The very LAST VS Flight for us?

And? - Update?

And? - Update?

Oh come on! They have gone on holiday to Orlando. I am sure logging online to update us is way down on his list, if indeed it is on his list at all!

We may need to await their return before we get an update.

As a travel agent I often bear the brunt of clients frustration and disappointment when it comes to seat selection - without doubt consistently the number one area of grievance. Yes, there can be valid reasons why there are issues with seating but airlines need to realise that they are messing about with their customer's high expectations when they fail to deliver. Our most popular route/airline is MAN/MCO on VS and the majority of the predominantly leisure travellers on this service are not regular long haul passengers - many are first timers. Most have booked months in advance and their expectation levels of Virgin Atlantic are high. The majority are travelling as a family, or family groups and, understandably, getting appropriate seating is a very high priority. Those who may think it not so important to them fail to appreciate just how important it is to others.

Those who may think it not so important to them fail to appreciate just how important it is to others.

I appreciate how important it is to some. And I appreciate that splitting up families is not good.

However, I think that those to whom such is so important that they contemplate such as the title of this thread (albeit with a ?) need to get a sense of proportion.

It is a seat. Getting me there, safe and sound, wherever there might be, is of significantly greater importance than whether I get a specific aisle or window, up the front or at the back.

Ok, it is a bummer if you don't get what you want, but such things happen. And, unless people allow it to, it is hardly going to wreck the holiday or adventure.

As a travel agent I often bear the brunt of clients frustration and disappointment when it comes to seat selection - without doubt consistently the number one area of grievance. Yes, there can be valid reasons why there are issues with seating but airlines need to realise that they are messing about with their customer's high expectations when they fail to deliver. Our most popular route/airline is MAN/MCO on VS and the majority of the predominantly leisure travellers on this service are not regular long haul passengers - many are first timers. Most have booked months in advance and their expectation levels of Virgin Atlantic are high. The majority are travelling as a family, or family groups and, understandably, getting appropriate seating is a very high priority. Those who may think it not so important to them fail to appreciate just how important it is to others.

I understand this but giving up an airline just because you didnt get the seat you wanted a bit extreme, maybe a little bit of a grumble to the airline maybe to their customer service department an explain the disappointment and how their current processes and procedures are failing to them as a customer so they are aware of the issues it is causing but changing an airline just because of a seating policy I think a bit extreme IMHO.

And? - Update?

Oh come on! They have gone on holiday to Orlando. I am sure logging online to update us is way down on his list, if indeed it is on his list at all!

We may need to await their return before we get an update.

Not really. It was such a huge deal to the OP (as per the heading of the thread) that I was expecting a post on Sat, when they got to the airport and where checked in so we got a full understanding of the seating arrangements and if the Bubble was full of off-duty VS staff.......or not

I sympathise with this situation and I get that seats are important, (same thing happened to a few pax on my recent return from MCO) but find It hard to justify never flying with vs again. I know seats are an important part of the holiday but vs are doing what any other airline can/ does do.

This ^

It is disappointing if your seat request is overridden, but the OP does seem to think that it's not going to happen elsewhere, it does.

If he feels he wants to ditch VS and never use them again then so be it, but he will fast run out of airlines he can use if he applies the same logic to others.

And? - Update?

Same!

I've booked in the bubble for Economy as well for a flight in September. Hoping I don't get bumped downstairs as well.

It is annoying. My OH got bumped out of his UC seat at the gate to 'make room for a family'. We were also a family who were then split up. Our children were older but still under 16 (the others he was bumped for were about 10). It was a night flight and we went to bed so didn't matter but on a day flight I would have been peeved.

I would suggest that the family should have selected seats on line at the time of booking, checked in on line and arrived at the airport at a decent time.

[mitchja]

I had the seat shuffle game played on my last year when I flew to JFK in J. I was originally booked in 16A, was then asked to swap to 20K to accommodate a family, turned out the IFE screen was not working in that seat so my neighbour sat in 21K (a certain VS ex-CEO) very kindly offered me to swap seats with his wife sat in 17A as she wasn't using the IFE!

Flying solo always increases your changes of being moved. I've had this numerous times before in all VS cabins regardless of my FC status.

Wow, and I thought I was picky about my airplane experiences. I hope this was a rant, giving up on Virgin forever seems a bit outlandish based on the reason given.

