Booking seats on Virgin flights?

[ruthie]

Just wondered how far ahead I could book my seats on a virgin flight?
Can I do this using my virgin holidays booking reference or do I need another code?

Thanks

 

[Claire L]

Your VH code will be valid as soon as it is 336 days or less until your return flight

Claire

 

[ruthie]

Thanks for the info!

 

[lorapinky]

I booked with Thomas Cook Signature but we are flying with Virgin, can we pre-book our seats?

 

[Claire L]

I booked with Thomas Cook Signature but we are flying with Virgin, can we pre-book our seats?

In theory yes, but it depends when TCS let VA know your details. Best bet is to phone VA and ask for your locator if there is no trace get onto TCS and ask them to release your details.

Claire

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

In theory yes, but it depends when TCS let VA know your details. Best bet is to phone VA and ask for your locator if there is no trace get onto TCS and ask them to release your details.

Claire

But still not 336 days before your return flight date

 

[Claire L]

But still not 336 days before your return flight date

Ah good point!

Claire

 

[lorapinky]

Thank you

 

[taqlbotsteve]

In my experience booking seats with virgin is a complete waste of time, last april we pre booked our seats via the internet 3 months in advance, then with a month to go i checked to make sure everything was ok and our reservations had been changed with us all broken up again(family of 8,6-econ 2-premium), i phoned to find out the reason only to get a call centre in the far east(don't know what country), we were told that the seats can only now be released on the morning of the flight as the check in staff need flexibility on the morning to seat passengers who turn up requesting specific seats, i then was told i could try again 24 hours prior to the flights departure but he couldn't recommend it would work, needless to say i was fairly mad as it is a selling point of virgins that you can pre book seats. Anywho i phoned 24 hours prior to departure to be told that my seats were pre booked and we would all be sat together both there and on the return. At the airport however the seats were spread over nearly 5 rows at the back of the plane with 2 of us sitting alone, after 30 mins of barracking and huge stress i got most of us on one row with 2 together 5 rows back, god knows who had to suffer for this but i sure felt like i had.
My parents were booked upstairs and faired no better with their seats not being what was prebooked and suffering no window seat, a priority my mother had stressed when she booked premium economy as she was paying extra she would like a good seat, which in the end she never got.
The return flight was worse in that we had been assured we would get priority seating due to the problems with the out bound seats, and the seats coming back were even further apart than going!!!!!!!!

Now i must be a sucker for punishment, because in 6 days 12 hours 25 minutes i should be on a virgin plane again heading to see the mouse, but i am more apprehensive of what seating i will get and the agro at manchester airport next monday morning than i am of the flight, there are only 4 of us this time and as before i phoned 2 months before to prebook only to be told i wasn't on the flight manifest yet and had to check when i got to the airport as there was nothing the guy could do, yet some friends who are flying on the same flight have told me they have their seats already booked and took great pleasure in telling me where they are sitting!!!!!

Pre booking seats is a waste of time with virgin, i can only recommend you turn up early and be prepared for a row to get your seats with an extremely orange attendant who got out of bed early on the wrong side(have yet to get a smile at manchester from the virgin attendants)

like i say a sucker for punishment, but still this year again the cheapest(is it beginning to show though)
I NEED A HOLIDAY

 

[taqlbotsteve]

just checked too and both continental and singapore airlines use virgin atlantics vs075/076 scheduled service to and from orlando

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

just checked too and both continental and singapore airlines use virgin atlantics vs075/076 scheduled service to and from orlando

They are codeshare flights. Same plane different mileage earning levels is the only difference (plus Continental pax and SQ pax don't get to use the Revivals lounge on return to LGW)

As for your comments regarding pre booked seats Virgin have always said that they are not guranteed. a change of plane, configuration can effect the seats for all. A disabled or special service requirement passenger can also effect the seating layout.
On your where is my seat page it plainly says;
"Select a seat for the highlighted passenger by clicking available seats on the map below, or type an available seat number into the box next to the passenger name.
Finish by clicking 'submit'.
Please note some seats are held for assignment at check in.
Please be aware that your seats may be changed at the airport due to operational reasons."

