Should I be concerned? Looks like no seats

Hi All,

Yesterday I booked reward flights via a Virgin telephone agent. It was done as two separate bookings as the outbound was direct LHR to MIA and the return was MIA to JFK (Delta) then onto LHR (Virgin).

This is for 2 Adults and 1 Child with all seats on Virgin metal in Premium.

When I try to choose my seats for the outbound, there is no spaces left to book in Premium (just the bulkhead ones which can't be booked). Obviously I'd like my family together, and at very least 1 adult with the child.

Regarding the return, there was availability to book both the Delta flight and the Virgin flight, but I stopped, as it looked like I was going to be charged for the Virgin flights from JFK to LHR.

Any advice on what I should do?
Many thanks, Steve

[Nottingham Nick]

If you post the flight details, I'm sure someone will do an Expertflyer check to see what the loads are.

VS will always try to seat a child with their party.

Nick

Thanks. I’m on VS5 (LHR-MIA) on 25OCT24 at 11:15am

Thank you.

Looking at EF the entire front row is currently blocked rather than occupied.

So likely these will be under airport control later.

Thank you. Is there anything I can do to get seats assigned in the mean time? Would it be worth a phone call to them?

Also is it normal to have to pay for seat selection on the reward flight (in premium) inbound? I thought it might be understandable on the Delta flight, but didn't think it would happen on the Virgin one?

[mitchja]

VS started charging for the front section of Premium cabin last year regardless of ticket type. They call it ‘preferred seating’.

The only exception is for Gold Flying Club members who can select any seat at any time in any cabin free of charge.

They’re only selling 6 more seats on that flight, and most of them are taken excluding the front row and 23G.

I’m very surprised it’s that busy considering it’s so far away from departure.

I highly doubt a phone call will do anything, but give it a go and report back. Ultimately, they have to put you somewhere and it would be very odd to spread all 3 of you around the cabin, especially with the limited options of seats remaining. How old is the child?

As for your return, there should be some seats there you can select for free.

Thanks for your help. Nervous wait until the airport for me.
I managed to get (free) seats for the return.
Appreciate all the help on here.

Looking at EF the entire front row is currently blocked rather than occupied.

So likely these will be under airport control later.

I've just checked this again to see if there is any availability and it seems two of the front row (its 2-3-2 configuration) have now been taken. The three of us are booked under two different reservations (we used a 2 for 1 Credit card voucher) so concerned we'll either get bumped or perhaps not seated together. One of the 3 is a nine year old. Any thoughts?

21 DFG HK still available.

Thanks. I phoned and they said they cant be assigned until the airport (although someone has managed to secure seats on the left hand side (A&B?) in the last few weeks).

Do VAA oversell much in Premium? I guess my worry is my booking for the 3 of us is split over two bookings as I used a credit card 2 for 1 voucher, and hate the thought of one of us getting bumped and having to deal with that hassle.

I can’t comment on overselling Premium but it might be worthwhile asking VS to “link” the bookings.
Hopefully, if the worse happens and one of the bookings is bumped, they will see the linked booking.
Hope it all works out for you.

Currently showing as W1 S0 H0 K0, so looking almost sold out at this point

Thanks everyone, I phoned them and got them to "link" the bookings.

I don't know what it is, but I seem to fear the worst these days with travel.