PE upgrades

[wideeyes]

Hi, on my mums last virgin flight to MCO last year her and the rest of the family(7 in total) were given PE seats downstairs, no mention was given to them when they checked in or boarded the plane, some other passengers were also given PE seats when they booked econ as well. They were not given the PE service though for example when the FA went round with the champagne the upgraded passengers were not offered any. The upgraded passengers were sat at the back seats while the paid passengers were sat at the front seats and they were lots of empty seats between them.

Do upgrades happen like this a lot, PE seats without the PE service?

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Just a little confused here.

Were they upstairs in the bubble?
If not, how many rows were there of PE downstairs?

 

[wideeyes]

they were down stairs.

 

[Ms Lucy]

I have been upgraded to PE twice, we were seated upstairs both times and had the full PE service, champers etc.

 

[mungo]

I don't understand that we have been upgraded and had the full pe service.

 

[wideeyes]

apparently only the people sat in the front seats were offered the champagne.

 

[wickesy]

Maybe economy was overbooked but rather than a 'full upgrade' it was more of an overspill.

 

[Claire L]

upgraded passengers were sat at the back seats while the paid passengers were sat at the front seats and they were lots of empty seats between them.

But there are only two rows of PE downstairs on the LGW/MAN planes totalling 16 seats? How many seats were on the window side?

I am thinking they were sat on the economy seats just behind the PE seats.

These are the two seating configs used -

LGW/MAN seating plan 1

LGW/MAN seating plan 2

Claire

 

[wicket2005]

Nice to be upgraded for free, but not so nice for the people who have paid to be where they are.

 

[Claire L]

Just to add when we have been upgraded to PE we have always had the full onboard PE service.

Claire

 

[Ms Lucy]

Nice to be upgraded for free, but not so nice for the people who have paid to be where they are.

I'm a travel agent and book lots of Virgin Atlantic flights, Our Virgin rep recommends us for upgrade if we have put a lot of business their way. We do have to work for our upgrades and they are never guaranteed.

It's a nice perk sometimes, something has to make up for the terrible salary .

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

they were down stairs.

Then they were in rows 21, 22 & 23 which are economy rows. Downstairs only rows 81 & 82 are PE. If they still have their ticket stubs have a look at the row numbers.

they are the best economy seats in my opinion on the aircraft because of where they are.

 

[wideeyes]

my mum thinks she was upgraded as the seats were different than when she came home and she says that she and my dad were sat on a row of two seats, as I also thought that she was sat behind PE.

maybe she dreamt it

 

[Claire L]

Do you know the date of the flight and which one ie Gatwick or Manchester as I am sure Obi can find the previous flights, just to clear up this little mystery.

Claire

 

[orchidvilla]

I always fly VA and book Economy and then when i get to Gatwick i upgrade there to PE if any seats are available, never not been able to yet and it works out cheeper to do it this way than book PE in the first place i know its not guarenteed but then i have never not been able to upgrade...

 

[crabbie1]

Nice to be upgraded for free, but not so nice for the people who have paid to be where they are.

I agree it would be nice to be upgraded free of charge but I would not be happy especially when it costs an average of £600 to upgrade and someone gets it for free.I would certainly be having words with VA.That sounds mean I know but when people have saved hard to enjoy that extra luxury and then along comes waltzing matilda and gets it for free it makes you wonder whether it is worth it.
When we went in november there were empt PE seats and noone was upgraded then they were left empty.I think it depends on the staff

Good luck though if it happens to you

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

my mum thinks she was upgraded as the seats were different than when she came home and she says that she and my dad were sat on a row of two seats, as I also thought that she was sat behind PE.

maybe she dreamt it

I take it it was a 747?
Can she remember the In flight entertainmant? was it on demand films that you could stop and start as you wanted?

Just trying to fathom this one out, as there are only two rows of PE on the LGW/MAN normal aircraft.
There are three rows on the heathrow 747's and many other versions on the Airbus versions

 

[Red-Snapper]

Sounds unlikely to me. There are usually very few spare PE seats these days and I certainly doubt there were 7 upgraded as stated. That would take up the whole of one of the 2 rows downstairs - unless they first moved 7 PE passengers to Upper Class - which again is unlikely.

Coming back from Las Vegas recently we sat in PE downstairs - the seats just behind (economy)were newer than the seats further back.

One easy way to tell - did she have a curtain pulled across just behind her ? or was it just in front ?

 

[homerdog]

I would not be happy... I would certainly be having words with VA.

So, if they offered to upgrade you from PE to Upper Class, you'd turn it down would you?

Operational Upgrades are part and parcel of the way airlines operate. If economy is full and they are overbooked, they'll upgrade someone to PE to make room. Same applies to UC.

To the OP, maybe the aircraft was an Airbus A340-600, all of the PE seats are downstairs (there is no upstairs!). It would be quite a coincidence though, as 747s are used 99% of the time to MCO. As stated, it is more likely that they were on a 747 in the seats just behind PE.

 

[wideeyes]

I agree that it does seem as if they were seated behind PE, it does seem a bit odd that 7 people would be upgraded. I will double check about the seats as maybe my mum did not explain her self very well.

I noticed that you can't book these seats behind PE online and I know that my parents did not book there seats as when I mentioned that I had booked seats for a future trip they were surpised you could do this.

The funny thing is that if these were econ seats my Dad wants to pay for an upgrade to PE now as he thinks they were in PE.