BA now do not allow you to choose your seat whatsoever before 24 hours.

The call centre operative was incorrect in informing you that no seat is available more than 24 hours before.

Only the bulhead and emergency exit seats plus only 40% of the total cabin availability are held back until 24 hours before the flight.

Had you booked direct for next week with Virgin Atlantic or with someone else, such as Virgin Holidays?

The reason I say this is that I always try and book direct with VA the full 336 days in advance of my flight return and it immedeatly shows up on my manage my bookings section of the VA web site. If you go through a Travel Agent, VA are in the hands of that TA to tell them you have booked. This works two ways, one way is that the TA can take bookings more than 336 days in advance of your return trip as they are not registering your booking with VA until quite some time after the plane opens up. The downside is that unless you push the TA for your reference it will not show up in your VA account.

I can quite happliy say that every seat I have booked has been the one I have flown in. However, I am acuetly aware that this could change if a disabled person books on the same flight as me, as I always book 6A 6K & 7A.

 

[wifey]

We had to ask VH for our VA code (which is completely different) 336 days from our return flight

 

[Claire L]

My parents were booked upstairs and faired no better with their seats not being what was prebooked and suffering no window seat, a priority my mother had stressed when she booked premium economy as she was paying extra she would like a good seat, which in the end she never got.
The return flight was worse in that we had been assured we would get priority seating due to the problems with the out bound seats, and the seats coming back were even further apart than going!!!!!!!!

Why did she think she should get special treatment as everyone upstairs is also a PE traveller Also as the seating is 2 + 2 and there were two of them why did they not get a window seat?

Claire

 

[taqlbotsteve]

Why did she think she should get special treatment as everyone upstairs is also a PE traveller Also as the seating is 2 + 2 and there were two of them why did they not get a window seat?

Claire

The reason i think was they had the forward seats which mean't the window was behind them, as for special treatment when you pay over £1000 over the odds (plus the £900 each for the holiday) you should get better treatment as should everyone who was sat upstairs, i didn't mean to imply better than anyone else sat up there but certainly the least you would expect is to be able to look out of a window.
I was responding to a request for info about booking seats with virgin holidays, this was just to show that what you book is not necessarily what you get, and my advice was to turn up early to ensure getting something near what you want. If all you get is confrontation for trying to help then next time i will not bother,
Thanks steve

 

[Claire L]

The reason i think was they had the forward seats which mean't the window was behind them, as for special treatment when you pay over £1000 over the odds (plus the £900 each for the holiday) you should get better treatment as should everyone who was sat upstairs, i didn't mean to imply better than anyone else sat up there but certainly the least you would expect is to be able to look out of a window.
I was responding to a request for info about booking seats with virgin holidays, this was just to show that what you book is not necessarily what you get, and my advice was to turn up early to ensure getting something near what you want. If all you get is confrontation for trying to help then next time i will not bother,
Thanks steve

The way you said 'better treatment' did sound like they expected better treatment than anyone else in that class of seating, thank you for explaining what you did actually mean.


The only trouble is even if you have got an obscured view it is still called a window seat as closest to the outer edge of the plane, also these seats are not prebookable as they are bulkhead seats, was there any reason for your parents to need them ie special medical assistance as that would explain why they had them.

I must say in the 4 return flights we have made over the past 3 years in PE we have always got the seats we 'prebooked', even on full flights, except in 2004 when it was the old UC seating, pre refit, and then we were moved from PE as it was over booked into the rear area of UC. I get a feeling pre refit they often over booked PE and sat the overflow in the rear UC seating.

I hope this time things go more smoothly for you.

Claire

 

[taqlbotsteve]

Thanks i too hope things are a lot smoother this time around .
I was just trying to point out that pre booking will not guarantee the seats you select, regardless of how soon you book in advance, so its always best to get there nice and early just to be sure you get seats that are at best together