Airplane Seats

[Scrap_Vamp]

right! So I thought I had this sussed now I have checked again and I'm confused again. I am flying out on 18th august which means I can preassign my seats on 19th June (for free as the date they start charging is going to be 25th June). But it only shows one direction.... does that mean I can only book my seats one way? and that I will be charged to bookn them on the way back? I have paid for extra legroom seats so th choice for me DH, DS and DD will be limited anyway. Help!!

My 60 days is tomorrow and I'm planning to do the seat selection right after I've booked our FP+ as I'll be up so early anyway! I'll let you know if I can only do one way

 

[Stitch's Greatest Fa]

Also people selecting seats on VA, remember, that if you select the middle bulkhead seats behind the galley, you will be moved if there is an infant booked onto the flight who has been assigned a skycot, as those are the skycot seats. We had some very disgruntled people behind us when we had a skycot as they couldn't understand why they were sitting in the row behind as they had preselected the seats we were in. Once they realised we had an infant in a skycot they were ok though.

 

[saysib]

Possibly a stupid question, but is it worth preassigning your seats if you have to pay for it? I'm trying to decide if we should or not.

 

[meldud]

My 60 days is tomorrow and I'm planning to do the seat selection right after I've booked our FP+ as I'll be up so early anyway! I'll let you know if I can only do one way

Fab, that would be really helpful thanks!

 

[meldud]

Also people selecting seats on VA, remember, that if you select the middle bulkhead seats behind the galley, you will be moved if there is an infant booked onto the flight who has been assigned a skycot, as those are the skycot seats. We had some very disgruntled people behind us when we had a skycot as they couldn't understand why they were sitting in the row behind as they had preselected the seats we were in. Once they realised we had an infant in a skycot they were ok though.

As we are travelling in August, I would like to pre assign my seats so that I can be further away from the sky cot seats. I have a real aversion to people standing over me whilst I am on a plane. It makes me feel quite claustrophobic and parents with young babes tend to stand up a lot. So I would rather book my seats further back. My DH and I travelled back from Portugal with Monarch and the seats were tiny but we had a large space in the aisle which everyone with a small baby came and stood in, mostly bashing me on the head whilst they jigged their babies up and down. So I just stood up and stretched in the same space so they moved.....I don't do confrontation, but I don't do clasutrophobic more!

 

[Elise79]

Until 25 June it will 60 days from each flight.

I think that if you have extra leg room or exit rows booked these still can't be requested prior to check in but I am not 100% certain.

 

[Kath2003]

Possibly a stupid question, but is it worth preassigning your seats if you have to pay for it? I'm trying to decide if we should or not.

If you care where you sit and who you sit with yes. If not, don't bother. You can get a choice 24 hours beforehand. That said, when we last flew with VA, the seats were chaos. Adults had booked weddings, honeymoons etc. through Virgin Holidays and had been told they'd get seats together. No one did. Check in was chaos with people complaining everywhere - took over an hour to drop bags (as we had already done OLCI and had printed boarding passes) because the staff were dealing with a LOT of angry customers. We had pre-booked ours so sat together but the person in front of us, in the last 2 rows of the 747 (row 64 or something) had booked her wedding through VH and her (brand new) husband was sat upstairs in the bubble! I always said I'd never pay but having seen that chaos, I'd factor it into the cost of flights now - which is (another) reason we will probably never fly VA again, as it would add £100 onto the cost of our airfares.

 

[2Tiggies]

If you care where you sit and who you sit with yes. If not, don't bother. You can get a choice 24 hours beforehand. That said, when we last flew with VA, the seats were chaos. Adults had booked weddings, honeymoons etc. through Virgin Holidays and had been told they'd get seats together. No one did. Check in was chaos with people complaining everywhere - took over an hour to drop bags (as we had already done OLCI and had printed boarding passes) because the staff were dealing with a LOT of angry customers. We had pre-booked ours so sat together but the person in front of us, in the last 2 rows of the 747 (row 64 or something) had booked her wedding through VH and her (brand new) husband was sat upstairs in the bubble! I always said I'd never pay but having seen that chaos, I'd factor it into the cost of flights now - which is (another) reason we will probably never fly VA again, as it would add £100 onto the cost of our airfares.

That sounds like our experience when we flew VA from Glasgow. Total chaos and we eventually departed an hour late after all the chaos.

I don't know what VA's seating/prepaid seating policy is compared to BA, but last time we flew with BA we had pre selected seats and they moved us at check in because they had to bump people. You can apply for a refund if you pre paid and they move you. I would assume VA does the same (?)

Meldud, I wonder if your window for pre booking seats for the return will open up 60 days from the return date.

