Exit and Leg Room

Hello.

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Regular flyer with Virgin, generally fly Premium Economy to JFK.

I'm off to Vegas May 23rd on VS043 and decided to go Economy as I'm not too sure the Premium offers much value on the dated aircraft from Gatwick.

Anyhow. I am quite tall and after booking I had a slight change of heart and called the call centre to "upgrade" to Exit Seats / Extra Leg Room.

Exit was available on the way out and Leg Room on the way back. I duly paid.

Since then I have heard nothing from Virgin and my original seat choice is still saved on the booking seat map. Every other seat is now greyed out too.

Does anyone know the seat allocation process in this situation? My apologies if this has been asked many times on here before.

Hey Willo,

Best option for you is to call VS and ask them to re-send the econfirmation (should have been emailed to the email in the booking up to 48hrs after you paid) - Check the email was spelt correctly and if all is ok they can have another copy sent out to you.

The seat numbers probably wont change until you get to the bag drop at LGW as they will assign them on the day in case of op changes - (you can still check in online but you cant chose your seat for this reason)

I hope that helps,

Alex

Last time I booked an exit row seat they sent me an email confirming the purchase but the MMB page continued to show my original seat allocation up until check in.

I recommend doing what I did as it seemed to work. Call them back, request seat 25B or C (right next to the boarding door so you'll be first off at LAS) and do twilight check-in at LGW the night before you fly. The call centre will probably say they can't guarantee the seat request but they'll make a note on your booking, and it worked fine for me last year.

Incidentally, many on here would say the PE seats in the bubble on the LGW fleet are the best of Virgin's PE offerings if you can get them, so maybe worth considering even if they are a bit tired.

I personally don't rate the extra legroom seats - it's only a miserly 3 inches more. The exit rows, though, are definitely worth it if you're tall.

Take care with exit seats on VS.

Specifically, the "window" seat at the exit has legroom reduced due to the "bulge" in the 747 door. The exit seats are narrow due to the TV screen being stories in the armrest and I as a er, broader person, found them uncomfortable.

Simple extra legroom seats were fine though.

[honey lamb]

I as a er, broader person,

The term, Sealink, is "cuddly"

And don't forget to be in an exit row seat you must be prepared to open the doors in event of an energency and under 16 yr olds can't sit in them either.

And if no one is in the seats at take off or landing you may be asked to sit there for the part of the flight.

Which begs the question - on VS planes, are there any exits that are not "manned" by flight crew during take off & landings?

I can see why on a smaller plane with over-wing exits that "someone able bodied" is needed, as the crew are at either end of the aircraft, but is this still needed on a 747 or a3xx?

It is a CAA regulation and until such time it is changed then it has to be complied with (no matter how nonsensicle it may seem today)

Not all aircraft have a crew jumpseat on the over-wing exits.

>>>Not all aircraft have a crew jumpseat on the over-wing exits.

I fully agree, but do any of the VS fleet actually have over-wing exits...?

I do remembery many years ago, on (I think) KLM DC-9's that they did actually have a crew member seat in the over-wing exit row. Of course, in those days you did tend to have more cabin crew than in today's "leaner" times.