Seat Selection - Has it changed again?

I have just noticed the following on the Virgin website, which has further confused me regarding seat selection for my flight in September:

Latest news

Important announcement regarding advanced seat assignment

Updated: 07 March 2014

We recently announced that on 1 April we would launch a new system to provide a more reliable process for selecting seats. We need a bit more time to test the new system, so we are delaying the launch until the end of June.

So, from the end of June, Economy customers will be able to select seats at check in but for those customers wanting to assign as seat before this time, the service will be available for a fee. Charges will not apply to Upper Class and Premium Economy customers.

This means that until the end of June, all customers will be able to select their seats free of charge from 60 days before flight departure.

We wanted to tell you about this change of plan as soon as possible and we’ll confirm the exact date of launch by the end of March.

Does this mean that I now have to wait until the end of June to select my UC seat instead of April 1st, or did I have it wrong in the first place? ?|

Yeah looks like it's now end of June or 60 days, whichever is sooner.

VS IT falling behind????? Never

A bit concerning they have not specified that AU pax will also be exempt from seat charges.... :0

This is turning into an utter farce. They've had months to develop and test this new system and now, it seems, they need (at least) 3 more months.

VS IT is the subject of many a joke on here, but it really does appear to be not fit for purpose.

I know many V-Flyers are apprehensive about what the tie-up with DL may bring, but some help with IT would be a real bonus.

Will the incompetence ever end

Pathetic, but not really surprising.

For those of you that watched the Boeing 747 design program on BBC2 the other night, the entire program from design to delivery took just 28 months, so what are VA IT dept doing?!

VS IT falling behind????? Never

A bit concerning they have not specified that AU pax will also be exempt from seat charges.... :0

) ) )

My thoughts exactly.

I'm glad I came on here and saw this as have a booking that's affected and aint had any communication from them but also when I clicked the more info / see faq's on the seat request page in my booking it comes up with nothing.

Ah well at least I know now why it won't come up if I go in on 01/04/14 lol

In my experience no IT project ever runs to time. Let's be positive and say it's better to delay and release a working version rather then rush out a version full of bugs. At the end of the day it's only about reserving seats.

So when are we going to be able to reserve seats for flights which are before the 1st June - i.e. late May?

So when are we going to be able to reserve seats for flights which are before the 1st June - i.e. late May?

That hasn't changed - it was always and still is T-60. So end of this month.

In my experience no IT project ever runs to time. Let's be positive and say it's better to delay and release a working version rather then rush out a version full of bugs. At the end of the day it's only about reserving seats.

True.

But, as this forum proves every day, reserving seats is very important for some passengers.

And you're right, better wait until the system is proven to work reliably than rush out a version that fails on day one.

The issue here, though, is more one of broken promises and seemingly constant moving of goalposts. Even the most seasoned V-Flyer experts would have trouble keeping abreast of all the changes to the rules for requesting seats over the past few months, and if there was a chance the new system wouldn't be ready in time, VS would have been better off not announcing a date in the first place.

As it is, they come across as incompetent and some of their most loyal customers will have lost a great deal of confidence in them. Which, for an airline that lost £100m last year, isn't a great situation.

Having said all that, I do appreciate their honesty. At least they've admitted the delay and not tried to bury it under some corporate spin.

Made a note in my diary on the way here. Simply says: 'b*gger'

Never mind, worse things happen at sea and I'll just have to be ready to rock 60 days out. And it's a 333 anyhow so the prime directive is simply to avoid the middle.

I must admit I'm getting more and more confused.
Seat reservation for my flight to NRT has opened up today and I've got the seats I wanted. However, I thought the return seats would also be available today. Seems not so am going to have to log on again 60 days out to select this I presume.

2 days ago my partner was on the mac and a reminder popped up. It said "request seats to miami". He called me and said I was sad, I explained it was no longer t-90 it's now on 1st of April!
Now that's no longer the case it's t-60! Reminder set for 8/4/14!

Hello,

First post on Vflyer but long time reader.

My family and I have three flights booked in July/August and part of the joy of flying is choosing your seats.

I guess that VS are trying to bed in the new IT system by limiting its use over the summer. As you can book your seats 60 days in advance, the seat plans will be available for all flights during the summer (well up to August 30th) before the full website comes into operation at the end of June.

I guess that those who want to use the seat checker as early as possible will swamp the system on a daily basis instead of all summer flights on one day.

The Virgin IT department probably got scared that the system would crash with a large number of summer flyers logging on at the beginning of April

Of course I might be barking up the wrong tree!

Regards

The Virgin IT department probably got scared that the system would crash with a large number of summer flyers logging on at the beginning of April

Of course I might be barking up the wrong tree!

That is an excellent theory Morris, you are probably spot on there y)

Welcome to V-Flyer y) y)

I guess that those who want to use the seat checker as early as possible will swamp the system on a daily basis instead of all summer flights on one day.

The Virgin IT department probably got scared that the system would crash with a large number of summer flyers logging on at the beginning of April

Of course I might be barking up the wrong tree!

Regards

Welcome to V-flyer.

I have to admit that I had visions of the system going into meltdown at 0800 on 1st April. Trust VS to choose April fools day to try and introduce a new system :0

Guess T-60 it is then.

Managed to bag my seats T60 this morning, 5 minutes earlier than the usual 8am ?| Thought I'd just try it and all went through at 7.55am y)

Managed to bag my seats T60 this morning, 5 minutes earlier than the usual 8am ?| Thought I'd just try it and all went through at 7.55am y)

That'll be because in America, where the VS servers are based, the clocks went forward on Sunday.

So until ours do the same at the end of the month, the time difference between the UK and California is only 7 hours which means for the next couple of weeks seat selection will open at 7am UK time.

Of course Gumshoe thanks, i shall have to remember for my return leg next week. I'll also be in Paris so it'll be +1hr again eek #confused

Amateurs. And I notice that if I go into my booking and click on "View FAQs for further information" it finds nothing. You have to go to "Latest News". But, this is Virgins IT department so I suspect it was tendered to the lowest bidder in the lowest cost country.

Is seat selection available if traveling with infants who have their own seat but will be in a child seat?

Last time I flew I couldnt use online check in, had to wait till I got to the airport cos of the child seats.