Virgin Premium Economy - not in bump

[london75]

Quick update, we arrived, we couldn't move upstairs but I was able to get the last seat and sit with my family which was great.

Really enjoyed it, the girls were ace (3.5 and nearly1) and my worries about having communal toilets right in front of us were unfounded.

However, as said before, downstairs should not be the same price as upstairs, they are different classes without a doubt.

Anyone else noticed other little things like it's sparkling wine not champagne and the fruit juice is concentrate not fresh. Small things but considering the price, I wish they'd charged me a £5-£8 more to cover the cost of real juice and a champagne if times are hard for them.

Here now, villa is fine, not lush but fine but hey it was a Tesco voucher Virgin special so can't complain.

I'm not normally this miserable honest, can't wait until MK tomorrow.

 

[scarletlancer]

Quick update, we arrived, we couldn't move upstairs but I was able to get the last seat and sit with my family which was great.

Really enjoyed it, the girls were ace (3.5 and nearly1) and my worries about having communal toilets right in front of us were unfounded.

However, as said before, downstairs should not be the same price as upstairs, they are different classes without a doubt.

Anyone else noticed other little things like it's sparkling wine not champagne and the fruit juice is concentrate not fresh. Small things but considering the price, I wish they'd charged me a £5-£8 more to cover the cost of real juice and a champagne if times are hard for them.

Here now, villa is fine, not lush but fine but hey it was a Tesco voucher Virgin special so can't complain.

I'm not normally this miserable honest, can't wait until MK tomorrow.

To be quite honest imho you are entitled to be as critical as you like on the basis of the absolutely outrageous price premium that VA put on PE. I did enquire as to the cost of an upgrade for our trip in August but ultimately passed on it as I have better things to do with the best part of a thousand pounds!

 

[Claire L]

Anyone else noticed other little things like it's sparkling wine not champagne and the fruit juice is concentrate not fresh. Small things but considering the price, I wish they'd charged me a £5-£8 more to cover the cost of real juice and a champagne if times are hard for them.

Yes it has been sparkling wine in PE for a couple of years now

Claire

 

[Red-Snapper]

They only hold back the bulk head and exit seats, exit seats are always held for any flight as they need to check person is suitable for assisting in an emergency to open the doors.

Claire

I dont think this is correct.

At CHECK-IN I believe a number of seats are released both up stairs and down. Only a certain number are available for prebooking.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

To be quite honest imho you are entitled to be as critical as you like on the basis of the absolutely outrageous price premium that VA put on PE. I did enquire as to the cost of an upgrade for our trip in August but ultimately passed on it as I have better things to do with the best part of a thousand pounds!

Its not really.
£700 compared to Discounted economy of £450 and for that extra luggage allowance, bigger leg room, more staff, alternative food, pre take off drinks etc etc.

A proper economy ticket, not discounted is close to the PE price.

Whilst you may not think ist worth the cost, its proven that many more do feel ist worth it as the PE seats go very quickly.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

I dont think this is correct.

At CHECK-IN I believe a number of seats are released both up stairs and down. Only a certain number are available for prebooking.

The way it works is that 60% of the seats are released at 336 days out, but not the rows in economy 21-28, the emergency exit, the bulkhead or the extra leg room seats.
HOWEVER!
If the flight is booked up, the 40% "normal" seats will be allocated and you will get the "Seats will be confirmed at checkin " meassage
24 hours from take off the seats not allocated for disabled families in rows 21-28 are released (though these can be removed from you if a requirement is needed at checkin)
At chedckin the emergency exit, the bulkhead and the extra leg room seats are allocated.
A slight change for the orlando route is that in PE part of the upstairs cabin (70-74) is now only relaesed for VH passengers before checkin.

 

[torsie24]

I've sat in the front row of downstairs PE, it was great! I had about 7 feet of legroom! My only grumble is the closest toilets were in Economy, but that's hardly a problem.....

 

[TCO]

Sounds like we got mega lucky when we went in March, we decided at the airport to upgrade to PE for a half decent price, ended up sat upsatirs in row 75, right next to the exit with acres of legroom.

Pretty shocking considering we payed less than the price quoted at booking and some people were downstairs. I only found out from this thread that PE extended to downstairs.

My only grumble was our TV's didnt work and then the DVD players were skipping a bit, they gave us £50 of duty free and a bottle of champagne to say sorry though.

