Advance seat reservations - important for who?

I am a great believer in being able to choose my seat at the earliest opoprtunity & love the transparancy of seat availability of some of the US carriers (like Delta.

Mrs T & I are off to Jamaica in March & I was like a cat waiting to pounce at T30 & got the seats I wanted in UC. That was 4 weeks ago & since then only 3 other seats have been reserved. Similarly on the LHR 747 on the way home only 4 seats have been selected out of a total of 44 in UC.

I guess my point is that whilst it appears important to us V-Flyers it dosen't seem to be the general opinion. What are your thoughts?

[honey lamb]

Remember that many people who have booked to holiday destinations such as Jamaica, will have done so through a travel agent and may not get their tickets or the PNR until much nearer the date of travel. In addition many may not be aware that seats may be requested prior to arriving at the airport.

Hi Taffy

I am with you on this one, I love to get my seats allocated just as soon as available & then check fairly regularly to see that they are unchanged. We are off to Jamaica in March also (out 14th, return 21st) & I was delighted to be able to obtain my chosen seats on both legs.

oldboy

I'm with Taffy and oldboy on this one and always select preferred seats as soon as possible. I shall be there with my fingers on the keys at 0759 for our next flight (LHR/JFK in May), and have already booked seats for an internal US flight in September/October.

I set my alarm. Sad but true.

However we are all tall and on the UCDS we like the longer seats on the A and K aisles. It's the one time Mr Marshy appreciates there is a huge difference in a couple more inches. )

Seat selection opened up for our UC flight to BOS over 2 weeks ago (at T-61), aside from us only one other person has selected a seat which seems to support the theory...Our return from EWR in PE is now showing the seat map but it wont let us select seats yet (T-62 ish).

Just out of interest I have never booked advanced seat reservations. How far in advance can you book them ?

I've always argued that at 8am on T-60 only a small band of frequent fliers and dedicated V-Flyers are sitting by their computer screens waiting to pounce (and yes, I include myself in that).

From my experience the seat map doesn't really start to turn grey until about a week or maybe a fortnight before the flight.

For my PE flight from JFK in just over 4 weeks, for example, only one other person has requested a seat thus far - and that was only 2 or 3 days ago. So for nearly a month I was the only person to have requested a seat.

Hi,
I've had the same thoughts today. Woke up this morning and immediately checked to see if I could reserve seats. The seat map was available but it wouldn't go through with the request. Then I remembered reading somewhere on here that the seat map opens properly at about 8am.
So, I tried again at 8am and it worked! I'm a happy bunny, got my seats and since then, only 4 other seats have been reserved!
It's important to me, but I'm not sure whether I'll be parting with £50 each, each way in future...
I'll keep checking the seat map as well to see how busy the flight's getting!

Just out of interest I have never booked advanced seat reservations. How far in advance can you book them ?

At the moment, 60 days before the flight.

It all changes from April, though, when VS start rolling out a new system that will involve most economy passengers having to pay to request a seat.

By June, in theory, seat requests on all flights will be available at time of booking which opens 336 days before the flight.

Just out of interest I have never booked advanced seat reservations. How far in advance can you book them ?

At the moment, 60 days before the flight.

It all changes from April, though, when VS start rolling out a new system that will involve most economy passengers having to pay to request a seat.

By June, in theory, seat requests on all flights will be available at time of booking which opens 336 days before the flight.

Thanks for that seeing as I am flying in May, I should just sneak in under the radar before April

Sorry everyone, I mentioned T-30 I should have said T-60. I guess VAs new policy is partially in line with Delta (with whom you can select your seat when booking) although Delta do not charge you for choosing your seat unless it is in their Economy Comfort zone.

Does anyone know if under VAs new scheme the seat maps will be visible before you make your booking i.e. same as Delta?

I normally try to request seats as early as possible also, but I still struggle to get my head round the fact that you can request them, but no guarantee you get them.
What actually happens at OLCI, do all seats suddenly come available again? or if you have requested seats do they stay unavailable to other pax as long as you check-in as quickly as possible?

What actually happens at OLCI

.

I've never had a problem - seats I've chosen weeks/months before are still showing as "mine". Have others found they've "lost" their seats?

We have never had our seats changed after requesting them at T-60 (or T-90 as it was). We usually do OLCI as soon as it becomes available. I think it's a case of "we reserve the right to change your seat" from VA in case of a change in aircraft or special needs from other passengers.

I always select my seats as soon as the option is avaliable. Not having a window is a huge no no and I like to sit near the back edge of the wing so I can watch the flaps etc. Proper avgeek, me.

Unfortunately it happened to us twice in 2012 (it was a special trip aswell) wedding holiday and husband's 40th. Flight out to San Fran, seats got changed at OLCI and also return flight from LA, not 100% sure why, but I've learned my lesson and done a lot of homework (and lurked on forums like this ) to get inside info....i've learned a lot since then

I still struggle to get my head round the fact that you can request them, but no guarantee you get them.

That's the case with all airlines, even those that charge (although you'd be refunded if your chosen seat wasn't available). It's never ever guaranteed.

Sometimes there's a change of aircraft, or they need to shift people around to accommodate a family, a large group or someone with limited mobility.

And, yes, sometimes they do it for no apparent reason whatsoever. "Operational reasons", as the catch-all for everything appears to be.

The vast majority of seat requests are honoured though.

I'm guessing that seat selection becomes much more important the lesser class you are in. I'm not bothered for UC, I wouldn't be that offended if me and the gf sat apart, its pretty much an apart seat anyway.

PE, I suppose sitting together makes a difference, yes, but which seat, less so. On Economy, I'm guessing there are far better seats than some others (never fond of the right back at the end of the plane).

As a slightly nervous flyer, I like to have the comfort of knowing that I've requested seats to ensure that I'm sitting next to my other half.

I requested seats for our outbound flight to Barbados (in PE) almost as soon as it was open but there were some seats not available even at that point. I think I've seen it somewhere that Virgin hold back some seats for Virgin Holidays customers so assume that's the reason.

I'm hoping that when OLCI opens I may be able to move a couple of rows further forward.

My other half is also a very nervous flyer & as such likes to know where in the plane she is sitting & to ensure we are together. I agree that it becomes more important as you go down th cabins. Saying that I still love 6a & 6k on the LGW 747s!

I'm hoping that when OLCI opens I may be able to move a couple of rows further forward.

That's happened to us a couple of times before on the Caribbean routes, and one time (old PE upstairs config) landing us smack in the rows we would have chosen originally.

My other half is also a very nervous flyer & as such likes to know where in the plane she is sitting & to ensure we are together. I agree that it becomes more important as you go down th cabins. Saying that I still love 6a & 6k on the LGW 747s!

I think your original point holds good though. For the majority of travellers they don't know / don't care / leave it up to their travel agent to sort it. The agent we used for our trip to Australia was slightly surprised when I said that I would sort the assignment out myself.

Where I sit is important to me for some reason, although I don't really know why. I have had one airline who I paid for seat reservations change my seat at the airport for "operational reasons". When I complained I'd actually paid extra for that seat I was politely told, in a more eloquent way, but nonetheless the same meaning - "tough" and when I asked about getting the money refunded was told they couldn't do anything about that! Needless to say whenever I had to fly with that airline again I never bothered with the seat reservation system again.

As I understand it VA will only charge Economy PAX for seat reservations in the future?

As I understand it VA will only charge Economy PAX for seat reservations in the future?

Correct, and even then only those who aren't Au or booked in the priciest buckets.

Still far better than BA who also charge in WT+ and CW.