 

[Scrap_Vamp]

Fab, that would be really helpful thanks!

At the moment it is letting me see the seating plan but no matter what seats I request it says they are not available! It then says it will show us in our original seats but no seats have been picked for us. I'm going to try again a little later and see if it will play ball.

It does look as though I can only book outbound as suspected.

 

[Elise79]

At the moment it is letting me see the seating plan but no matter what seats I request it says they are not available! It then says it will show us in our original seats but no seats have been picked for us. I'm going to try again a little later and see if it will play ball. It does look as though I can only book outbound as suspected.

You need to wait till 8am then it will allow you to select and keep seats for outbound.

Your return will be available on the 60 day mark or 25 June whichever is sooner

 

[meldud]

You need to wait till 8am then it will allow you to select and keep seats for outbound.

Your return will be available on the 60 day mark or 25 June whichever is sooner

Fantastic!!Yet another money making system for VA then !!!

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

At the moment it is letting me see the seating plan but no matter what seats I request it says they are not available! It then says it will show us in our original seats but no seats have been picked for us. I'm going to try again a little later and see if it will play ball. It does look as though I can only book outbound as suspected.

It's our 60 tomorrow too but it still says "seat map I unavailable" Any ideals?
As for extra legroom seats you will get them assigned at MCO check on, you cannot reserve them or do online check in.

 

[Scrap_Vamp]

Fantastic!!Yet another money making system for VA then !!!

We have decided not to book our inbound seats as it is just the two of us but the rest of the family have decided they will book us.

As long as we don't get bumped for any reason I got all 9 of us together in a block

 

[meldud]

It's our 60 tomorrow too but it still says "seat map I unavailable" Any ideals?
As for extra legroom seats you will get them assigned at MCO check on, you cannot reserve them or do online check in.

Can I online check in at either direction with extra legroom?? We have never used these seats before.

 

[scoobydooby]

Can I online check in at either direction with extra legroom?? We have never used these seats before.

They charge for extra keg room seats you can only get them face to face in my experience. When we have wanted then coming home we have made sure to be at the front of the DTD check in and have never checked in online to come home.

 

[meldud]

They charge for extra keg room seats you can only get them face to face in my experience. When we have wanted then coming home we have made sure to be at the front of the DTD check in and have never checked in online to come home.

We have already paid for these seats and the phone sales assitant at Virgin Atlantic told me to check the website in June in order to pre allocate our seats.

 

[scoobydooby]

We have already paid for these seats and the phone sales assitant at Virgin Atlantic told me to check the website in June in order to pre allocate our seats.

Oh well I kind of don't get that then, unless you are choosing from the limited number of extra leg room seats available. My bad I didn't know you could book them in advance. This has never been my experience? We've paid extra at check in several times though.

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

Oh well I kind of don't get that then, unless you are choosing from the limited number of extra leg room seats available. My bad I didn't know you could book them in advance. This has never been my experience? We've paid extra at check in several times though.

Ive just spoken to an agent who seemed to know what he was talking about,and the latest is, if or when this new system rolls out (24thJune) ELR seat will be available to book online along with all the others.What i don't understand is we paid £25 for ELR pre December,so does that mean that £25 now gets you standard seats and ELR? or will ELR prices go up? but until the new system goes live the normal applies i.e. book ELR at checkin

 

[meldud]

Ive just spoken to an agent who seemed to know what he was talking about,and the latest is, if or when this new system rolls out (24thJune) ELR seat will be available to book online along with all the others.What i don't understand is we paid £25 for ELR pre December,so does that mean that £25 now gets you standard seats and ELR? or will ELR prices go up? but until the new system goes live the normal applies i.e. book ELR at checkin

I have no idea either.

I paid for extra legroom seats direct with VA having booked originally through a TA. She said I should look in June for allocating seats. When I look on the date calculator earlier in this thread, it gives me the option of Gatwick-Orlando and I can choose seats free of charge on 19th June. If it doesnt offer me the option of booking the return flight seats on 19th june then I have to rely on the calculator thingy which said 25th June. Do I assume it shouldnt charge me for allocation as I booked before December?

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

I have no idea either. I paid for extra legroom seats direct with VA having booked originally through a TA. She said I should look in June for allocating seats. When I look on the date calculator earlier in this thread, it gives me the option of Gatwick-Orlando and I can choose seats free of charge on 19th June. If it doesnt offer me the option of booking the return flight seats on 19th june then I have to rely on the calculator thingy which said 25th June. Do I assume it shouldnt charge me for allocation as I booked before December?

It's become a messy mess I think! Though if you booked pre announcement then you won't be charged for standard seats or any extra for ELR. Confusing eh