V-Flyer

I booked two Upper Class seats 11 months ago to fly MCO to LGW tomorrow. Paid the full whack to ensure we had what we wanted. This is our wedding trip.

Pre booked (Requested!) the seats we wanted at T 60.

Doing OLCI today, our seat selection has been moved from 6a & k to 11 a & k.

Rang Virgin. Waited and hour in the queue to be told that they had changed the plane and not reassigned the seating plan so everyone was booking new seats, Nothing they can do about it. Nothing they are willing to do. "All you have done is booked a flight, not a seat".

Shoddy customer service, shoddy response. We have spent our last pennies with Virgin. In the last two years we have spent over £15000 flying with them. Some other carrier can have our cash now.

It's very frustrating but, as you point out, it is only ever a request.

No airline will ever guarantee specific seats as last minute changes will always happen - including, in this case, aircraft changes.

BA also move people at random - even when they've paid to select seats.

At least it's an overnight flight so chances are you'll spend a fair bit of it asleep, not that that's much consolation. And it's still worth asking at the airport or even once you're on board as anything can happen and cabin crew are usually quite sympathetic when it comes to requests for couples & families to sit together.

Speak to the agents when you check in tomorrow, as the seating is now in the hands of the airport team and not the call centre staff, and they still have the ability to change things sometimes.

Whatever happens, don't let it spoil you experience.

Neil

Whilst I understand your frustration this can still happen with any carrier.
I think you have hit on a point though - they take so long to answer the phone that by the time you get through you are already annoyed and so bad news is compounded. They do need to ramp up the call centre but NOT outsource it to India or Fillipines - that will not help.

All the UC seats are nice so cheer up - you will still enjoy it.

As frustrating as it might be, don't let it spoil your experience ... It's a lovely one and you should make the most of it. Some seats are better than others in terms of location but they virtually all are the same in UC and at the end of the day, it's really the service that will make the difference, please make sure you write a report after you've flown to share your thoughts with us all.

We also got moved from 6A&K earlier this year & found our the day before travelling. The agent on the phone made a note on our reservation which we asked the agent to look at when we checked in at the airport. It turned out that the table was broken on 6A & they had allocated 6K to a sole traveller. We said we didn't mind the broken table & they moved us back to 6A&K! Good luck & enjoy, as JCBR says all the UC seats are great.

Congratulations on the wedding! Whilst it is annoying when you think you have something and then get told that its changed at the last minute try not to dwell on it. If its still a 747, then 6 AK TO 11 AK just means you are closer to the bar. Even so you'll still be in UC which will be great but I would suggest mentioning it at check-in, at the gate and on board to the CC. Whilst the system might not allow them to change anything as it stands now, face-to-face you may have a better chance. Especially if you mention that you are on honeymoon.

Even if they say no at check-in try again at the gate and on-board, on numerous occasions I've had CC ask passengers if they would swap for honeymoon couples to sit together.

Don't let it spoil what should be a memorable trip for you.

If you don't ask .....

If you don't get any joy at check-in or at the Gate, ask the FSM as he/she makes his/her way around the cabin. They will be aware of the singletons and will make enquiries; we've frequently played musical seats, and it does get you introduced to the other passengers.

Notwithstanding, have a great honeymoon.

Thanks everyone, feel a little less miffed now. I like the point that 11 is closer to the bar!! Silver lining I had not considered!

We are going off to do twilight check now in so will ask again then.

I shall post a trip report on our return.

Good luck and many congratulations, make sure you tell everyone and anyone it is a very special trip. Smile and be happy, it works better than being a grump....

We were bumped off a UC flight entirely when they replaced it with another plane.....they tried to send us in economy.... so I know how upset you must be feeling. But any seat in UC is better than none.

if it still a 747 why change your seats, poor reason

Like Taffytorchy already mentioned, I think it most likely that one of the tray tables in row 6 is broken. If this is the case and you want to dine together then it's probably not a big issue.

I fly to MCO every other month or so, I returned last weekend and 6A was broken then. On my previous two inbound flights I was in 8A and both times the tray table was broken, but was given $40 of duty free vouchers each time.

So in my experience it's very common at the moment.

Jilly

Go and talk to the people who got your seats when onboard. More than once in the past I have done that after a seat change, and found myself talking to staff - guess who's?

Sarastro wrote:and found myself talking to staff - guess who's?

Yours?

To the OP, there are any number of operational reasons they move people about the plane like a game of musical chairs.

Personally I have found they have been pretty good at honouring my seating requests. That being said I am usually one of those solo travellers that, whilst has his favourite seats, doesn't let it spoil my fun on board if I am moved.

Hope you got seats you found agreeable in the end (closer to the bar ) and have a great trip.

Before I compose my first ever trip report, a brief update, the actual reason for the changes was a broken seat not a change of plane as advised by customer services. Taffy and Jilly your observations were right.
We managed to get moved from 11 a & k to 10 & 11 k so all was well in the end! The flight itself was, after an hour delay, fabulous.
Will attempt an entertaining report when absorbing the rays by the pool.. :-)

joeyc wrote:

Sarastro wrote:and found myself talking to staff - guess who's?

Yours?

Funnily enough - no