V-Flyer

Long-time lurker who normally manages to find an answer via the search function but I’m stumped by this one and would appreciate some advice!

Booked a return PE flight last September travelling to LAS from LGW and back from LAX to LHR on the 008. We are travelling out on 6th April and back on 22nd April. I knew it would not be possible to pre-book seats on the outgoing flight due to the refurbs on the LGW aircraft, but booked two seats on the return flight which it said was on a B744. I knew from this very helpful website that this was most unlikely as 100% of flights on the “Which aircraft” section said that it would be an A346.

Since then I have been checking every so often to make sure there were no changes to the aircraft and that our seats were still booked. Unfortunately last week I was proved right when the aircraft was changed and our reserved seats disappeared. I have tried looking at the map to book some different seats on the A346, but the seat map just does not appear. I phoned the Flying Club and was told that they could not explain why I couldn’t see the seat map, but all seats that could be pre-booked had been and there was nothing they could do. The lady advised that it would all be down to us checking in online or seeing what they could do at the airport. She assured me that Virgin never overbook so “we would be guaranteed seats in Premium on that flight”.

As we will be on a cruise when online check-in opens, I am not convinced that we will be guaranteed PE seats on this flight. My questions are do you think that this flight could have been overbooked and, if it has, any advice on what to do if you can’t check in online?

Sorry for the long post!

Hi there and welcome.

I just did a load check and PE is W0 S0 K0 on this flight, so VS are not currently selling any more tickets. That probably indicates the cabin will be busy.

VS do overbook -- so I don't think you were given correct information! If the flight has switched from a 744 to a 346 then I suppose the chances of overbooking must increase as there are fewer PE seats on the Airbus.

As for what you can do about it -- well, checking in as early as possible is best. Do you have someone who can do it for you, perhaps?

Try not to worry, though. People's plans change constantly and you may find that the situation changes in the run-up to the flight (or indeed that you can select a seat).

And you never know -- overbooking might lead to an elusive op-up... Good luck!

Thanks for the info. That was exactly what I was worried about.

Although an op-up would be nice, we have no status so think it is unlikely. My main concern now is if we are either put on a later flight (we will be at the airport by 11.30 a.m.!) or moved down to economy. It would be nice to know what our rights are in this sort of situation. Does anybody know?

Thanks in advance.

VS will always ask for volunteers first and they have an 'offer' package to encourage volnteers. If that is not enough then there is a sequence they will work through of which passengers to deny boarding to or downgrade.

However I think you are worrying unnecessarily about something that although it does happen does not happen that frequently.

However, these are the VS T&Cs for denied boarding and this on the EU 261/2004 regulations

BTW, the Which Aircraft tool looks at the last 3 month flight history, so in the case of the VS007/8, there will be times when it's giving you erroneous info as they do use a 747 on the busier flights during the summer schedule. Looking at the history in the Schedule Tool, looks like they flew a 747 on the VS007 on the 25th, just a couple of days ago.

all airlines regularly overbook based on past experience of people that do to show up for the flight (for whatever reason - missed connections, changed their plans etc).
The problem is when more people turn up than they expected.

Your chance of an opp-up with no status is zero so don't get your hopes up. If PE is totally full and UC is available then more upgrade seats may be released so keep an eye out (but depends on your current fare).

If you are checking-in at noon (for an evening flight) then I think you will be fine as it is the late checkers-iners (if such a word) that will be moved.

tontybear wrote:VS will always ask for volunteers first and they have an 'offer' package to encourage volnteers. If that is not enough then there is a sequence they will work through of which passengers to deny boarding to or downgrade.
[/url]

Hi,
Does anyone know the sequence to denying people or downgrading people if hey can't get takers for the offers?
Is check in sequence part of this? If those that check in late are more at rik?
Thanks

Yes, Usually The last person the check in will be the first person to be downgraded or denied boarding.
However if they are Gold members or UNIQs. This may affect the final outcome.

But I wouldn't worry too much, If you check in online when it opens, or get to the airport early you should be fine!

Thanks for all the advice. Even if check-in isn't open when we arrive at the airport, we will try to check-in online when we get there.

Having flown on VS008 last Sunday (on a 744 thank goodness!), be warned check-in at LAX doesn't open until 1345, and I saw virtually no facilities in the check-in area at T2 so be prepared for a long, dull wait in a small, featureless holding area. Typical utilitarian US airport that only improves slightly after security upstairs.

gumshoe wrote:Having flown on VS008 last Sunday (on a 744 thank goodness!), be warned check-in at LAX doesn't open until 1345, and I saw virtually no facilities in the check-in area at T2 so be prepared for a long, dull wait in a small, featureless holding area. Typical utilitarian US airport that only improves slightly after security upstairs.

For the country that invented the shopping mall USA seems to have totally missed the retail opp at airports.

artvandelay wrote:Thanks for all the advice. Even if check-in isn't open when we arrive at the airport, we will try to check-in online when we get there.

I would try to check in online 24 hours earlier. Waiting until you get to the airport is asking for trouble.

We would definitely check-in earlier if we could. Unfortunately on a cruise the day before which doesn't arrive until the morning we leave. The only people who could check-in online for us are in the UK and as check-in will open at 1.30 a.m. I can't see us getting in volunteers!

Also appreciate the info. on the check-in opening time. We were guessing 1.30 p.m. Will have the laptop fully charged and hope for some wireless access! Thanks for all the tips.