VS029 02.10.10

I'm travelling on VS029 to BGI in PE on a K ticket in October. I booked the flights without checking on here only to find that it is G-VFAB and so not the upper deck PE seats which was a bit of a disappointment. When I logged onto "my booking" it appears that there are only centre aisle seats left; the window seats are not "selectable". According to "my booking" there are only 6 seats left in PE. However, I attempted an online booking for 8 seats in PE just to check this and found that all 8 were available in PE. I emailed Customer Relations and asked them if they could put me and my girlfriend on a window but was told that it wouldn't be possible to do that; I should check in online 24 hours before departure to see if other seats have been "released". It seems as though there are more seats available than are showing on "my booking". How likely is it to get window seats within that 24 hour window for online check in, and is there another way that I could try to get window seats? I should be very grateful for your help.

[Neil]

Only 60% of seats in each cabin are available for pre-selection, the remaing 40% become available at OLCI stage. Also exit row seats can only be allocated at the airport, so you still have a chance to get a pair of seats.

You should aim to do OLCI as soon as it opens to give yourself the best chance.

Neil

welcome

Only 60% of seats are avalable for pre request - the rest (apart from bulkhead and emergency exits) will be released at OLCI (but worth checking a few hours before hand). That is why there are 'only' 6 seats left on 'manage my booking' but 8 (and probbaly more) available to buy.

If you do OLCI as close to T-24 as possible then you have a better chance of window seats than leaving it till later or at the airport.

[honey lamb]

Just to add, do as tonty suggests and check a few hours before OLCI opens. I once did so five hours before a flight and found that more seats had been released but the perceived wisdom is that two hours beforehand should be OK

Thank you all for this information - it has given me some hope that we may still get the seats we would like.

Is there any real chance that the a/c may be a LGW rather than LHR config in the end?

Thanks again!

[Neil]

Thank you all for this information - it has given me some hope that we may still get the seats we would like.

Is there any real chance that the a/c may be a LGW rather than LHR config in the end?

Thanks again!

The BGI flights have been operated by a LHR 747 for quite now, with one of the main reasons that the demand for UC is higher on this LGW route than the others, so it would be unlikely for them to switch it back to the LGW fleet as they would have a number of pax in both UC and PE that would have to be downgraded.

The positive way of looking at it is LHR aircraft = V:Port entertainment. LGW aircraft = old school 'loop' entertainment.