Paying for prebooked seats with Virgin

K

katytrott

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 6, 2006
Our trip is in Aug and I went to the Virgin site to book our seats and discovered we now have to pay. Last trip out in 2013 (and every other previous to that) we could book our economy seats on line for free (obviously had to pay if wanting extra room seats). I can't believe this!

Considering the cost of the holiday we can't afford an extra £200 pounds to ensure we sit together (£25 per person per flight). This is quite concerning for us as we have young kids.

Has anyone got experience of not prebooking seats and leaving it till check in? What are the chances of being able to sit together. I'm hoping not many people are paying and that there will be plenty of options still. Looking at our flight, it appears the seats are over half gone - eek!

I'm wondering if we will end up being 2 and 2 - surely this change doesn't leave kids on their own?!
 
Virgin have said they will sit one parent with one child. (Along as they are under 12) But that seat can be across an aisle etc.

The change came into effect last Nov I believe and if you booked flights before that you can prebook seats free of charge at 60days in advance I think. ( I may be wrong but double check).

WE flew on Saturday and were seated near a family who had been split up. The mum was sat in the seat in front of the girl who looked about 10.

We did online check in exactly 24hrs before our flight and there were only single seats left to pick because it was half term.
 
I'm flabbergasted! How much money to they charge for the basic tickets?! It seemed to work perfectly as it did and families sat together.

Could someone direct me to some previous threads please? I thought there would be plenty but I couldn't find them in the search (can never find anything in the search!)



Laurafoster said:
Virgin have said they will sit one parent with one child. (Along as they are under 12) But that seat can be across an aisle etc.

The change came into effect last Nov I believe and if you booked flights before that you can prebook seats free of charge at 60days in advance I think. ( I may be wrong but double check).

WE flew on Saturday and were seated near a family who had been split up. The mum was sat in the seat in front of the girl who looked about 10.

We did online check in exactly 24hrs before our flight and there were only single seats left to pick because it was half term.
Click to expand...

This really concerns me - we'll be going 3 days into the summer hols and were planning to do online checking exactly 24hrs in advance. What happens if it is just single seats at that point? If it was just single seats 24hrs before does that mean everybody else paid to book?
 


They say that they try to pre-assign families before online check in opens, and that they'll make sure an adult is sat "with" the children (though clearly this may mean across an aisle etc.). Other than that, you gotta pay or gamble at 24 hours (72 if you join the flying club).
 
At 24 hours out for our August flight, the only seats together were exit row and we paid for them. Next time, we're factoring paying for seats in with the price of the flights, as it's not worth the risk. I don't fly well alone!
 
Thanks everyone,

Feeling a bit happier today: We booked our hire car last night through Virgin so I asked about kids sitting with the parents. The chap told me unequivocally it is law that a child must sit NEXT TO their guardian. I mentioned I had heard a few stories where the children were placed next to parents across the aisle or in front/behind parents and he reiterated it was law to sit next the parents. I asked what happens when at check in if there are only single seats left and he said they have to reshuffle the plane - seems crazy! I think he kind of agreed and said that not many people are prebooking seats now. We are 54 days from our flight and I guess the plane is approx. half prebooked. Virgin chap reckons that those who are going to prebook would have done so by now so will stay like this till we can prebook 72 hrs before (flying club members)

Anyway, I feel more confident that if we do have problems we can quote the law!!

Dawned on me that if everybody campaigned against this by no one prebooking (except the extra room seats) no one would have any problem at check in and have our seats together for free!!
 


I'm sorry to say he was talking rubbish it is not the law at all. The law states a child must be seated with an adult not a parent or guardian any adult and next to can mean across the aisle, in front of or diagonally opposite.
 
There are no laws. The recommendation is that adults sit on the same row as their children. If not possible, then the recommendation is not more than one row away.

And people could campaign and not pay - but then they'd get split up. We are 2 adults. We paid for both our upcoming flights. I don't want the first and last day of our holiday spent sat on opposite sides of the plane. The fact that families get priority over us was a HUGE factor in our decision to prebook seats because we fly in school holidays.
 
