Allocated seats now blocked.....

Hello All - I stumbled upon this site while looking for info on Seat allocations etc.

My wife and I are travelling to Vegas VS043 on Monday 7th July to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary, we booked back in February travelling Economy out and Prem Economy back.

Now, I know airlines block so many seats etc until closer to the flight day and understand their reasons for doing so. However the seats we selected when we booked (window seats in the 2-4-2 section at the back of the plane) have now been blocked and we have been re-allocated in the 3-4-3, I wasn't expecting much better travelling Economy but would much prefer the two near the back that we previously had.

Why were these seats not blocked when we booked? (Virgin Rep could explain when I called)

How early would I need to turn up at LGW to get better seats?

Any help or advice anyone can give is greatly apprceiated.

[Nottingham Nick]

Welcome to V-Flyer.

It is a new thing with Virgin, the seats you requested previously are now allocated at the airport.

There are a few threads about this on the site.This one and this one, for example - but there are others as well.

You can probably get better seats by doing on-line check in 24 hours prior to departure.

Nick

[Darren Wheeler]

Hello and welcome aboard V-Flyer. We hope you have a pleasant trip..... [:D]

There have been a couple of previous threads about this HERE and HERE

The jist of them is that seat requests are just that, requests, and as such can be changed at anytime right up to departure. Your best bet is OLCI, twilight check-in or get to LGW early and try to get the seats you want.

It is annoying but sadly over the years 'requests' have taken to mean guaranteed.

[Darren Wheeler]

Looks like Nick can type faster than me.

Virgin are introducing a number of larger seats in economy - 34' pitch instead of 31'
Particularly useful for the larger person.
They will not be free - the 10% extra space will cost about half the exit row surcharge.

They are sliding the seats into new positions during programmed aircraft service over the next couple of months.
The larger seat pitch will be on different rows depending upon the particular aircraft config.
Config 2 will have them in Row 50/51 plus the centre of 53/54
Config 3 will be 22, centre 31/32 & 63A/C/H/K 62H/K
As this is a gradual roll-out and they do not know precisely which aircraft will be used until just before flight, you cannot work out beforehand which will be the bigger seats; which is why they had to canx some seat requests.
They will be sold/allocated at check-in.

Get to the check-in early and you might be able to get them back!
They might even be bigger if the aircraft has been re-configured but then they might cost extra.

Thanks for the informative reply, I understand the allocation thing, and knew changes were possible, question was really just why the seats in question went from available to blocked. OLCI at 1045 on Sunday it is! Anyone had any exerience of OLCI opening or the blocked seats being released more than the 24hrs in advance?

Thanks again.

[Nottingham Nick]

The seats went from available to blocked because, having realised some time ago that all economy passengers are not created equal, Virgin are now taking this a stage further.

As Bill has said above, in the not too distant future, the exit row seats won't be the only ones available for a surcharge. There will be more 'extra legroom' seats available - at a price.

Until all the aircraft are reconfigured, it will be a bit of a lottery, and a bit of a mess. Lots of pre-requested seats have been cancelled carte blanche, on a lot of flights - especially out of LGW.

As previously mentioned, try your best when OLCI opens up, then try again at early check-in. As with exit rows, I assume that if no one is prepared to pay for the new 'premium' seats, they will be allocated prior to departure. Whether this will be to the last few people to check in, or to people who have previously expressed a desire to sit in them - only time will tell.

Nick

Thanks Nick, as a Virgin virgin I'm just being over cautious I'm sure. We don't travel often and the potential of being separated isn't installing much 'Holiday Spirit' - I know it'll all work out fine. Yours and everyones input is greatfully received.

[Darren Wheeler]

VS will try to keep you together but those travelling with children take priority for obvious reasons. An early check-in will help you no end.

Apologies if I've missed this and it has been discussed elsewhere!! When I did OLCI for my flight back from MCO in PE the exit and bulkhead seats were available for selection!!I,ve never seen this before!!! [y]

[Neil]

Originally posted by ela123
Apologies if I've missed this and it has been discussed elsewhere!! When I did OLCI for my flight back from MCO in PE the exit and bulkhead seats were available for selection!!I,ve never seen this before!!! [y]

I've never seen that before, especially for Exit Row's were you have to be seen to ensure you are physically capable of opening the doors in an emergency, wonder if it was just a system glitch[:?]