V-Flyer

Due to fly out (for work) to MCO tomorrow and had selected a seat in the Upper Deck. A check last night, and the selection was still there, however this morning, I went on and found I had been moved to the lower deck.

I know its just a seat request at this stage, but I am wondering what event would have caused this - is it that folk with status get the chance to bump others ?

I've no problem with that, just curious, as last night, there were about 5 seats free in the upper deck, now its showing as all booked out.

Also, Have moved myself to be near the extra leg room seats, which are mostly empty at the moment - Is it frowned upon to move to them once we are airbourne ?

Can't answer the first but may be due to a light load and need to balance the plane.

it is frowned upon to sit in the extra leg room seats without paying.

The CC will either tell you to move or get the credit card machine out.

People who have paid can get quite vocal about this sort of thing.

Thanks

The loads did look light when slinky did a load check for me a while back, and there were plenty of free seats downstairs, so maybe they have decided to just not open up the upper deck.

Re the extra leg room seats - I thought the same, and to be honest, if I had paid, I would be hacked off too.

I will check at check-in, if the seat next to me is still empty, then I will stay put, but if its looking busy, I will pay to move over.

Hate flying with work, they book us on the cheapest fare (o) and so I cant even use points to upgrade.

Still, I have my personal trip over to the US in May in Upper to look forward to

Agree with tonty - almost certainly a light load in economy so they need to move people to the back to balance the aircraft for take-off. With the Easter holidays just finished there won't be a lot of demand on the MCO route until next month.

You may be allowed to move upstairs once the seatbelt signs are off although it'll be a free-for-all. Mind you if it's really quiet you may find there are entire empty rows downstairs.

And yes, tonty's right, it's definitely frowned on to sit in ELR seats if you haven't paid for them. It's not fair on people who have.

I don't quite understand the logic on unfairness to people who have paid for an ELR seat by sitting in an empty one. You are not taking anything away from them.

I remember being in business on Air Malaysia once to Brisbane and because there were so few of us, and spare seats in First, the cabin crew moved us all into First after the doors closed. What a brilliant trip that was.

Did those in First who had paid feel bad? I don't know but they shouldn't. They still got what they paid for.

My view is be happy for other peoples good fortune. So if there is a free seat I think you should be able to use it. Maybe ask the CC first, explaining that you had selected a seat on the upper deck and have been moved so would it be O.K.

Dick D

dickydotcom wrote:I remember being in business on Air Malaysia once to Brisbane and because there were so few of us, and spare seats in First, the cabin crew moved us all into First after the doors closed. What a brilliant trip that was.

Did those in First who had paid feel bad? I don't know but they shouldn't. They still got what they paid for.

Sorry but I have to disagree with you on this one dicky!

I for one would feel pretty miffed if, having paid say £5,000 for a First Class ticket, lots of people were upgraded and enjoyed the same service for a fraction of the price I paid just because the cabin crew felt like it.

Along with the service, you also pay for exclusivity and that disappears if First Class is effectively declassified.

It happens all the time on trains when First Class is relatively quiet but Standard is standing room only. Guards have the authority to declassify First but then passengers who've paid for First are entitled to a partial refund (or, when I complained to Virgin Trains when it happened to me a few months back, a full refund).

I am fairly certain that the crew will announce on the PA that you must take your allocated seat for takeoff & landing (to balance the aircraft) but once the seatbelt sign is off, you are free to move to empty seats - with the explicit exception of the extra legroom seats.

Sit in an ELR seat and you'll be asked to move or get your credit card out.

At the moment, I am in G in the middle block of 4 and my colleague is in D, so the 2 middle seats are pretty unattractive when there are loads of seats left. Will be happy if it stays like this.

Was told by Virgin, via the chat, to check at checkin if they have opened up the upper deck - not sure why they would do that unless there is a late surge of bookings