Virgin to charge £25 seat selection fee for Economy

Looking on the bright side, it's good that they have refrained from charging for UC/PE seats. That does at least offer an advantage over BA.

OK, so after reading all 7 pages of this, I'm still confused! Newbie question coming your way, please don't hate me...

So, I have 2 PE flights booked on 10/03/14 to LGW-LAS, and had used the seat map to book 24H & K at T-90. I got the email from Virgin yesterday to say seat requests were changing so I went on to my booking yesterday and the seats were still being held.

I go on this morning and all of a sudden, 'Seatmap is unavailable' for 10/03 and looking at their FAQs, I have to wait until T-30 to rebook seats I already had booked..? Although on another of their web pages explaining the changes, it states:

Please note: If you already have a seat selected for a flight that departs either before or after 01 April 2014 you will be able to keep it.

Sooooo, are my seats on March 10th OK, are they not? Do I have to wait until T-30? I'm so confused! I appreciate that my return flights SFO-LHR on 21/03 will be T-30 and that's OK, but what's the deal with the seats I already had allocated? ?|

Sorry to be REALLY dense, but I am confused.

We are flying to Grenada on April 14th in UC. I realise we won't have to pay to request our seats as usual, but will it be at T90, T30 or when? I can't access the seat plan today, so it's obviously not yet

The short answer is we don't know for sure but I suspect it'll be T-30.

What I DO know is that yesterday I was able to request my UC seat for a flight on March 17th (at 90 days) but as of 8am today (at 89 days) the seat map is no longer available.

No-one else had requested a seat on my flight in UC and I presume they now won't be able to until mid-February.

[Neil]

OK, so after reading all 7 pages of this, I'm still confused! Newbie question coming your way, please don't hate me...

So, I have 2 PE flights booked on 10/03/14 to LGW-LAS, and had used the seat map to book 24H & K at T-90. I got the email from Virgin yesterday to say seat requests were changing so I went on to my booking yesterday and the seats were still being held.

I go on this morning and all of a sudden, 'Seatmap is unavailable' for 10/03 and looking at their FAQs, I have to wait until T-30 to rebook seats I already had booked..? Although on another of their web pages explaining the changes, it states:

Please note: If you already have a seat selected for a flight that departs either before or after 01 April 2014 you will be able to keep it.

Sooooo, are my seats on March 10th OK, are they not? Do I have to wait until T-30? I'm so confused! I appreciate that my return flights SFO-LHR on 21/03 will be T-30 and that's OK, but what's the deal with the seats I already had allocated? ?|

They *should* be okay for your outbound flight - although it is quite confusing and not 100% clear unfortunately.

I would however check as soon as the T-30 arrives to ensure they are still there, or grab them again if they aren't.

stating that families would still be sat together at check-in.

He hasn't been reading Facebook then - lots of complaints that this doesn't happen consistently!

But I *think* the new system *should* help that. Overall less people pre-allocating seats, means more open seats at OLCI and for busy flights allows the computer/airport teams greater control to ensure families are sat together.

Should.... my point was rather that he implied that the current system kept families together - which it clearly doesn't consistently...

I'm still at a loss why charging needs to happen to sort this out. I've been moved almost every time I have flown with Virgin - sometimes across the aircraft, sometimes two rows, and all too often to make way for a staff member. Bad. v(

I tried accessing the website for seat selection at 90 days out today (Wednesday 18th December) with the aim of getting the seats I want for our UC flight on my 50th birthday in March, when we are flying with friends to SFO and connecting down to Palm Springs.

Seatmap was unavailable so I called VA UC and after waiting an unacceptably long time to even speak to someone (16 minutes), the UC agent struggled to explain the change and why I was unable to make the seat selections I expected to today; frankly, he didn't know what the change was, when it was implemented or why I was unable to select my seats as I expected to.

He put me on hold and eventually came back to say today is the change over day and from today, seats are only available at T30 and not T90.

The seatmap for my flight will not be available until T30 (16th Feb 2014) when, presumably, many, many more seats will have been sold and therefore the risk of not getting the seats I want will increase...

Very disappointed - again.

It appears the agent is correct - it's now T-30 for everyone until the new system's been rolled out in the spring.

However as long as you log on as soon as seat requests open at 8am on T-30 you will almost certainly be fine. In UC, at least, there is very rarely a rush to request seats.

stating that families would still be sat together at check-in.

He hasn't been reading Facebook then - lots of complaints that this doesn't happen consistently!

From VS online help page

I’m travelling with children after 1 April 2014. Can I be sure my family will sit together even if I don't purchase seats before check in?

We will seat each child and make sure they are sat together with at least one parent or guardian, you will get your seat numbers when you check in. Children will not be seated alone. However, we can’t guarantee that your whole family will be seated together.

So T90 is now no more and its officially T30 ?|
Having worked out where I will be at and when T90 arrived in order to select, sorry request, a seat for my U.S. flights I now have to change my reminders - right,ok, but what happens about Seat Plus now then ? Is that no longer available to request up front?

Just checked my booking for March 12 on the 44 and my seat request ha gone too, at T30 I'll be Snowboarding in Whistler so I might be a bit late in requesting my seat, admittedly there are no bad seats in the A zone of an LGW 747. My outbound VS19 on Feb 22 remains in tact so far 18+19A , I'll be keeping an eye out though.

The change kicks in on the 18th so nothing has changed yet.

