Restrictions to Seat Reservations on flights from 01 Nov

Leanne

Nothing to do with the refits (which should be finished well before the time you travel) but due to the general block on ALL seat requets

as per Restrictions to Seat Reservations on flights from 01 November 2012

Not good that VS told you refits was the reason when it isn't !

I know, I felt quite fobbed off actually :0 ii)

Effectively lied to. Virgin is going way down in my estimation.

[Neil]

Leanne

Nothing to do with the refits (which should be finished well before the time you travel) but due to the general block on ALL seat requets

as per Restrictions to Seat Reservations on flights from 01 November 2012

Not good that VS told you refits was the reason when it isn't !

I know, I felt quite fobbed off actually :0 ii)

Effectively lied to. Virgin is going way down in my estimation.

I think we need to be careful about saying Virgin and their employees are lying to people. There is no proof to suggest they are going out of their way to hide this information, it is clearly posted on their website, so there is no reason why they will be informing their CS agents to lie to pax.

I'm sure the most likely explanation is once again a poorly informed CS agent passing on incorrect information, itself a major issue that VS need to get sorted as we hear far to many stories about it.

Hence the use of the words "Effectively lied to". I do believe we agree.

Virgin has voluntarily surrendered a most vauable USP to its main competitors, BA and even some charter operators, by withdrawing a service that is of vital importance to its passengers. As a frequent traveller on their popular leisure route MAN/MCO I know how important this is particularly to family groups who don't fly on relatively long haul services very often. Big thumbs down from me!

It has only been temporaily withdrawn whilst they update their systems and VS have been 100% open about it.

And at least they held off the blanket closure (especially for econimy where most pax fly) until after the main summer holiday period.

It is clear that they learnt from their major mistake last year when they lost a huge chunk of the non LHR route PE seat requests. Yes annoying but somehow people managed.

The not being able to request PE seats over the summer may also be annoying but a lot less annoying to find VS have changed your requested seats because they are able to run a refurbished plane.

Again VS have been open about this for months.

And are people really going to switch airlines because they can't pre-request seats until OLCI opens? BA charges for advance seat requests (and they still don't guarentee the seat).

And are people really going to switch airlines because they can't pre-request seats until OLCI opens? BA charges for advance seat requests (and they still don't guarentee the seat).

Well said Tonty, in my experience no one who flies BA pays to reserve their seats, the only people who do are EC Ag's and Au's who are able to for free. No one is going to jump to BA because of this.

And are people really going to switch airlines because they can't pre-request seats until OLCI opens? BA charges for advance seat requests (and they still don't guarentee the seat).

Well said Tonty, in my experience no one who flies BA pays to reserve their seats, the only people who do are EC Ag's and Au's who are able to for free. No one is going to jump to BA because of this.

I totally agree with our two esteemed colleagues!! VS will not lose PAX due to this - they may lose them for inconsistency of service, though!! As for BA...flown twice last year with them and refused to pay the £££ to reserve seats v( v(

No, they won't lose pax because of it, they just make themselves look like an amateur airline at best, or a low cost carrier at worst, and thoroughly annoy a lot of people.

I am not a frequent traveller, I gain silver status every other year so Virgin wont be bothered about my opinion or business too much. This is enough for me to book more BA flights, I don't rate BA wtp or club as much as virgins equivalent but these changes is one more reason to seriously consider British Airways.

if it is a simple IT upgrade it can be done overnight with a group email sent out to everyone to check their seat requests, why the system has to be shut down on an seemingly unending basis.

I see this as a bit of a non-issue really; as others have said, they have been very open about it. I know a lot of people will want to blow hot air over this, but it's still available at OLCI so it's really not the end of the world, is it?

I don't agree that this kind of complex system change can be done overnight, and I would much rather they take a bit longer and get things right rather than try and hash it up quickly just to pacify a bit of public wailing.

Well, i have to say that my personal experiences with VA have been pretty darn good over the years, and i'm certainly not going to use this thread as an excuse to ridicule them. People of today want everything yesterday, including having their own backsides wiped. Yes, it's inconvenient, but a change in reservations is long overdue. I suppose some would expect the changes to be made overnight, or perhaps during a commercial break. Holy cow, if not being able to request a seat beyond 1st nov 2012 is of great concern in the big scheme of things, then i find that pretty sad indeed.

Yeah, not really earth-shattering is it; especially if you can continue to reserve at OLCI.

As a frequenter of the PE cabin, though, and flying out of LGW a fair bit, I'd be more nervous about not getting the bubble seats (if that continues post re-fit, of course). I know I wouldn't be alone in saying the PE product in the bubble is superior to that in the downstairs cabin. So, if it turns out I'm less likely to be able to "reserve" seats in the buble, maybe I won't be quite so keen on the VS PE ex LGW product...

Yeah, not really earth-shattering is it; especially if you can continue to reserve at OLCI.

As a frequenter of the PE cabin, though, and flying out of LGW a fair bit, I'd be more nervous about not getting the bubble seats (if that continues post re-fit, of course). I know I wouldn't be alone in saying the PE product in the bubble is superior to that in the downstairs cabin. So, if it turns out I'm less likely to be able to "reserve" seats in the buble, maybe I won't be quite so keen on the VS PE ex LGW product...

