New June 25th Seating System Suspended

I have always waited for the amendment of the amendment of the amendment on this type of system upgrade. I always seem to be most accurate.

I think there are quite a few amendments missing !

[honey lamb]

According to this page the system will not be available as advertised:
How they will "be in touch", before T-60 is a mystery to me.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/tr ... -news.html

[honey lamb]

According to this page the system will not be available as advertised:
How they will "be in touch", before T-60 is a mystery to me.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/tr ... -news.html

Hi and welcome to V-Flyer.

I've had to remove the text you posted since it was included in the link and thus unnecessary. There is a sticky at the top of each forum to remind people that posting text may be in breach of copyright law.

hmm it aint broke dont fix it. what was wrong with the original system where (if you were so inclined) you could request your seat at booking.

Exactly and develope your new system without affecting the current product. Monarch a Ryan Air etc have all updated their websites to increase revenue stream seamlessly.

For what it's worth, Ryanair were fairly late to the game of charging for pre-allocated seating as easyJet, Monarch, Jet2 etc had been doing this for quite some time.

I must admit I would much prefer to be able to select a seat at the time of booking - it's something I always do where possible. I wouldn't mind paying for it either as long as it's sensible, but on the other hand it's a valid point made by somebody else if you've paid a large amount already and then have to fork out more for the privilege.

As for the launch date for tomorrow being suspended, it saves me a job first thing tomorrow morning as I'm flying on the 4th September so I'll have to wait until T-60 which is Sunday 6th July before doing it again later for the return leg.

In another VS IT fail, they still have yet to set up the ability to look at reward flights to ATL online.

How final is the seat assigning?

I've just assigned my seats from my future flights section, are those same seats reserved until I check in? 50+ days time?

Cheers

FWIW - After spending nearly 3K on flights, it's cheeky of VS to charge an additional fee for the privilege on wanting to choose your seat.
I expect that from the budget carriers, not from a so called premium brand Airline

It's the way it's going I'm afraid Tim - BA have done it for quite a while and they even charge (substantially more) in Premium & Business which at least VS won't.

In theory your seats will be safe but it is never guaranteed as aircraft types can change, big parties need seating together, children or disabled people need specific seats or Richard Branson's best mate quite fancies your seat - any number of reasons.

So it's worth the occasional check, and I'd advise doing OLCI as soon as it opens as those last 24 hours tend to be when they move people. Once you've got a boarding pass with your seat confirmed on it, you're pretty unlikely to be messed around.

Just spoke to virgin atlantic customers service regarding our flights to orlando 21st may2015, she told me can't see the new system ever going live and would probably have't to wait until march 3 rd 2015 to pre book seat(5PE SEATS) 60 days before departure. GREAT.

I know it's frustrating but remember you're in the same boat as everyone else.

As long as you're there at 8am on T-60, you'll have first dibs, exactly as you would have if the new system had gone live yesterday.

So you're not at any disadvantage - just be patient!

Still don't see why UCS pax can not pre assign like they always could, I like to cross the Ts n dot the I's, me patient nah

I know it's frustrating but remember you're in the same boat as everyone else.

As long as you're there at 8am on T-60, you'll have first dibs, exactly as you would have if the new system had gone live yesterday.

So you're not at any disadvantage - just be patient!

Sorry, I disagree, you are at a disadvantage, because by the time T-60 comes round more people have booked tickets and are eligible to allocate seats. If you book early and are able to allocate seats straight away there would be more choice.

It's the way it's going I'm afraid Tim - BA have done it for quite a while and they even charge (substantially more) in Premium & Business which at least VS won't.

This is a bit of a red herring as BA status holders (silver and gold) can choose as soon as the booking is made and as for other BA charging rom my experience VS has been substantially more expensive on all of my last twelve long hauls and on two occasions I have flown F with BA and EK and the pricing was still cheaper than VS.

