Virgin Atlantic - Seat selection
Discussion
Booked Las Vegas for 2 of us last December, we go in August of this year. Upgraded flights to premium economy.
Gone to check in and they are wanting £62 (something like that) per person, per flight for seat selection? I went into store to check if this was correct as seems ludicrous and was told it was.
Can check in for free a week before. We are happy sitting anywhere as long as together.
Question is, do Virgin do the same as Wizz, Ryanair et al. and 'randomly allocate' you apart from your travelling companions or do they allocate 2 seats together?
Just very annoying that you spend that, and upgrade seats and then have to spend another £200+ to choose your seats!
Gone to check in and they are wanting £62 (something like that) per person, per flight for seat selection? I went into store to check if this was correct as seems ludicrous and was told it was.
Can check in for free a week before. We are happy sitting anywhere as long as together.
Question is, do Virgin do the same as Wizz, Ryanair et al. and 'randomly allocate' you apart from your travelling companions or do they allocate 2 seats together?
Just very annoying that you spend that, and upgrade seats and then have to spend another £200+ to choose your seats!
Flew to NY with Virgin in economy a couple of weeks ago, family group of 4 of us. We checked in as soon as it opened 24hrs in advance and were given a row of 4 seats for us 2+2 across an aisle which was fine).
We forgot to check in online on the 24hr mark on the way back so with about 12hrs to go, although we were checked in and got boarding passes to get through security, were told to speak to people at the gate to sort out seats.
After a brief dream that we'd all been upgraded to Upper Class, we assumed that flight was going to be very busy and all rows of 4 were gone. So we went to the Virgin desk as soon as we arrived at the airport spoke to the Virgin check in desk and chose 2 pairs of seats close to each other instead. If we'd waited a couple of hours later to go to the gate I'd imagine we would have been all over the plane.
So I guess if you are quick and ready at the moment online check in opens, you should be fine to select two seats together.
We forgot to check in online on the 24hr mark on the way back so with about 12hrs to go, although we were checked in and got boarding passes to get through security, were told to speak to people at the gate to sort out seats.
After a brief dream that we'd all been upgraded to Upper Class, we assumed that flight was going to be very busy and all rows of 4 were gone. So we went to the Virgin desk as soon as we arrived at the airport spoke to the Virgin check in desk and chose 2 pairs of seats close to each other instead. If we'd waited a couple of hours later to go to the gate I'd imagine we would have been all over the plane.
So I guess if you are quick and ready at the moment online check in opens, you should be fine to select two seats together.
prand said:
So I guess if you are quick and ready at the moment online check in opens, you should be fine to select two seats together.
If doing this you need to remember that depending in the airline those with a better flying club status than you might get access to check in and choose seats earlier than you so what you see as being available can change right up until you get to check in (unless you have top tier access perks!).Abc321 said:
Upgraded flights to premium economy.
I suspect this will be what saves you. The seat should be in pairs or fours, so you'd have to have a load of solo travellers on the flight to split you up.(Unlike economy where the outer seats are in threes, so you could easily end up being a third-wheel to another couple.)
I recently flew to Vegas, it was a 3pm Saturday flight.
We were in economy, on the way out we bought a window and middle seat. Luckily nobody was in the aisle seat so we had more space it would have been really cramped otherwise.
There were quite a few empty seats but they were dotted around fairly evenly. A woman in front had 3 to herself.
On the way back we found 2 seats at the front of economy - my biggest fear is being trapped next to a bad passenger on a long haul so we paid extra to secure them, crap for storage and food/entertainment though.
The advantage of booking is I think you're less likely to have someone sat next to you. For me that's worth the price gamble.
We were in economy, on the way out we bought a window and middle seat. Luckily nobody was in the aisle seat so we had more space it would have been really cramped otherwise.
There were quite a few empty seats but they were dotted around fairly evenly. A woman in front had 3 to herself.
On the way back we found 2 seats at the front of economy - my biggest fear is being trapped next to a bad passenger on a long haul so we paid extra to secure them, crap for storage and food/entertainment though.
The advantage of booking is I think you're less likely to have someone sat next to you. For me that's worth the price gamble.
silobass said:
Isn't it only Preferred Premium seats they charge for in PE? i.e. those at the front of the cabin?
I've flow PE with Virgin a few times and have never had to pay for seat selection.
Yep that’s what I thought- I’ve never had to pay for reservations with Virgin. Always Premium although we have used points and companion seat to get Upper.I've flow PE with Virgin a few times and have never had to pay for seat selection.
To conclude a thread (sort of), we fly tomorrow and I have been keeping a close eye on the seat selection to ensure there were 2 we could be automatically allocated together.
I looked last week and there were just 2 sets of 2 in our section so bottled it and booked them for the outbound. £88 (annoyingly).
The return, there was about 8 pairs of seats still to be selected so hopefully will not bother with that one.
I looked last week and there were just 2 sets of 2 in our section so bottled it and booked them for the outbound. £88 (annoyingly).
The return, there was about 8 pairs of seats still to be selected so hopefully will not bother with that one.
davek_964 said:
It sounds like Virgin are better than BA.
We're flying business class in a few months - seat selection for that was £80 per seat, each way - so added £320 to the cost of the flights.
bargain ours are 122pp each way on BA or about 50% of the price of the flight cos 241 etcWe're flying business class in a few months - seat selection for that was £80 per seat, each way - so added £320 to the cost of the flights.
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