout the entire process, from initial booking to just before departure
Aiden is great and always most helpful as are all your team!
Thank you for your attentive services
I said I was never going to Barbados again - 29 consecutive years was quite enough, thank you. Bequia, the little Grenadine island a short hop away, was my new Caribbean love.
But when the time came for my annual trip to the West Indies, I thought: 'Hmm, can I really drop Barbados, after all we have been through?' So I decided I would go to both Barbados and Bequia and rate the things that really matter to me on each island. Then, finally, I can make up my mind…
Barbados is a much bigger island, with a population of 284,000, mostly well-off. It's well organised, safe and efficient, with much to see and do, modern facilities, the poshest, most luxurious hotels in the Caribbean, many wonderful restaurants plus all those celebs and footballers posing on the beaches.
Bequia is titchy in comparison, with a population of scarcely 5,000. It's just five miles long, with a laidback atmosphere, not to say a bit dozy and cut off - but a real, working island. There's little chance of a selfie with your favourite soap star here. It is a paradise for yachties, with hundreds of little boats dotting the enormous bay at Port Elizabeth, many of whom have just crossed the Atlantic. Little fleets of service and water taxis buzz back and forth, taking supplies. There's so much to watch.
The interior seems bigger than it is, with all the hills and peninsulas and hidden trails.
On each island, I have a favourite place which for years I have walked to every afternoon to poke around, have a rum punch, stare at people, have a rum punch, talk to the locals, have a rum punch, convincing myself I am communing with the spirit of the island.
In Barbados, it is the little town of Speightstown, in the north, away from the glitter of the Holetown area. So many of Speightstown's shopfronts remind me of Carlisle in the 1950s.
In Bequia, there are two places I can poke around forever, never growing bored. Port Elizabeth, the harbour and island's only town, is fascinating and easy to walk to or from, with a newish walkway along the rocks from Princess Margaret Beach.
The other is Lower Bay, not a town as such, but hidden away along its wonderful beach there are three excellent restaurants, including Fernando's - run by Nando, a fisherman who catches his fish each morning, then cooks them in the evening. Then there are four cafe bars, Petra's grocery shop and Jacquie's organic fruit and veg haven.
As far as hotels are concerned there are ones at which I always stay, so my opinions are subjective. Since the Eighties I have gone at the same time every year to Cobblers Cove, luxurious but discreet and understated, with great food, beautiful gardens and nice suites.
In Bequia, I have moved around over the years, but I have settled on the Bequia Beach Hotel on Friendship Bay. It is so artistic, yet efficient, with big, stylish rooms. Like Cobblers, it appeals to the discerning. No vulgar TVs in the bedrooms. I should think not.
As well as having two restaurants on site Bequia Beach Hotel also owns the popular, cool, Jack’s Bar at Princess Margaret Beach which guests love. In Bequia I also know people who stay for months at a time in reasonably-priced apartments on Lower Bay - they're all regulars, snow birds from the UK and North America who become virtually locals for a large part of the year.
One of the pleasures of Cobblers Cove is that it is like a house party, the same people staying at the same time, just like moi. And, of course, I love them all dearly. Oh yes.
So, how to choose? Well, both islands have superb if very different attractions. Barbados has so much to do. Bequia is so unspoiled.
From now on, should I just go to Bequia? However, I have decided to go to both islands again. Perhaps it will be my final time in Barbados. Perhaps not.
It will be my 30th year at Cobblers Cove, so naturally the reception desk staff will be holding up the Welcome Back flags. Anyway, I have paid my deposit for three nights' B&B - so I'm not going to lose that, am I?
First published in the Mail on Sunday - November 2019
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