Exactly. I booked early to get the bubble, was told that I couldn't at the time of booking, but that I would be able to in approx 5 weeks or so they thought, then read the note about Nov 1.

And no, it isn't the end of the world, but when anybody sells a premium product then that is what it should be. Not some scrum at T-24, or the lottery that is guaranteed to ensue should they manage to complete their work and just open all the seats.

And to rub salt into the wounds the graphic at MMB says "Pick your seat". They are royally taking the michael over this.

It honestly is becoming an absolute joke - tonight is the fourth evening running I've tried to use the 'spend miles' option (so as to locate flights with reward availability) under Find a Flight on the main home page only to have this thrown up:

We have been unable to process your request.

You can either return to the homepage and we'll keep your search details so you don't have to fill them in again, or contact Reservations.
If you would prefer to speak to one of our agents please use the "Call me" function below.

Please note: This service is available between 0700 and 0100 hrs 7 days a week.

Incredible, how can they let such basic functionality go unfixed in days!

No surprises, this problem on the VS web site still persists, even after months of people reporting it. Yet again it has been raised on the VS Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/#!/virginatlan ... 8297937679

I wonder if anyone in the VS IT team actually has 'bug tickets' to work through so that these ancient problems of old get resolved. I'm honestly flabbergasted, how do they get away with it

Yes, just confirmed by customer service that, due to an "upgrade to the seat selection system", I am unable to select a seat until the day of my flight (since it's after 1 Nov). I said "even in Upper Class" to which he replied, "well you can keep trying, but that's the word I have".

Hopefully, this all is a mistake in communication while they upgrade their "seat selection system" as he put it!

To the question will VS miss out on bookings for this, they just have! I am a Gold card holder and trvael a lot with them but am planning on taking 7 friends out to New York for New Year and if I could have booked seats together in the nose of the 747 I would have done (yes I know the plane can change but its still worth a risk) As it is just booked BA with LCY-JFK out and JFK-LHR return as an Emerald member I can prebook seats for free for all people travelling with me so all sorted!

I am not saying I will not travel with Virgin in the meantime I will but if I am impressed with BA at Christmas it means I am more likely to travel with them especially if BMI/BA goes through as connecting MAN-LHR on many flights it will be much easier T5 all the way as cannot do the T1-T3 walk anymore!

Seems like a huge own goal by Virgin just at a time when they need to up their game, they have got with the BA/BMI situation! Its all very well saying it will change in November but by then other customers may well ahve tried other options and liked them!

Given the decision faced, I would choose differently, weighing up the chance of being split up (why not connect your PNRs, book on one PNR to derisk that?) versus a much more spacious 747, the onboard bar, VS clubhouses, more relaxed flight ... compared to a cramped A318, LCY, no space to socialize etc. Especially for a relaxing trip over the New Year.

Obviously being sat together is more important to you even though we don't know when seat requests will return (could be any time, even up to November). Even knowing that BA could still split you up "for operational reasons".

Actually, your post comes across as a little petulant :# .

Signed - a non-shiny card holder!

To the question will VS miss out on bookings for this, they just have! I am a Gold card holder and trvael a lot with them but am planning on taking 7 friends out to New York for New Year and if I could have booked seats together in the nose of the 747 I would have done (yes I know the plane can change but its still worth a risk)

But even if you could have requested your seats there is no guarentee that you would have been able to get 8 seats in the A-zone in anycase!

True, but hence the reason doing a booking for New Year this far out with the cabin wide open, it increases the chances! Plus in the past Virgin have been very good at telling me before booking on the seats availble so could have factored that into my choice!

While the Clubhouse will be missed, we will overnight in a London hotel we stay at a lot and just turn up at LCY last minute to catch the flight so non of the Heathrow issues which is quite nice! I have not found the A318 cramped at all and also the advantage of knowing we dont face the queues at JFK is also a factor. I am sorry if it sounded petulant but looking at all the options and the seating is very much an important one and if you factor out the A zone the other options Virgin have seating wise do not compare that well with the A318, the 340-600 are long tubes and outside the A zone the 747's are not that special.

I find it interesting when defending Virgin you choose to suggest booking on 1 PNR to derisk being split but then when describing BA you suggest the operational reasons is quite possible to split up a group eith rebooked seats which considering the seating is 2 x 2 and there are 8 of us seems somewhat unlikely! I will say the onboard bar was the most likely thing to swing it back and if there had only been 4 of us might have done but truth is with 8 its a bit crowded round there anyway!

Anyway sorry if my post annoyed, I travel a lot with Virgin and like the airline but it seemed to me that a lot of people in this post thought it would make little difference, my post was simply to suggest actually it might and especially for people with the shiney card as actually seating preference when you travel a lot is a big thing to a lot of people hence the reason many airlines include BA charge for it or give it away as a perk of status holders, they even hold certain seats for those people! Maybe if Virgin had taken this approach and found a way to open checkin early or allow seat requests for its top tier flyers it would have been a better option!

I understand your reasons, and my point was that you could derisk being split up on VS but that your main reason for switching was to sit together, and there's still no absolute guarantee of that even on BA.

Anyhows, I too like the LCY-JFK service if having done it only once ... and my non-shiney card gets me the option to throw people out of my favourite seat on VS (which I am ashamed to have done only once, and inadvertently too) so I do understand preferences.

I still think you're overblowing this issue though!