V-Flyer

How can I get a front row seat on Virgin Atlantic Little Red? When I try and reserve it online the row is always blocked out.

Does it help that I am a Flying Club Gold member? It would be good if Gold Card holders could get these seats in advance.

Thanks in advance for any help and advice!

Hello and welcome.

No, Au members have no priority when it comes to choosing seats.

Row 1 normally becomes available online a few hours before OLCI opens at T-24. It used to be quite easy to get seats if you were "in the know" but as the flights have become fuller and more people have wised up to it, it's now pretty much pot luck.

Mind you the only real advantage of Row 1 is getting off first. Chances are you'll have to go a bit further back to store your hand baggage as there's only a small amount of locker space above Row 1. And while there's extra knee room, you can't stretch your legs because of the bulkhead.

The emergency exit rows 12 & 13 are better space-wise, if you don't mind a wait to disembark. And in my experience they ARE sometimes proactively offered to Au members, if you're early enough at bag drop. They're never reservable online, only at the airport.

Welcome to V-Flyer

Yep, I've always found row 1 opens up around the T-28hrs mark. I've been lucky so far and manage to grab row 1 on pretty much all my VLR flights

I got row 1 out and back on my trip to ABZ from LHR recently.

For the outbound trip I selected it a couple of hours before OLCI opened but on the return I only looked for it once OLCI had opened and still got it.

Downside I found was that you have to put all hand luggage in the overheads and there is limited space at the front of the plane due to safety equipment etc.....plus row 1-5 are the last to board, so most of the overhead space has already been bagged. I was lucky as I checked my bag in and only had a handbag, but if I had a trolley case I would have had problems.

2D is my preferred seat.
And my hand luggage is almost always small enough to go under the seat in front, so I tend to board last.
Row 1 isn't the legroom nirvana it sometimes is on other aircraft.

Row 1 on Aer Lingus is treated as an exit row. Given that LR is operated by EI you may find that that is the same and the overhead space there is usually taken up by the stuff crew need for the safety demo and a few things.