Virgin pre book seats still no guatantee

[kirsti o]

So after reading the thread earlier about how Virgin charge for booking seats together, I went to look online.

While I'm not impressed we are a family group of 14 so I was kind of over a barrel. I felt I had no choice but pre book and pay for seats.

For some reason our travel agent did our bookings as 3 separate bookings? So 4 of my children are on one booking, my husband and 3 kids on another and me, my brother, SIL, mum and dad on another.
So I went in and booked seats. I booked 3 extra legroom as my brother has a 20 month old so the extra space would be welcome. I've mixed the seats around from how the groups are booked. So my children on one booking are spread over 3 rows so the adults on other booking is sat with them.
After booking I tweeted Virgin to ask them to link the bookings so no one is moved/swapped and so they know we are all together!

He said he can't link them? He can put a reference on but if they need to be moved they will!
He also said he can't guarantee we will have those seats or that we will be together?
***?
I've just paid £710 to book these seats!!
I'm so confused!!

 

[Laniy]

I actually had a problem with this last week. I went to add an extra bag to our luggage allowance but couldn't get into manage my account as it said my booking ref couldn't be found. I knew it was correct as I'd previously booked our seats for the outbound and return journeys. Emailed Virgin and was given a new booking ref so as to be able to go in and manage my booking.


However, upon logging in with the new booking ref the seats I had booked (and paid for) were missing from the manage my booking site. I quickly emailed Virgin back to notify them thinking it was just an oversight and that they would just update the page to include the bookings. As I was feeling a bit uneasy about the situation I went on as if I was booking seats for the journeys for the first time and was very surprised to see all 4 (2 seats on each leg) seats we had booked available for anyone to book! I immediately called them up to find out what was going on and the operator was SO unhelpful. No apology, no explanation (although I'm sure it had something to do with the first staff member creating a new booking ref). I managed to get the same seats booked for the return journey but had to change our seats for the other leg. Very uneasy about how the whole thing was handled and especially as I was the one who found the mistake, god knows how long it would have taken for them to notice.


The Virgin rep that I emailed when I noticed the seats were missing eventually emailed me back (but obviously by this point I'd just about managed to sort it out). I let them know how I was a bit unsettled by the way they handle these pre bookings of seats. I understand they are not completely guaranteed but I still think if they are charging this amount for the service then it should at least be a little but more secure.


So lesson is, make sure you check your booking is still there from time to time!

 

[kirsti o]

Oh no!

I actually had a problem with this last week. I went to add an extra bag to our luggage allowance but couldn't get into manage my account as it said my booking ref couldn't be found. I knew it was correct as I'd previously booked our seats for the outbound and return journeys. Emailed Virgin and was given a new booking ref so as to be able to go in and manage my booking.


However, upon logging in with the new booking ref the seats I had booked (and paid for) were missing from the manage my booking site. I quickly emailed Virgin back to notify them thinking it was just an oversight and that they would just update the page to include the bookings. As I was feeling a bit uneasy about the situation I went on as if I was booking seats for the journeys for the first time and was very surprised to see all 4 (2 seats on each leg) seats we had booked available for anyone to book! I immediately called them up to find out what was going on and the operator was SO unhelpful. No apology, no explanation (although I'm sure it had something to do with the first staff member creating a new booking ref). I managed to get the same seats booked for the return journey but had to change our seats for the other leg. Very uneasy about how the whole thing was handled and especially as I was the one who found the mistake, god knows how long it would have taken for them to notice.


The Virgin rep that I emailed when I noticed the seats were missing eventually emailed me back (but obviously by this point I'd just about managed to sort it out). I let them know how I was a bit unsettled by the way they handle these pre bookings of seats. I understand they are not completely guaranteed but I still think if they are charging this amount for the service then it should at least be a little but more secure.


So lesson is, make sure you check your booking is still there from time to time!

Oh no! You didn't have to pay twice?
I will definitely check!
Although flew with them 7 years ago and the same thing happened- we'd rang loads of times to book to groups together. Everytime they said it was done. Got to the airport and it wasn't. They promised it would be sorted on the return journey. It wasn't. No child meals even though I'd booked them. No bulkhead even though I had a six week old son!

I vowed to never fly with them again!!?
And here I am!!!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

No seat is ever guaranteed on any airline.

An airline can make a note that your group is traveling together, but you cannot put people on three bookings on the same PNR. Your TA should have booked you all on one booking.

 

[Laniy]

No, I think I would have just about lost it if they'd have asked me to pay again!

A customer relations executive emailed me back about the situation and the only clarification I got was that there is no guarentee on the seat bookings until you check in and that until then they can change due to aircraft and operational changes. Deliberately vague but what can you do?

I hope you don't encounter any issues but it looks like their official line is that until check in, they're under no obligation to give you those seats

I did read in the small print that your money would be refunded if that did happen but it's still frustrating. Paticularly for those travelling with children and nervous fliers I would imagine!

 

[kirsti o]

I rang last night and spoke to a lady at customer relations who has linked us together somehow!
She also said we are 99.9% going to be in those seats- they can't guarantee it because if they needed to change plane to one with a different seating layout it would throw bookings out!
Just hard to imagine seating away from the kids for 9 hours plus I am terrified of flying- have to take Valium so can't be on my own with kids.

I don't know why TA booked them all separate? It was all booked together?
I guess that's what happens when you don't book direct with them but the flight was over £2000 less so what do you do?

 

[Kath2003]

No airline ever guarantees seats. VA will refund your seat booking charges if they can't reseat you "with" your party (and their defintion of "with" is quite liberal). That's about as good as it gets. At the end of the day, it's 9 hours of your life and they will do what they can to seat children with an adult - not least because it makes life easier for the FAs...