V-Flyer

We normally fly economy with Virgin, but for this year's trip to the US (in March), my wife offered to pay for us to go on premium economy. She was getting very excited about choosing the seats in December, only to receive an email the week before the seating plan was due to be released saying that it would now only be released 30 days in advance of the flight.

We've just found out that this policy has been changed a number of times, and as such the seats were released much earlier than that, with no warning emails.

My wife is very upset, as only the worst seats are left. Customer Services have been totally useless, absolutely no help at all. Does anyone have contact details for someone at a senior level within customer services? I'd really like to get this sorted out.

All might not be lost - quite a few PE seats are held back for Virgin Holidays, and more still until OLCI opens. So more seats should become available 24 hours before departure, and possibly a few days before that if VH don't use their allocation.

Not sure what customer services could do for you - they can't give you seats that have already been requested by someone else, and even though most V-Flyers would agree the T-30/T-60 affair has been a complete debacle, the bottom line is your ticket doesn't guarantee you a specfic seat. "Worst seat", after all, is purely subjective - your idea of the seat from hell may be someone else's favourite.

What aircraft are you flying on JulianHJ? Quite a few seats (it varies by aircraft type) are always blocked until check-in, so all is not lost.

You might know this at240 - on the LHR 747s do the front (exit) rows in PE become available at OLCI or are they only allocated at the airport?

I am the same I saw the 30 day then it changed to 60 days without any notice I only noticed by coming on here, however I am pleased to sit wherever in PE all seats are pretty good I don't think I have had a bad one yet.

They are done at the airport (from memory!).

For the LHR 747 lots of seats are held back until just before check in. I have a recollection of that including the middle four in row 32, but not sure - and of course policies change over time.

Yes, I can confirm 22 of the 62 PE seats on the LHR 747 are blocked out from the moment the seat map opens.

Namely 28AC, 29ACHK, 30ACHK, 32DEFG, 33DEFG and 37ACHK. Everything towards the front & back of the cabin, basically, or what many people would call the "best" seats.

So JulianHJ - it may well be that the "good" seats you were hoping to request may not have been chosen by someone else, but were never available in the first place and will only open up once OLCI opens at T-24.

Thank you for the responses so far. We've emailed Customer Services to see if we can get a better explanation as to why this has happened. We'll hope for the best in terms of getting a decent couple of seats.

Out of interest, what route are you flying and which seats were you after? Someone here will probably know whether they're likely to have been taken by someone else or whether they're unavailable until check-in.

I agree, all is not lost as lots are held back until OLCI or airport allocation.

How did you book? You may be able to access seats via the back door, so to speak, on the Amadeus system. Ask your travel agent.

Don't loose heart, as others have said, there are various factors to be taken into consideration.

Also, bear in mind that even when you have reserved your seats, they may not be the ones you are allocated at OLCI, e.g the plane may go tec & a different config brought in as a replacement.

On one occasion a couple of years ago, we had our second favourite choice of seats selected (as our favourites weren't showing as available) in the 747 bubble, only to find at OLCI that the system would not allow us to check in online :0

I was annoyed but resigned to being allocated a 'rubbish' seat, e.g downstairs middle two of the four block. When we competed check in at the airport, we were given our favourite seats.

Never say never.

Do let us know how you get on & good luck.

R-P

I am a little worried about this myself too..!

I really want a window seat and only a 2 not 3 row - now I beleive its 30 days for allocation, as T90 still wont work and its 80 days to mu flight. I guess just checking every 5 days is the way forward.

One question for you knowledgable bunch - looking at the 'what aircraft' section there is only about a 12% chance it will be any plane. If this changes post allocation what happens then?

It is T60 now not T30

T-90 and T-30 are history. Forget everything you ever heard, knew or read about T-90 and T-30. RIP T-90 and T-30.

For flights between now and April 1st, you can request seats at T-60. Thereafter the new system is meant to kick in and - in theory - starting on April 1st you'll be able to request seats at T-336.

If you're really unlucky and they change the aircraft type at short notice, you'll just be allocated a seat at random on the new one I believe. Doesn't happen often though. And of course if you check in early enough you'll be able to change it.

And on 1 May, everyone will pile in to book and Virgin's servers will go down.

From April 1 passengers will be able to book T-336 ONLY if they book and travel after April 1.
If like me you are travelling after April i but have already booked the flights before April 1 then reservations will still only be possible at T-60.

This is clearly stated on the website.

marpusbean wrote:From April 1 passengers will be able to book T-336 ONLY if they book and travel after April 1.
If like me you are travelling after April i but have already booked the flights before April 1 then reservations will still only be possible at T-60.

This is clearly stated on the website.

I'm pretty sure if you've already booked and fly after April 1 you can select your seats after April 1 will not be limited to T60

marpusbean wrote:From April 1 passengers will be able to book T-336 ONLY if they book and travel after April 1.
If like me you are travelling after April i but have already booked the flights before April 1 then reservations will still only be possible at T-60.

This is clearly stated on the website.

Where is this "clearly stated on the website"?

Personally, I don't think anything about this situation is clearly stated on the website. ii) However, from this latest version, I can't see your interpretation, nor from using the calculator provided.

Selecting seats and exceptions

Published 17/12/2007 03.01 PM | Updated 31/01/2014 12.46 PM

Changes to the way you choose your seats in advance





We know how important choosing a seat is to you and over the last couple of years we’ve been working hard and investing in ways to improve the process.

