V-Flyer

Hi everyone

After a rather long break from v-flyer (after a very stressful experience on my last VA trip) I am now back and looking forward to a trip to MCO in a couple of weeks time. Or do I need to worry??

I will confess that I have been to the dark side (BA) over the past couple of years and it wasn't too bad. VA lost my business after trying to bump Mr B and myself off our last flight. We were booked to go PE to Orlando but when we got to the airport a good two and a half hours before the flight to check in, we were told that as the flight was fully booked and we hadn't done online check-in they assumed we were not coming and we did not have a seat The only alternative they could offer was one UC seat and one Economy on the earlier flight which was at the gate and about to leave and if we wanted that one they would book it and we would have to run (or walk very quickly in Mr B's case!)

At the time I was flabbergasted (surely being silver counted for something - but obviously not) but we decided that a quick dash was better than no holiday at all. There then seemed to be a long delay while they decided how many miles to add back to my account as compensation. While this was going on, 2 PE seats miraculously became available and we were back to Plan A on the later flight. Stress or what?? Rather shabby treatment and the more I thought about it, the more cross I got. Coming back the flight was appalling so I voted with my feet.

So now I am back with a flight booked. But I have been unable to choose my seats for the outgoing flight, despite being online at T-60. I have been able to select for the trip back - but according to VA website, there is not a flight running on this day! (I was checking to see if seat availability was good or not in case my daughter is coming back with us) Am I being paranoid? I know the flight cannot be full as there are plenty of "free seats" to be had if we wanted to change our seat selection.

Please tell me all will be fine - I need a warm blanket of reassurance from the v-flyer community. Or just be brutal……..

p.s. Have also done a Delta trip this year to Florida via Atlanta. Economy Comfort is not too bad and I would probably do again given the price differential between that and VA PE.

It will be fine.

Do you know how I know?

Booked UC with Virgin to Barbados for 2 weeks AI with my husband and son last July, flying out on my birthday . Cutting a very long story short as we checked in we were told the very same. No flight and no seats. So I understand how you felt because it was something I will never forget. They actually told us at the airport there was nothing they could do.

We eventually flew a few hours later with BA in CW and it was amazing. We got home after our holiday and set about burning our VS miles as I wanted not a single Marshy pound note to go in their coffers again. Particularly when they credited us 40k miles each but withdrew them a week later, telling us it was actually too generous an offer and we could have 10k each.

My husband and I booked full G's to JFK and had a marvellous week in NYC. Flying back from EWR.

Unfortunately that miles flight won us back.

We've flown a couple of times since, all in UC, with miles and money. Yes, there have been some issues (no champagne on our Grenada flight ) but when they do it well, they really do it well.

As for your T60, you can only book the return at T60 from the return date, so make sure you are inside that.

Under EU261 you should have a 75% refund of the miles/fare for the ticket that was downgraded.

If you haven't got this then claim it.

Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you.
It will be fine.
I have only been told once, "you don't have seats" I think it was American Airlines we did a trip to Boston then down to Orlando. On the way back I left my wallet in the car at Orlando and by the time I got back to the rental, which was a bus ride away, it was gone. Anyway, got to Boston to be told we didn't have seats on the flight back to the UK. I was very British about it and calmly told my sad story of lost/stolen wallet. The girl on the desk went off and came back to tell us we now did have seats in First Class and some vouchers to use in the lounge. I learnt a few things:
If you take your wallet out to pay a toll on the road, put it back in your pocket not lay it between your legs.
Always stay calm and remain polite in the face of apparent disaster. It seems to improve the outcome.
Enjoy your trip.
Dick D

It's going to be fine

Mr W and I have been bumped off just the once, when we were on our way out for our honeymoon with VS. One of the SFO flights went tech so it had to turn back, which resulted in a lot of rejigging of other flights. With it being Good Friday the loads were quite heavy anyway, so when we got to LHR a good 3 hours early, we were offered the opportunity to fly 7 hours later in exchange for the red vouchers (we were booked in Y). Whilst we were tempted, we decided not to take it up. But when we tried printing off our boarding passes at the kiosk, we were unable to as the seats ran out!

The good news was that as a result we were not only given the red vouchers (involuntary denied boarding), we were upgraded to UC on the flight 7 hours later. Needless to say we were over the moon, and this was in fact where our VS journey (so to speak) started

My experience of not getting seats on board a flight goes back to the time when OLCI was in its infancy certainly before it was available this side of the pond. Aer John (then aged 13) and I were booked on the following itinerary on the same PNR - ORK-LHR-IAD-JAX on what you call Boxing Day (and we, St Stephen's Day) We arrived in IAD and went to the transfer desk after Immigration only to find that there was only one seat assignment on the flight and that was mine!! Aer John was to be left to his own devices. We were left with options to get us there by multiple routings after midnight EST and it was all because of those ****ing elites who had demanded seats. Given that we had left home at midnight EST that night (and that we were to meet up with a friend whose connecting flight from SEA was due to land 20 mins after ours) I refused. After multiple refreshings of the system from the gate agent, eventually Aer John's seat was released. I never had faith in the US systems after that.

Thanks everyone. I am going to keep calm and hope for the best!