Please help a fattie out

Hi all,

My first post eeek!

I have been reading through forum posts and obsessively looking at plane statistics for my LGW to CUN holiday in November!

Now I have no idea whether Virgin have a sale on at the moment or not but I have been monitoring upgrade prices regularly and they have all of a sudden halved in price!

Now as a fattie flying is very uncomfortable to say the least so I always try to upgrade. I haven't flown with Virgin for some years and I have noticed an upgrade in seats in P.E and also an additional option of seat plus.

I WAS going to book seat plus but with these drastic cut in half prices I was contemplating the upgrade to P.E. my only worry I have is I now see that they have moved the tray table to the arm rest!!! In P.E before it used to be on the seat in front and I was able to drop the table and sit comfortably with enough room to manoeuvre (in economy I always used my other halfs table to his annoyance).

Sooo, finally getting to the point... does anybody know the distance between the seat and the table when fully out of the armrest. I don't want to pay the extra for the upgrade and not be able to use the table when I could just pay for seat plus and get a spare table between me and my partner...

Sorry for the long winded post, just thought it would be better for a back ground rather than just a general question about the seat set up!

TIA

Becky

Hi and welcome to V-Flyer!

I don't know the answer to your specific question I'm afraid but I suspect seat plus may be your best option if legroom isn't your primary concern, as you'll get two seats to yourself with an armrest that lifts up and, as you say, the table built into the seat in front.

Those armrest tables aren't ideal for those of a larger than average build as they wedge you in.

Thanks gumshoe :-) I've got a feeling you're totally right and seat plus is my best option, but oh to be able to upgrade and have all the little extras available. If only my purse strings can stretch to the UC upgrade!

Hi Becky,

I hope your well. Well This is always a Fun Topic Since Its the Primary Reason I never Fly Econemy myself. I am also a "Fatty" and can asure you that you will be quite comfortable in a P.E Seat. I am just shy of 18 Stone with broad shoulders and have been able to put my table down without any probs.

I always Fly Upperclass now so I don't have any isses with space but P.E will be just fine for you. I also noted seat plus but what i did not see until i read the small print was they can take you seat off you at any point for operational reasons even after you have paid, this would mean the possibility of a 10 hour flight in a single economy seat. ( It scares me to the core just thinking about it)

If you need to know anything else just ask.

Just to let you know also thsat if you do the Ex Dublin Trick you can score an Upperclass return fare for £1,000. Considering P.E can cost upto £800 return its great value. If your interested take a look at skyscnanner and do your flights from dub to your final destination. ( Just remember to select business class on the drop down)

You might just find you can afford to sit in upperclass for the same price as a P.E ticket. If however you go to Virgin website direct and select Upperclass then he same ticket will go from £1,000 via dublin to thousands direct from london.

Hi David, thank you for your reply!

Unfortunately I already booked before scouring the forums and learning the Dublin trick :-(

To upgrade total flights to P.E was £600 which I thought was quite something seeing as for the past couple of months it was showing at £1100!!

After reading fattie flying blogs and asking the opinions of the virgin customer service team I have gone ahead and booked seat plus. They calmed my fears of them taking the seat away from me as this was a huuuge worry of mine.

The only reason they will ever take the seat away from you is if there was ever a technical fault with the plane and had to swap you to a smaller plane. Now looking on the 'which plane' section on here and the schedule section it has been 100% a 747 LGW 1 plane and the lovely lady on the phone said that in her time that they have been running seat plus she has never ever herself known it to happen. Also if they were to swap to another plane they would accommodate as much as possible seeing as I am a larger lady.

So I'm guessing looking at the schedules that if the plane was to malfunction they would always bring in another 747 LGW 1 (the route is VS093 and VS094)

Was also pleasantly surprised that the lady was completely honest with me and sold me a £75 seat plus seat rather than trying to push me to the £600 P.E upgrade!

Fingers crossed that there will be no technical faults and I do get my seat plus, because yes... 10 hours is soooo long! memories of my flight to cuba in economy still haunt me!

Do let us know how things work out Silverflame. I have always thought seat plus an excellent idea for those needing more room. (I am totally dedicated to earning Miles so I can at least fly PE though ) My daughter flies frequently on her own and for long haul it would be ideal - just to give her some space generally. I too was concerned about the frequently cited situation of losing the spare seat, even when paid for, so the reassurance you received from Virgin is some comfort .

For what its worth, I'm a big fella (24 stone, 48" waist) and flew PE to Orlando last September; The arm rest tray table opened up just fine.

They've made the seatbelt cable shorter, I have found. ;-)