If you are in Upper Class, Premium Economy, Economy booked in Y or B class, or a Flying Club Gold member, you will be exempt from any charges for selecting your seat.

If you made a confirmed booking on or before 16 December, or you are in Upper Class, Premium Economy, a Flying Club Gold member or in Economy booked in Y or B class
•Your flight departure date is on or before 31 March 2014

You may choose your seats free of charge 60 days prior to departure via manage my booking.

•Your flight departure date is on or after 01 April 2014


If you already have a booking to fly in April or May, seats can be assigned free of charge 60 days before departure via manage my booking.

After 1 April, you can choose your seats free of charge 336 days in advance via manage my booking, or at the time you make your booking.

When can I assign my seat?

The process to select your seat is changing and will be rolled out over the next few months and by different routes.

We have created a handy calculator which will tell you when you can select your seats. All you need is the date you are due to fly.

Advanced Seat Assignment Calculator (120kb)

(This will open in a new window)

To be able to use our calculator, you'll need to have Microsoft Excel installed on your computer, or you can download Apache Open Office.

If you are using Internet Explorer, please save the file to your machine. Alternatively, you can use Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome to view the calculator.

If you're flying Economy

You booked your flight after 16 December 2013 and your flight departure date is on or before 31 March 2014

You may choose your seats free of charge 60 days prior to departure via manage my booking

You booked your flight after 16 December 2013 and your flight departure date is on or after 1 April 2014

London Gatwick to/from Las Vegas

You may choose your seats free of charge 24 hours before departure via on line check in.

Or from 1 April you may choose to pay a fee from £25 each way to select your seats from 336 days before departure via manage my booking, or at the time you make your booking with our contact centre.

If you already have a booking to fly in April seats can be assigned free of charge 60 days before departure.

London Gatwick to/from Orlando, Antigua, Barbados, Havana, Montego Bay, St Lucia, Tobago, Grenada
London Heathrow to/from Cape Town, Delhi, Dubai, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Lagos, Mumbai, Shanghai or Sydney

You may choose your seats free of charge 24 hours before departure via on line check in.

Or from 1 April you may choose to pay a fee from £25 each way to select your seats from 336 days before departure via manage my booking, or at the time you make your booking with our contact centre.

If you have a booking for a flight departing on or before 29 June, you can assign free of charge 60 days in advance before 30 April.

London Heathrow to/from Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Vancouver or Washington
Manchester to/from Barbados, Las Vegas or Orlando
Glasgow to/from Orlando

You may choose your seats free of charge 24 hours before departure via on line check in

Or from 1 June you may choose to pay a fee from £25 each way to select your seats from 336 days before departure via manage my booking, or at the time you make your booking with our contact centre.

If you have a booking for a flight departing on or before 30 July, you can assign free of charge 60 days in advance before 31 May


If you're flying Virgin Atlantic Little Red

There are no charges for assigning seats in advance on Little Red, however, seats on these flights can only be chosen through Virgin Atlantic online at virginatlantic.com/managemybooking
If you are flying before 1 April 2014 seats can be assigned 60 days prior to departure

Additional information for customers with disabilities or travelling with young children

Don’t worry about the little ones, we will make sure that every child (under 12 years old) is seated next to a parent or an adult guardian 24 hours before your flight.

We will also make sure that passengers with disabilities get a seat most suitable for their needs.

A few points to remember:

•Paid seats can only be chosen through Virgin Atlantic online at virginatlantic.com/managemybooking. If you book your flight direct with our contact centre, they’ll also be able to assign you a seat at the time of booking. Travel Agents will be able to assign seats at time of booking for their customers travelling in Upper Class, Premium Economy and for “Y” or "B" booking class in Economy. There are no charges for assigning seats in advance on Little Red, however, seats on these flights can only be chosen through Virgin Atlantic online at virginatlantic.com/managemybooking.


•If you are a Flying Club Gold member, you can only assign your seat though our website, unless you are booked in an exempt cabin or booking class.


•If you pay to choose your seat in advance, please still check in online to speed up your journey through the airport.

I'm already booked, in UC/PE, for October. From this latest version, my understanding is that I will be able to choose seats from 1 Apr 14.

It wouldn't win any Plain English awards, but the information is in there.

By the way, the calculator only seems to work for those flying in Economy.

I'm also in UC on an october flight and thought i could book seats on 1st April...in theory as i can see virgins website having a lot of traffic that day!

I've also already booked UC for mid June, I fully expect to be able to choose seats on the 1st of April, it took them a while but I think the above clarification makes it clear that this will be the case.

Confirmation for you all thanks to rhydian on virgin live chat...seats can be selected on 1st April! That's UC but i presume PE are included foc

Remember not all routes get the new seating system at the same time, MAN and LHR are 1 June

We fly lhr to lax but he said 1st April...nothing to do with seat selections would surprise me though!

Daniel Armstrong wrote:
One question for you knowledgable bunch - looking at the 'what aircraft' section there is only about a 12% chance it will be any plane. If this changes post allocation what happens then?

Why 12%? It looks to me as if it's 50/ 50 a 346 or a 330. At 30 / 60 / whatever the type of aircraft will be known and unlikely to change.

We fly Upper Class MAN to MCO in November. Howard has confirmed on Facebook today that we will be able to select seats on 1 June and those people booking in April and May will have no priority over seats - they can also select from 1 June.