Project Earl

OK, I always thought I was fairly well clued up on flying with VA, but last week I had my first experience of Project Earl.
Even now, I can't quite believe what I was seeing...
How is it that I'd never heard of this before and how come there's no mention that Gold Card holders are entitled to take a "project Earl" seat if there's one free.


Project Earl... Very probably devised by Randy Hickey... This is where a batch of purple seats are allocated in economy, with an extra couple of inches leg room, for $50..

On my flight the crew took $100 from two passengers who felt the need to move seats. I was told that a complaint costs Virgin £25 to deal with. If they broke even on that flight, I'll be amazed. What cost your customer's goodwill?

Charging a few quid for a bulkhead or exit isle seat.. fair enough.. but chopping out a quarter of the cabin and marking them up in this way is appalling. The cabin crew are being put in an impossible position, spending the flight guarding these seats, on the look out for anyone sneaking into forbidden territory without handing over their cash.. It's VERY VERY aggravating.
I'm going to make sure I have a couple of pound coins with me next week, just in case I need to use the loo.

[Neil]

The extra leg room seats have been around for a while, and are sold at the airport fir £30 one way. They are available to anyone, nit just Gold card holders.

I really don't see any problems with them, if people are prepared to pay for a bit more leg room, then why not? Of course the CC have to stop people who haven't paid from sitting in them, otherwise it isn't fair to thise that have paid

Of course the CC have to stop people who haven't paid from sitting in them, otherwise it isn't fair to thise that have paid

yes damm those pesky CC that stop pax from sitting in seats people havn't paid for!

naughty, naughty staff ! v( v(

[Nottingham Nick]

Sorry, can't see what OP is complaining about. ?|

As Neil says - those who want to pay for extra leg room can do, those who don't simply sit in one of the other seats.

Surely it is all about personal choice?

Sorry, the references to Project Earl and Randy Hickey went over my head until google came to my aid - I don't watch the programme. (personal choice )

Nick

In general, I stick with the personal choice approach. They can offer me something, it's my choice to buy it or not.

But my problem is this,
The first hour of my flight, both ways, the cabin crew were spending all of their time guarding empty purple seats instead of doing their job. Very nice, polite, happy crew became objects of resentment to almost the entire cabin on account of having to police these seats.
If you talk to crew in a candid moment, they'll tell you that they hate dealing with project Earl and that it's making their life a misery.
I accept that airline ticket pricing is deliberately obscure but creating a pricing structure within a cabin seems to me, to be a step too far.

Where does this go next? If you want an isle or window seat is that going to be an extra 30quid? 40quid if you don't print off your own boarding pass?
If this was a budget airline, I'd live with it, but it's not.

And clearly, when every red seat on the plane is full whilst a quarter of the cabin's seats are empty, but happen to be purple, you might feel a bit aggrieved to be told that to move around in the cabin is going to cost you another 50bucks on top of the 1100+ that you've already paid out..

it was a long flight.

[Nottingham Nick]

The bottom line, much as though we dislike it sometimes, is that the airline are in business to make a profit. In this current climate, the main aim even seems to be staying in business.

An aircraft seat is worth as much as someone is prepared to pay to sit in it. VS trialed the extra leg room seats on the LGW planes. Presumably, the yield generated was sufficient to give them the confidence to expand the trial fleet wide.

If some crew are neglecting other duties to police who sits in them, then this clearly needs to be sorted.

Nick

[Decker]

worth paying 1150 for then? As you had the option of doing at check in or before? And a quarter of the seats are not purple in coach. It's the standard issue - frequent flyers get to know the things to take advantage of. I now know to go for 64A/K with BA or 18C with VS.

However what is your specific point - you SEEM to imply that Au holders can have these seats FOC which is news to me. Last time I flew in coach I couldn't.

"Project Earl"?

I am confused. ?|

[honey lamb]

From the VS website

Just noticed that the OP refers to VA?
Does VA have the same policy/charges etc to VS?
Is the OP on the right site? ): ):
If the OP is indeed referring to VS then I have to agree that it's all there on the VS website.
Ultimately if you don't want to be cramped on a long flight the only sensible choices are the PE and UC cabins......

I remember that when I last flew UA that the CC ensured that pax not entitled to sit in the economy plus seats didn't interlope so it is not just a VS issue.

But maybe it says more about the ability of pax to follow the crews instructions NOT to move into the extra leg room seats.

what is it about getting on a plane (or a train) that makes people loose their common sense?

