Virgin to charge £25 seat selection fee for Economy

Email sent today to Virgin-Atlantic from a man in the (*******) mood.

Ref your email 18/12/2013, & I quote: "From 1 April 2014 we are changing the way our customers can choose their seats. As your flight departs between 30 January and 31 Mar 2014 you will be able to choose your seat free of charge online via manage your booking from 30 days before your departure date" unquote. -

I thought my flight was on April 7th? Have you changed my flight without telling me? I have journeys pre-booked & paid for following on from that flight so I hope not!
If this is a slip & the flight is still April 7th, then are you seriously telling me I now have to pay you again to be able to sit next to my wife??!!

Yours, increasingly concerned over where this once excellent airline is going, xxxxxx

Apologies for quoting my own post, but this country boy does not have Franz Kafka alongside him & is, is ... what am I ? I tried confusion, but couldn't centre myself to get there.

A rapid response form VS.
Please note before reading their idea of clarity that their original email referred to dates between Jan & March. My outbound was mid-Nov. one month before their mid Dec email!! :

Thank you for your enquiry.

I am sorry for any confusion caused by the e-mail you received regarding our seat policies. The reason why you were sent this e-mail was due to your outbound flight departing before the 1st of April 2014.

Obviously, you did not need to pay for your seats prior to your outbound flight and as your return flight commences after the 1st of April 2014 and you are flying back from Grenada, you are able to request your seats 60 days prior to the date of your flight, free of charge.

I hope this puts your mind at rest!

Resigned rather than 'at rest', I think

Website has been updated to show 60 days http://virginatlantic.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/86

T-60 does seem to be in operation now.

I've got three flights in early to mid-March where the seat maps weren't available yesterday but are today. For all of them I'd managed to request seats before the end of T-90 and the seat map "lockdown" last month, and those requests are still there I'm pleased to say.

VS does get some unfair criticism on here, but with this I have to agree they've made a right royal mess of things. I wonder if the change from T-30 to T-60 is some tacit admission that they're aware they've screwed up big time.

Just booked with Delta get to see the seats available before you book !! when booked seat allocation is free unless you wish to choose preferred or economy plus seats.
Plus the fare £501 return to Mia via Alt plus free upgrade to ECPlus seats as virgin AU member.

Been onto them this morning i fly to Jamaica on June 5th and was told i will be able to select seats from April 7th. I was told all bookings regardless of when they were made will only be able to select seats at 60 days

Been onto them this morning i fly to Jamaica on June 5th and was told i will be able to select seats from April 7th. I was told all bookings regardless of when they were made will only be able to select seats at 60 days

And that is totally different to what I have been told. I was told that for my booking made in January for November, is that I can select seats April 1st.

Conclusion: it is a crock of s***.

Well this statement from the website is confusing regards flights after 1 april!

"If you already have a booking to fly in April seats can be assigned up to 30 days before departure. For flights departing and booked after 1 April seats can be chosen free of charge on booking or up to 336 days in advance."

So... I booked before April and I can assign seats any time 30 days before departure?

And, if it incorrectly worded, if booked in January for a flight in October I can only request a seat 30 days before departure whilst those booking after 1 April can assign a seat at booking or any time?

Agreed confusing.

I have PE booked (bought in October) and flying in July. When can I book seats? I'm still not sure from what it says in the FAQ.

The man on Facebook tells me 1st April for requesting seats.

so by the sounds of things the staff dont even know what they are talking about.

I just can't see even the inept VS IT department penalising people who have booked early, think they have just worded the explanation very poorly!!

I guess time will tell

The lovely Howard has just confirmed that apparently the wording is not quite right. If you’re flying in Upper, Premium Economy, flexible Economy or are a Gold member, then from the 1st April you’ll be able to pick seats for any upcoming flight, regardless of when you booked.

Before the 1st April, it is 60 days

I am flying upper on the outbound 6 Jun and was told 60 days is there no communication in this company?

I am flying upper on the outbound 6 Jun and was told 60 days is there no communication in this company?

No. Can we have harder questions next time please?

I can't even get on the VA website - just a big Sorry notice appears

Edit

Just got on to site and we still cannot choose our seats, got the outbound but not th inbound.

If I am supposed to be able to request seat 60 days out, why cant I with 55 days to go? Or am I wrong

If I book a flight today departing 20th April can I select my seats straight away or 60 days prior the information has changed again!

60 days from date of departure

Just booked Barbados with Virgin Holidays for end of August and tried to pre request bubble seats (as stated in the brochure). Told all bubble seats are already taken but that I will be able to select other seats from the 1st May. This doesn't seem to match any of the 30, 60, 90 or 336 day periods I've heard mentioned so now I'm really confused. I have Emailed VH for some clarification (tried phoning but just always get put through to an overseas call centre who basically don't seem to understand what I am trying to do).

I just can't see even the inept VS IT department penalising people who have booked early, think they have just worded the explanation very poorly!!

I guess time will tell

The lovely Howard has just confirmed that apparently the wording is not quite right. If you’re flying in Upper, Premium Economy, flexible Economy or are a Gold member, then from the 1st April you’ll be able to pick seats for any upcoming flight, regardless of when you booked.



Before the 1st April, it is 60 days

Glad to receive confirmation/clarification just a shame they can't make things clear first time!

@hunterdwmgzt - don't worry, everyone's confused as the goalposts seem to change by the day!

May 1st is when the Gatwick routes go over to the new pay-to-select system, so in theory that's when you'll be able to request seats for flights leaving any time between July and next April.

As for the bubble, economy seats up there aren't always available to request up front as the policy sometimes seems to be to only use it on busy flights. You might have to wait until OLCI or even the airport - or you may get lucky, it seems to be a bit of a lottery.

I really think that on the Orlando flights that are 747s that you should be able to choose your economy seat and any other seat choice on a come as you book and pay your deposit allocation. With the wording that if aircraft have to change you will resort to check in choice. ): This could all change if or when we get our new 787/9 aircraft ( dont hold your breath). It could also be rolled out to other services if they use the same aircraft on there flights. (Only a girl can get this mess sorted). haha. :X :X :X

I also queried when we could select seats, we fly on 14/6/14 to Cun. We have been told that we can choose our seats from 1/4/14 for definate. y)

"Definite" is a relative term in Virgin.

We have already booked extra legroom seats (two full miles and two miles and money seats). We fly 7th May.

Does anyone know if these changes mean we can now select our extra legroom seat locations from 1 April, and also does it mean we can use online check-in the day before our flight?

At booking we were told we would be given the seat location at check-in at the airport, no online check-in allowed.

Thanks

The seating page on the VS website was updated this afternoon to try to make the new policy clearer.

-Steve

Well it doesn't. Still gobbledegook. Mind you, it has been 24 hours so perhaps it has changed again.