I wonder then whether my seat reservation for my flight on the 19th will disappear into the ether when the system changes. :#

I think I might be keeping an eye on manage my booking tomorrow, now not just for the search for SEQ1!

I write this only as a point of interest but my seat reservation for tomorrow's VS200 has indeed disappeared....the seat map being "currently unavailable". It will be interesting to see whether it is available at OLCI.

I don't actually care, I will sit anywhere, including on a cabin crew knee if required..just as long as they get me to OZ. y) y) y)

I think this is rapidly turning into a train wreck for VS.

Looked today seats for 14 Jan still showing as OK I do hope so.

I think this is rapidly turning into a train wreck for VS.

It will certainly generate some bad publicity in the coming days, and lots of negative reaction on Facebook etc, particularly after Xmas when many people traditionally book their summer holidays.

That's understandable - no-one likes a change that costs them more money.

But by this time next year it'll just be accepted as the norm, as it is with BA. They certainly don't seem to have taken any hit on revenue so it's clearly worked for them - and they charge for seat requests in all cabins bar First.

As with most changes, the initial storm in a teacup will eventually die down.

Looked today seats for 14 Jan still showing as OK I do hope so.

The website suggests requests for seats on flights up to March 1st aren't affected at all and will continue to show in MMB.

For flights after then, the T-30 rule now applies but if you already managed to request a seat before today's changes kicked in, it should be saved. You just won't be able to see it or change it again until T-30.

I really don't know what their marketing department is drinking but I will have a pint of it. The onboard product is fantastic, far better than any airline I have experienced, and it is all undone (perhaps that is too strong but it is certainly diluted) by these muppets at HQ not being able to co-ordinate a social event in a brewing establishment. Perhaps most customers will remain unaffected or not even notice this, but it really is a PR disaster. Echoes of the T-90 implementation.

Without scrolling through and reading the whole thread, where would this stand us for our Y booking to MCO on 6th May 2014?

We've booked through VH already so does that make a difference or is it all bookings, current and future, that this applies to?

I've actually just seen the updated table on the VS site and from the way I read it, you can request seats T-24 free at OLCI or £25 in 336 days in advance. Am I reading that correctly?

Without scrolling through and reading the whole thread, where would this stand us for our Y booking to MCO on 6th May

I *think* you will have to wait until T-30, ie 6th April.

Without scrolling through and reading the whole thread, where would this stand us for our Y booking to MCO on 6th May

I *think* you will have to wait until T-30, ie 6th April.

Oh go on. Read the whole thread, ıt wıll clarıfy thıngs sıgnıfıcantly ın your mınd. And then perhaps you could come back and explaın ıt all to me becasue I'm stumped rıght now.

I work ın an ındustry where one of the golden rules ıs not to expose your IT defıcıencıes to your clıents. If that means hırıng a load of operatıonal people to manually work around what the computers can't handle, then so be ıt, and you'll eıther have to fınd a way to make ıt back ın revenue later, or your bonus gets cut! So what I'm seeıng here ıs just shockıng.

Without scrolling through and reading the whole thread, where would this stand us for our Y booking to MCO on 6th May 2014?

I've actually just seen the updated table on the VS site and from the way I read it, you can request seats T-24 free at OLCI or £25 in 336 days in advance. Am I reading that correctly?

No - it will still be free on USA routes (except Vegas) until 1st June. You should be able to select seats 30 days before departure.

What you say applies to flights AFTER 1st June.

I really don't know what their marketing department is drinking but I will have a pint of it. The onboard product is fantastic, far better than any airline I have experienced, and it is all undone (perhaps that is too strong but it is certainly diluted) by these muppets at HQ not being able to co-ordinate a social event in a brewing establishment. Perhaps most customers will remain unaffected or not even notice this, but it really is a PR disaster. Echoes of the T-90 implementation.

Agreed. I can only think they have extremely outdated IT systems, not enough staff working on them and not enough money to upgrade them.

Much as it pains me to say it, they might be better farming out their IT and online booking operation to DL.

I've only just read all of this.

Disappointing to say the least. It's a good job flights are cheap and adding £200 for a family holiday will probably go unnoticed...

I'm so confused with all the different rules I've got no idea when I can request a seat or whether I'll need to pay for them. I'm sure VA will be on it straight away if I need to pay

Over the last 8 years I've watched everything I love about VS slowly get chipped away.
It will definitely be charging for food next. Delta do. Watch this space. I'm a huge VS fan and even as Au I sometimes book people travelling with me on separate bookings as we may fly on a LR connection from different airports. I now have to explain that they have to pay for a seat reservation and I don't. There are so many things wrong with VS that I think are easy fixes. Often I see people paying the most in Y getting penalised the most. It just seems like the mess just got messier! £25 e/w is a rip off. I loathe corporate greed. Stop cutting back on the basic expected service or start charging for things historically included. Why not offer premium services in Y and charge more for them. Additional food? Premium drinks? Expand the offer? this is big own goal for VS.

Just noticed vs have updated the choose your seat section of their website! It read a lot differently 2 days ago!
Bet I'm going to have a nightmare selecting my seats on the 1st April! I might be wrong and it will go smoothly! Watch this space!
However, I do get to pick my seats on my favorite number T-69

The dears are really endearing themselves to me this time:
"As your flight departs between 30 January and 31 Mar 2014..."


My flight is April 7th.

So if I find I cannot book my seat 30 days before without paying, then VA are changing a contract halfway through. I think that stinks.