Virgin to charge £25 seat selection fee for Economy

[mitchja]

I really want to give the kids the experience of the bubble, at least one way. Preferably on the way out. Would I be right in saying that upstairs exit the aircraft before the main economy section.

Only just, but generally yes. The main deck Premium and Upper cabins get off first, but after that it often just becomes a free-for-all but in general you do get off before the bulk of main deck economy cabins.

Delta now barring reward seat assignments on VS codeshare.

As I am totally confused by the new rules (doesn't take much anyway), would someone please clarify the following;

I am at T90 today for my return flight on the 3rd April 2014, will I be able to choose a seat today? Our seat choice for the 13th March at T90 went through OK. (No saying we will stay in the chosen seats). We are travelling PE.

Many thanks,

Karen

Karen, no, you will be able to choose seats 30 days before. At least that is my understanding! I've got a flight booked on the 31st March and cannot choose seats yet

Karen, no, you will be able to choose seats 30 days before. At least that is my understanding! I've got a flight booked on the 31st March and cannot choose seats yet

Thank you, and aagggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh I hate Virgin ! . Good job I'm booked with BA to go to New York in August!
):

I was in the VH store in Glasgow today to pay the balance of my holiday off for April. I took the opportunity to get to the bottom of the whole charge for seats thing.
One observation, there seems to have been a massive backlash against this despite VS only copying BA on the charges.
Second observation it would appear that in our particular case we may scrape by on a T-30 free selection as we seem to have been given an updated copy of the t&c's in force.

It will be early March before I can confirm this but, I did learn that there are plenty of passengers up in arms about this new "seat-tax"

[honey lamb]

Karen, no, you will be able to choose seats 30 days before. At least that is my understanding! I've got a flight booked on the 31st March and cannot choose seats yet

Thank you, and aagggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh I hate Virgin ! . Good job I'm booked with BA to go to New York in August!
):

Erm, BA charge to select seats in all classes except F until T-24 unless you have some level of status with them

Karen, no, you will be able to choose seats 30 days before. At least that is my understanding! I've got a flight booked on the 31st March and cannot choose seats yet

Thank you, and aagggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh I hate Virgin ! . Good job I'm booked with BA to go to New York in August!
):

Erm, BA charge to select seats in all classes except F until T-24 unless you have some level of status with them

8D That's just my point, I don't mind paying when I have to, or how/what/why, I just want to be able to log in and 'reserve' a seat as soon as I have paid-in less five minutes after booking with BA,(even if there is a chance it could be changed - yes, I am one of those anal people that want to have a purple seat showing on 'Manage my Booking'.)
Plus BA worked out over £600 each cheaper for the NYC trip, than VA including the hotel. y)

I also don't appreciate VA moving the goalposts after booking. n(

Exactly-- I absolutely adore VS but it's all about stepping up, making the booking and that's that. I have been incredibly annoyed trying to book a low season awards seat (with mega fees/surcharges nearly equal to the flight with $) and then to find that I can't actually set the seat as another hurdle.

I actually have other things to do with my time--and I can't even imagine what this might be like for families!

It really is a shame that the "offboard" product cannot match the excellent "onboard" product.

Erm, BA charge to select seats in all classes except F until T-24 unless you have some level of status with them

Or unless you buy a flexible fare -- oh the generosity!

Karen, no, you will be able to choose seats 30 days before. At least that is my understanding! I've got a flight booked on the 31st March and cannot choose seats yet

Thank you, and aagggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh I hate Virgin ! . Good job I'm booked with BA to go to New York in August!
):

So you're happy to pay BA to select seats?

I also don't appreciate VA moving the goalposts after booking. I booked some time ago for my NY flight in May and now reading the info (if I am reading it correctly) I 'might' have to pay to book my seat at T30, whereas if I had booked the same flight after 1st April I would not have to pay ?|
Oh and what's happening about Seat Plus then? Is that available or not available now and if available still will you now have to pay the £60 plus the seat booking fee for 1 or two seats
?| ?| ?| Curiouser and Curiouser !

Karen, no, you will be able to choose seats 30 days before. At least that is my understanding! I've got a flight booked on the 31st March and cannot choose seats yet

Thank you, and aagggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh I hate Virgin ! . Good job I'm booked with BA to go to New York in August!
):

So you're happy to pay BA to select seats?

Never said I was 'happy' in the sense of having to pay, but if there is no other option I would still feel more at ease knowing I have selected a seat immediately after I've booked(even if it's not guaranteed) and paid instead of having to wait and wait and wait and wait and then find out I have to wait some more! ?| As I have said, I just want to have a vague idea of where we might be sitting.

VA have been a nightmare this year regarding seat selection, even moving our seats in UC after I had checked in online and printing the BP, then having another boarding pass issued at the airport and the seat changed without being informed until I went to sit in the seat and found someone else in it.

Then another time last April we were not able to check in online at all.