Kath2003 said:
There are no laws. The recommendation is that adults sit on the same row as their children. If not possible, then the recommendation is not more than one row away.

And people could campaign and not pay - but then they'd get split up. We are 2 adults. We paid for both our upcoming flights. I don't want the first and last day of our holiday spent sat on opposite sides of the plane. The fact that families get priority over us was a HUGE factor in our decision to prebook seats because we fly in school holidays.
Click to expand...
Same - we can only fly in school holidays so I never take a chance with my seats.
 
Something I would never pay for myself. Rather take the risk of being seated apart than pay £50pp return.
All the trips we have ever done we have only been split up one, we had to sit 2+2 10 rows apart. Every other trip we have either chosen our seats free or waited til check in without any problems.
 
The guy sat next to us on our last flight was sandwiched in a middle seat, with his wife - whom he had married the previous day - in another middle seat several rows behind, on the way to their honeymoon. DH got talking to him and he said that was all that was left at check in. That sealed the deal for us. It's now included in our budgeting. I hate not having an aisle seat, and I also don't want to spend the first and last day of my holiday on a 9 hour flight separated from the only other person I'm with. (I make DH take the middle seat ;))

We also had a similar experience with Virgin when seat selection was FREE!
 
Remember that you can book virgin flights by using orbitz (delta) or booking with delta us site - The flights as usually much cheaper (I got xmas flights man to orlando last week for £525) seats are bookable straight away on the virgin site for free and you still get your virgin air miles,
 
When I contacted Virgin, the response I got was that children under 12 would be seated with an adult. Also in their email they said that the reason they are charging was because so many people had complained about being moved from their prebooked seats that they said they would be willing to pay for seats instead....yeah right! I would be willing to pay if it totalled let's say about £60 like the package companies...but £200!
 
I had to pay £450 to book seats. 9 of us!!
After talking to virgin staff I realised this was our only option as they only had to sit 1 child with 1 adult and I couldn't risk been sat apart. Plus I have two over 12's who I didn't want to leave sat on their own for 9 hours!!
I just didn't want to spend the next 4 months panicking that we were going to be spread across a plane!
 
Tried to pre book seats for two adults and infant and a child last night and because we have requested a skycot we cant do it. Coming back premium so as all the people prebook seats means we re likely to be split up unfortunately if te cabin is busy.

Seems odd virgin cant do it as BA can
 
Little bit annyoing but will probs pay the money to sit next to the gf when we go as its a trip together and spening 8 hours on a plane sat next to a stranger would not be the best start to a hoilday
 
Crickey said:
Little bit annyoing but will probs pay the money to sit next to the gf when we go as its a trip together and spening 8 hours on a plane sat next to a stranger would not be the best start to a hoilday
Click to expand...

I Agree, this is the dilemma that I'm in at the moment :mad:

I'll also be booking for the way home in the next couple of days too so that's £100 down the drain. Could be worse though I guess

Just wish I'd known about this before booking with virgin as when I checked before I booked, you got it included
 
Well this thread made me look at our BA booking- £60 each for the 4 of us (2 adults, 2 children) to sit together for both journeys. £240 in total!! They will allocate us seats 5 days out but that will only mean that each child will sit with an adult not that we will all sit together. That's taken the shine off things.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page


GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!


New DISboards Threads

jolynne28
Best Topolinos strategy
Replies
0
Views
1
jolynne28
jolynne28
disland7
Best way to do Parks and Run
Replies
2
Views
3
Zutroy
Zutroy
Mrs~Incredible
Big rental discounts today on Costco! Go go go!! :)
Replies
1
Views
4
georgina
georgina
Kailani6
Banked points on Resale contract?
Replies
2
Views
26
pixieprincess925
pixieprincess925
D
Very weird question about cheese
Replies
2
Views
78
lanejudy
lanejudy
cherice95403
Father's Day Weekend 2024
Replies
1
Views
39
john7994
john7994
NEWS & UPDATES



Latest posts







facebook twitter
Top