As for setting my alarm and remembering T60 well I have a life and I don't see why I should have to do this. I am lucky enough to be gold with BA but if I wasn't I would still rather pay at the time of booking and then relax until it's time to travel

This is a bit of a red herring as BA status holders (silver and gold) can choose as soon as the booking is made

Don't forget all the One World status holders too!

BA status holders (silver and gold) can choose as soon as the booking is made

Good for them. The vast majority of BA's passengers, though, are not silver or gold and therefore have to pay up to £80 to select a seat.

As for setting my alarm and remembering T60 well I have a life and I don't see why I should have to do this.

That's fair enough.

But on the other side of the coin, say you book at 7 or 8 months out which an awful lot of holidaymakers do (just after Xmas for July/August).

Under the current VS system you have just as much chance of getting the seats you want as everyone else who books before T-60 (in fact more chance if you're a savvy V-Flyer who knows the seat map opens at 8am on T-60).

Under the BA system, though, you could easily have been beaten to your preferred seats by someone who booked 9, 10 or 11 months ahead. The only way you can guarantee 64K or whatever is to book at T-336 which most people can't.

In short, both systems have their pros and cons but as someone who doesn't have the luxury of being able to plan and book my flights 11 months out, the VS T-60 system works well for me.

The point I was trying to make is that it. Doesn't matter if seat selection is free if the ticket price is several hundred pounds more which has been my experienced over the last couple of years.

Hi
It says book seat is 60 days before flight, does that mean on the 60th day or on that day at the booking time, my flight is 10,20am so will I have to wait till that time ?
It's changed so much from when I booked last year.

Thank you

Hi
It says book seat is 60 days before flight, does that mean on the 60th day or on that day at the booking time, my flight is 10,20am so will I have to wait till that time ?
It's changed so much from when I booked last year.

Thank you

Hello and welcome to V-Flyer.

Nope, should be able to do it from 8am on T-60.

Have just booked my 1st BA flights ever, at 335days to go can pre-book my seats at a cost of £200 for two of us WT+ out and Club back. It's on a 787 Dreamliner (baring any problems with the aircraft). So very excited.

can pre-book my seats at a cost of £200 for two of us

No wonder they're raking in the profits!

Good job they are full Avios redemptions with a free one class upgrade Every little helps.

As many have said on this thread...60 days still isn't an issue.

I requested seats for my next JNB trip a few days ago for the outbound leg at T-60 and again this morning for the return flight.

There are only 2 seats requested so far for the outbound, including mine, and only me for the return.

The 60 day thing really isn't an issue as every one will be under the same seat request "rules".So, everyone has an equal chance of making a request for their fave perch.

They can keep it as it is for me.

It just the V-Flyer saddo's like me that know what to do and when to beat any mad rush (non existent on my route).

Probably different on the B&S routes though.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Paul

I agree with cooperman entirely. Works perfectly for me and my normal booking patterns.

I share these views and have been delighted every time the new system fails.
At present, anyone who has already booked by T-60 has the same chance of selecting their favoured seat. In practice this seems to mean only those of us on V-Flyer - no-one else seems to care.
If it's changed, then anyone who books at T-364 will be asked (presumably) if they want to select a seat, so every man, his wife, child, inlaws, outlaws, friends, relations, will all book even though it'll mean sticking a pin because they really don't have a preference.
And then those of us who can only book a couple of months in advance (to fit in with others' commitments) risks finding their preferred seats taken by someone who doesn't give a monkey's.
Give me T-60 any time.
Selfish old bat, that's me.

As many have said on this thread...60 days still isn't an issue.

I requested seats for my next JNB trip a few days ago for the outbound leg at T-60 and again this morning for the return flight.

There are only 2 seats requested so far for the outbound, including mine, and only me for the return.

Probably different on the B&S routes though.

No it isn't. At T-31 the number of assigned seats on my outbound to St Lucia is exactly the same as at the close of T-60 (4) and for the return at T-42 there are 3 more seats selected than at T-60 for that leg (8 now)