 

[london75]

Flew back in on Saturday night.

Used DTD check in and wahey we got our favourite seats all together on the front row upstairs.

The girls were fantastic and slept the whole way pretty much. What little time Poppy (nearly 1) was awake, she was entertaining everyone by waving to all that went to the toilet, the couple behind, saying hello to the flight attendants and just generally being funny!

The sparkling wine had reverted to champagne and when we asked to buy a bottle of champers to drink (work non stop now for another year to pay for the next trip and the rare luxury of a taxi from the airport) the lady disappeared and came back 10 minutes later with a tray of 10 glasses of champagne and said you might as well have these, they're left over from take off and it saves you buying one I had 7 of them I think plus my own and two glasses of wine! Wow. Helped me cope with a lanky one year old asleep on my lap for 5 hours.

This reconfirms my feeling that upstairs and downstairs PE are different classes with upstairs being PE Plus. I'd pay more to be guaranteed the bump which will no doubt be an option as soona s VA think of it!

 

[Claire L]

london75,

Glad to hear you had a great time and that service was as to be expected of VA

Lol about Poppy and her waving

Claire

 

[Twilight Terror]

This reconfirms my feeling that upstairs and downstairs PE are different classes with upstairs being PE Plus. I'd pay more to be guaranteed the bump which will no doubt be an option as soona s VA think of it!

And I'm sure they will. Let's face it, they've already started charging extra for the E seats at the very back of the plane, where there's just a tad more moving room.

Glad you had a great trip and everything went well!

 

[wideeyes]

And I'm sure they will. Let's face it, they've already started charging extra for the E seats at the very back of the plane, where there's just a tad more moving room.

Glad you had a great trip and everything went well!

The seats upstairs are already been sold as a VH annoying as I booked with VA and have seats down stairs for the outbound flight and they could be empty seats upstairs being held back for VH customers who haven't even paid or booked yet when I have paid for my ticket in full!!

 

[Twilight Terror]

The seats upstairs are already been sold as a VH annoying as I booked with VA and have seats down stairs for the outbound flight and they could be empty seats upstairs being held back for VH customers who haven't even paid or booked yet when I have paid for my ticket in full!!

If VH weren't soooo much more compared to VA, I'd be tempted to buy a Fly Drive with them in order to get those seats. But at an extra £250+ per person is definitely not worth it! Although I do wonder if we can get seats upstairs purely for medical reasons - mum needs room to move about frequently, without getting in the way of everyone!

 

[wideeyes]

If VH weren't soooo much more compared to VA, I'd be tempted to buy a Fly Drive with them in order to get those seats. But at an extra £250+ per person is definitely not worth it! Although I do wonder if we can get seats upstairs purely for medical reasons - mum needs room to move about frequently, without getting in the way of everyone!

Worth a try.

My DD gets bad airsickness and we are in the row of four down stairs so feel sorry to the two people in the other two seats, hope we can get a row two seats at check in.

 

[oceanscape]

The seats upstairs are already been sold as a VH annoying as I booked with VA and have seats down stairs for the outbound flight and they could be empty seats upstairs being held back for VH customers who haven't even paid or booked yet when I have paid for my ticket in full!!

Same

I'm so upset. I wouldn't have paid the $$$$ to upgrade if I knew we would be put downstairs.

 

[ClareH37]

The seats upstairs are already been sold as a VH annoying as I booked with VA and have seats down stairs for the outbound flight and they could be empty seats upstairs being held back for VH customers who haven't even paid or booked yet when I have paid for my ticket in full!!

My parents booked their flights directly with VA for early May (i.e. last month), just 4 weeks before departure. At time of booking the agent was able to book seats in the bubble going out for them, however, coming back there were no pre-selectable seats left, however, he asked if my parents were adults (?!) and then asked if they would prefer to sit upstairs or downstairs, I replied upstairs. He then advised that the rest of the bubble would open up at online check-in.

Going out we did twilight and they got their pre-requested seats in the bubble, coming back, I checked them in online 24 hours before and they had been allocated seats 71 H&K already.

I have since been told by a friend who works for Virgin, unofficially of course so take this with a pinch of salt if you want to , that the aim is that VH passengers will not be able to pre-select their seats, they will automatically be allocated the front of the bubble at check-in, this should mean that the rear of the bubble will be free at any time for VA passengers to pre-select their seats.