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Economy seats - seats 63 at rear or in bubble?

PostPosted: 19 Jan 2014, 11:43
by MattyHM
What would people recommend, off to Vegas on 6th march and currently requested seats 63a&c at the rear of the plane for my partner and I. Have had these seats on two other flights as we like the fact there is no one next to us to disturb.

But looking at the seat map, there are still a few seats available upstairs in the bubble - never sat there before.

What are the pros and cons for each?

Thanks

Matt

Re: Economy seats - seats 63 at rear or in bubble?

PostPosted: 19 Jan 2014, 13:28
by gumshoe
The bubble is quieter and feels much more intimate, and you'll be off the plane faster which should mean less of a wait at immigration.

Overhead storage bins are significantly smaller upstairs though, and the seating is all 3+3 so there's a chance you'll be sat next to someone.

I'd give the bubble a go - then you can decide for yourself which you prefer for future flights!

Re: Economy seats - seats 63 at rear or in bubble?

PostPosted: 19 Jan 2014, 13:49
by sungod
if you can bag the emergency exit row in the bubble it's excellent and having someone else next to you is not as noticable, downside of these seats is the armrests are fixed and a bit wider due to housing the tray table, so if you are, er, wide, not a good choice

another thing to try for the bubble in a normal row is see if there's seat plus available at a reasonable price, then you'd have 3 seats to yourselves

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/th ... -plus.html

if you can't do either, for such a long flight i'd stick to the main cabin in a 2 with the privacy and flip-up arm rest

Re: Economy seats - seats 63 at rear or in bubble?

PostPosted: 20 Jan 2014, 22:20
by RexNoctis
On our last trip to MIA we got the rearmost row in the bubble (79 A & B ). Fortunately, the third seat wasn't taken and we had a very comfortable trip. There is a fair bit of elbow room on the window seat due to the curve of the hull. It certainly did feel more cosy and there is much less chance of having noisy neighbours!

Also off the plane very quickly to make way for the UC passengers in the front of the bubble. We were through immigration about 10 minutes after leaving the plane :-)

If I could guarantee having the three seats to ourselves again, I would jump at the chance, choosing between having two together at the back of the plane or risking a close neighbour in the bubble would be a much more difficult decision!

Maybe take a risk and book seats A & C, making the B seat less inviting? If someone does take it, you could probably offer to swap for the windows or aisle?

Re: Economy seats - seats 63 at rear or in bubble?

PostPosted: 20 Jan 2014, 22:32
by Neil
RexNoctis wrote:On our last trip to MIA we got the rearmost row in the bubble (79 A & B ). Fortunately, the third seat wasn't taken and we had a very comfortable trip. There is a fair bit of elbow room on the window seat due to the curve of the hull. It certainly did feel more cosy and there is much less chance of having noisy neighbours!

Also off the plane very quickly to make way for the UC passengers in the front of the bubble. We were through immigration about 10 minutes after leaving the plane :-)

If I could guarantee having the three seats to ourselves again, I would jump at the chance, choosing between having two together at the back of the plane or risking a close neighbour in the bubble would be a much more difficult decision!

Maybe take a risk and book seats A & C, making the B seat less inviting? If someone does take it, you could probably offer to swap for the windows or aisle?


Just to say, I would very much advise against selecting an A and C seat. I'm pretty certain the system won't even allow it, but if it does, it increases the chances of your seats being reallocated. If the flight is even close to being full, they will move pax around to generate the most flexible space to seat those pax who don't have seat reservations, and that type of scenario will be picked up on and mean you could end up with a much worse seat.

We sat in 79 as a couple (window and middle) and had another pax in the aisle seat, it didn't cause us any issues, I had the middle seat and had plenty of space. I would always choose the bubble economy section if the main cabin downstairs.

Re: Economy seats - seats 63 at rear or in bubble?

PostPosted: 20 Jan 2014, 22:36
by RexNoctis
Fair enough, it was just a thought I had but hadn't realised they would move around pax that had actually chosen a seat! Cheers for the heads up!

Re: Economy seats - seats 63 at rear or in bubble?

PostPosted: 20 Jan 2014, 22:50
by MattyHM
Thanks for the responses so far, think it's looking likely to try in the bubble.

Mistakenly tried to select seats A&C before and the system doesn't allow it.

If I choose the rear row in the bubble, do the seats still recline?

How can I see how full my flight is with passengers?


Thanks

Re: Economy seats - seats 63 at rear or in bubble?

PostPosted: 20 Jan 2014, 23:32
by gumshoe
They can, and do. Seat requests are just that - requests - and are always subject to change for "operational reasons".

Re: Economy seats - seats 63 at rear or in bubble?

PostPosted: 21 Jan 2014, 08:26
by Neil
MattyHM wrote:Thanks for the responses so far, think it's looking likely to try in the bubble.

Mistakenly tried to select seats A&C before and the system doesn't allow it.

If I choose the rear row in the bubble, do the seats still recline?

How can I see how full my flight is with passengers?


Thanks


All seats on the a/c have full recline, so no issue there.

You can use a site like flightstats to do a load check, which will give you an idea on how busy your flight is looking. It actually shows availability in each fare code, so will give you an idea if it is looking full or not. Lots of 9's mean it's not that busy, lots of 0's means it's very busy.

Re: Economy seats - seats 63 at rear or in bubble?

PostPosted: 21 Jan 2014, 13:45
by gumshoe
If you're on the VS43 on March 6th, it's nearly full in UC & PE but still wide open in economy.