Does anyone have a list of what seats these are on what aircraft?

Kev.

Also, this isn't much different than a train conductor ensuring passengers are in the right seat, carriage, and class.

This sort of thing is common on US internal flights. On some you have to pay $20 if you want to sit in the front half of the plane. No extra leg room, its just that people making connections want to ensure they get off the plane quickly. I agree its ridiculous, but people pay for it! I don't like it, I think its slightly underhand, because people tend not to notice the extra cost because they don't pay for it at the time of booking when they are properly considering the cost of the trip. Its a fact that people notice big one off costs more than several small costs even if they add up to the same value.
E.g. its easier to get someone to pay $300 for the flight and then $25 for bags and $20 for a front seat, than it is to get them to pay $345 for the flight with everything included. This is my gripe with extra surcharges and fees generally; it doesn't help the consumer, even though its marketed v well in ways such as 'why should someone with no bags pay subsidise someone with 3 bags'.

I say, if no one pays for it then they will eventually have to let someone sit there to make sure the plane is full.

[Neil]

Does anyone have a list of what seats these are on what aircraft?

Kev.

G-VROS / G-VGAL / G-VLIP / G-VROM / G-VROY
50 A/B/C/H/J/K
51 A/B/C/H/J/K
53 D/E/F/G
54 D/E/F/G

G-VTOP / G-VAST / G-VXLG
22 A/B/C/H/J/K
31 D/E/F/G
32 D/E/F/G
62 H/K
63 A/C/H/K

So a total of 20 seats on each a/c, not a quarter of the cabin like has been suggested.

When we flew Y last year, an announcement was made a couple of times by the FSM stating that you could not move to the purple seats after take off. I never saw any CC guarding the seats, and suggest that is more to do with pax wanting to get something they haven't paid for rather than a bad policy by VS.

Neil

[honey lamb]

I remember that when I last flew UA that the CC ensured that pax not entitled to sit in the economy plus seats didn't interlope so it is not just a VS issue.

Same thing happened when I flew Virgin America in Main Cabin Select. A couple who moved into those seats were sent back to their original seats with a couple of fleas in their ears

"Project Earl"?

I am confused. ?|

You're not the only one...couldn't understand what it had to do with a Edinburgh Airport train-link plan either ?|

Think reference to the "My name is Earl" television programme and its associated characters. ?|

I see no problem with airlines offering additional options for customers.

The 2 options here are you either sit in economy as normal or you pay the extra and have an extra 3 inches of leg room.

"Project Earl"?

I am confused. ?|

You're not the only one...couldn't understand what it had to do with a Edinburgh Airport train-link plan either ?|

me too.

David

Thinking on, VS would NEVER name something 'Project Earl' as it's too simple!

They would have to give it some airy fairy bollocky name like 'Project Diamond' or 'Project Freedom' !

You think somebody moving from an economy seat to a slightly bigger economy seat is bad... I remember on a flight back from MIA a few years back - when the 744 had half PE and half UC upstairs. Before takeoff somebody who was sat opposite us in PE took himself off to the front half of the upper deck and sat himself down in an UC seat! He must of lasted a good 30 seconds before he was told to take his assigned seat.

[Nottingham Nick]

....He must of lasted a good 30 seconds before he was told to take his assigned seat.

LOL - you have to admire a trier. :w

Nick

Just tried to book some of these and been told that VS won't confirm seat numbers until check-in. As we are travelling as a family of four this isn't ideal as they couldn't confirm if we would be sat in a group of four or split into two and two in different parts of the plane. As my wife knows I will try to sleep for a lot of the flight she is concerned that whichever child was unfortunate enough to be sat with me would end up very lonely for hours on end!

A lot of crew now do the seatbelts up over the empty purple seats or remove the seat cushions - problem solved and no guarding necessary
It is difficult though when someone demands you let them sit there for free because they are of larger stature and you have to explain it's not fair on the people who have actually paid for the extra legroom - has caused some heated arguments.
But in this day and age the airline has to make money where it can and £30 is well worth it for a few extra inches on a long flight. (no pun intended )

on my last flight I paid the £30 and sat in a purple row seat, the rest of the row was empty, until after take off when a couple came to sit in the row.
I have no idea if they paid the extra or not but they werent questioned or moved. The (rather large) lady took the seat next to me, and her husband took the seat at the other end of the row, leaving a space between, which meant they actually had 3 seats to spread out while I was squashed in mine next to the lady.