I don't understand why people are mentioning having to pay on BA when VA are starting the same thing, just seems madness that I can select my outbound but not my inbound for the sake of 22 days difference.

Totally peed off by the way vs has mishandled this. At t90 i successfully got my PE seat assignments for man mco 06 march. Once i head about the confusing changes to advance seating requests i rechecked my booking only to see that the seats i had selected were no longer there. This has nothing to do with the usual get out that assignments are not guaranteed... vs is guilty of dictating policy ahead of respecting customer requirements in this instance. Given that PE will, for now at least, be exempt from the vs seat tax, why mess about with existing customer bookings in this cabin?

Do you know for a fact your selection's no longer there?

VS have said requests that were made before T-90 was replaced by T-30 in December should still be honoured. You just won't be able to see them or change them again until T-30 when the seat map will become available again.

To an outsider it really does looks as if VS is in a sorry state at the moment.

The website lacks functionality which has been the norm on other airline sites for years (ability to upgrade using miles for example), and is still unfinished with several bits remaining in the old format. I wonder if they've run out of money for the project?

Seat allocation fees appear to have been the straw that broke the camels back for many customers.

Lack of consistent UC and IFE products across the fleet. Unpopular UCDS.

Clubhouse appears to be shortly swamped by DL fliers.

No route developments or news on impending start ups.

The 'flying in the face of ordinary' marketing which is looking increasingly hollow.

BA seems to be in rude financial health.

I hope I am being overly pessimistic and things on the inside aren't actually that bad, but I am starting 2014 feeling increasingly concerned for my favourite airline.

Good afternoon,

If my flight was on 11th Feb 2014 at 13:00, would the seat map open tonight at midnight or tomorrow at 13:00?

Many thanks,

Mike

Good afternoon,

If my flight was on 11th Feb 2014 at 13:00, would the seat map open tonight at midnight or tomorrow at 13:00?

Many thanks,

Mike

I would guess tomorrow at 8am

How did we cope in the past when you could only check in at the airport with an agent asking window or aisle seat????

How did we cope in the past when you could only check in at the airport with an agent asking window or aisle seat????

Agreed, and can be applied to everything, sat-nav, air-con, smart phones,,, but once the genie is out that bottle, it's hard to re-adjust to more primitive methods,,,

I would guess tomorrow at 8am

Thank you!

How did we cope in the past when you could only check in at the airport with an agent asking window or aisle seat????

I'm too young to know what you're talking about! )

How did we cope in the past when you could only check in at the airport with an agent asking window or aisle seat????

ummmm..... paid a considerable amount less for the fare?

Playing devils advocate...

Seating is always a contentious subject and firmly falls into the "can't please all of the people..." camp.

What is the solution?

Scrap pre-selection entirely and the seat you are given at check-in is your seat, no ifs, buts or swaps. Like it or lump it.

Free selection, but if your group is split up, again, tough?

Perhaps scrap the CAA guidelines on children being sat with parent/guardian as this seems to be the cause of some seat changes?


Ultimately aircraft have a finite number of seats in fixed locations and I can't see any method of a fair and equitable system.

Darren I can understand your point but let me ask you this, you are forcibly sat next to a petulant child aged 7 who you will have to put up with winging and whining for 8-9 hours, constantly having to get up to let him/her get up to go to the toilet or visit his parents sat 10 rows in front etc but most of all in an Emergency are YOU willing to take responsibility for that strange child? Will you put their mask on (after yours etc) will you be able to calm them when they are petrified when the plane hits some CAT? Separating people travelling together is never ideal and it does happen but separating mothers or fathers from children forcibly would be disastrous for all on board and beyond stressful for cabin crew!

Another point of view is I am flying to SFO in Feb with my wife on VS19, I am disabled with little use of my arms and so my wife cares for me during my flights, when booking we have been placed 7 rows apart on the 747, and at the moment there are no system changes, I have spoken to Special Assistance who plan to place us on bulkhead seats, but under your system that wouldn't be allowed meaning if I was sat next to you would you be willing to fasten my seatbelt, care for my needs during the flight and feed me my meal? I'd bet no you wouldn't, hence the system we have already.

As for the £25 your right we don't HAVE to pay it but also we don't HAVE to pay more to fly VA! I could have got from MAN to SFO for £250 less per person but I like VS19 so I have already paid a premium so why should I pay £25 per person per leg more? We have been flying VA for 10 years now 3 times a year to the tune of £74,567.54 but now they want a further £500 a year of us! ( 2 flights with 2 adults £100 then 4 flights with 4 of us at £400) my annual expenditure in 2004 for flights to SFO for myself and wife then 2 trips to MCO as a family were £5,950 in 2014 it will be £10,000 I think VA is losing its way with the increases.

I have spoken to Special Assistance who plan to place us on bulkhead seats, but under your system that wouldn't be allowed...

ISTBC but I'm pretty sure VS won't be charging you £25 given the circumstances