[honey lamb]

Oh dear! I've read through this thread with several feelings. I can remember flying with VS and other airlines with certain expectations set in stone (usually about kids' meals) only to find out they were flawed but I've sucked it up - sh*t happens (please do forgive my language). My first ever trip with VS was a classic case of what can go wrong, will go wrong, to the extent we departed LHR en route for JNB while our tickets (in the days before e-tickets) still in LHR but I still continued to fly them because of the crew on board.

Down through the years I have gone through many tribulations; the boss from hell, the suicide of a work colleague, the loss of a husband and a father to my son when he was only four. Faced with that a change of seats for ten hours fades in to oblivion somewhat, doesn't it?

Down through the years I have gone through many tribulations; the boss from hell, the suicide of a work colleague, the loss of a husband and a father to my son when he was only four. Faced with that a change of seats for ten hours fades in to oblivion somewhat, doesn't it?

Some people just enjoy worrying about the minutiae of life. Whether they live longer as a result is debatable.

I am not some ethereal presence floating around but I do my best not to allow what I consider trivia to spoil my day or travels!

Now I am off to spend a few hours looking for the £1 I dropped yesterday.

Flying solo always increases your changes of being moved. I've had this numerous times before in all VS cabins regardless of my FC status.

Flying solo does make you a prime target to get moved. Fortunately when this has happened to me it's resulted in a bump up to PE. Though I do think the fact I had paid for an extra leg room seat had a fair bit to do with it.

Flying solo and seeming affable also loses you your 1st food choice too ; )

Hi again. Daviec1 has now given a trip report feed back about his flight over to Orlando last Saturday. It appears his original seat request for rows 78 & 79 was not honoured because the bubble was closed off due to a light load. He has commented that this is "nonsense" which is not very wise considering the last few posts on here have been less supportive to his moan about seat changes

I personally think it simply needs to be acknowledged, sympathetically, that seat allocation is important to some people, whereas others just do not care. I expect the OP can also give his own life experience examples which are far more important than his 'rant' about the seat policy but surely that is what a chat forum is all about, being able to let off steam

Rows 78 & 79 upstairs in economy would have be far better for his family than being stuck at the back of the aircraft in rows 52& 53 but it was an operational change and he needs to accept that.

Virgin Atlantic's IT system is a shambles, we all agree. The original poster said he has been a loyal customer for 25 years and has experienced highs and lows. Personally I believe in allowing him and others to rant their disapproval of VS and if they choose not fly with them again well that is their choice - right or wrong.

Seat allocation is much more important to me when I fly in economy and that's why I could empathise 100% with daviec1. I'm a little more laid back about the seating in PE as long as I'm not stuck downstairs in the middle row of four ! and when in UC ....well all I can see is my travel partner's head, so I couldn't really care less where they put me

This has been an interesting debate but keep it light hearted.

Well, I thought this might be a good place to post this article I just read today in the New York Times about airline seat reviews!

I've made a new thread about it here:
http://v-flyer.com/forum/index.php?f=5& ... =viewtopic

Hi again. I personally think it simply needs to be acknowledged, sympathetically, that seat allocation is important to some people, whereas others just do not care. I expect the OP can also give his own life experience examples which are far more important than his 'rant' about the seat policy but surely that is what a chat forum is all about, being able to let off steam

I think the forum is about putting your point of view up for discussion. If it was to let off steam would it not be a locked thread??
I think we understand that to the OP seat selection was important. Some of us just were trying to explain that while to the OP it may be, the number of seats on that flight are the number of seats on that flight, not sure the family was split up and to others it seems a huge step to never fly an airline again due to a light load.
What I think didn't help the OP was the fact they were pointing to the fact that it was a VS staff travel party and something was a miss rather than just an operational reason.
That is just my two cents worth anyway........

I think I agree with the general consensus here -- yes it was an inconvenience to have been moved, but in the grand scheme of things, never flying with VS again seems a bit extreme, given that most, if not all airlines cannot guarantee your seat choice even if you have paid extra to "secure them".

Mr W and I couldn't sit next to one another on the way back from our honeymoon on a 10 hour plus flight with VS as the online check-in was broken, and the plane was overbooked, and then the CC managed to walk into my table and spilt red wine down me, and then took about 10 minutes before bringing any tissue round, but hey, I got over it (as you can probably tell), and I still love flying with VS due to the general level of service that I have received