Advice needed on Virgin Seat Booking

[SimonY]

I know that there have been a few threads about this already so forgive me if I should have added to one of those rather than start a new one (but I am new to this).

We are going in November from Gatwick with Virgin. Group is 3 adults, 2 children (9 & 5) with seats and 1 without (20 months). I would like to try and reserve seats as soon as possible to attempt to get us as close together as possible. Any advice where we should go for? I have seen the link to the seating plan but not sure where to try for.

For information I tried to book the holiday on-line and Virgin wanted to charge full adult price for one child - all to do with room occupancy etc. We booked a similar holiday 2 years ago and got a single person discount which countered this (couldn't go - medical reasons). Also it didn't seem to count the youngest in the car calculation and left us with a vehicle for 5! I rang them up and asked why we didn't still get the single person discount - they then booked it as 3 adults, 2 children and an infant staying in 2 rooms, the car for 6 people and honoured the on-line booking discount as well. This saved 2 or 3 hundred pounds against the on-line option. Not sure if this is just excellent service or they are desparate to book holidays.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[floridamum]

Simon you can book your seats 180 days before you fly, phone 0871 2220050 to book your seats for your outward trip and they will tell you when to phone to book your return seats.
A set of four middle seats would proberbly be best for you.
I am flying from Gatwick with Virgin in November, but I am staying in a hotel near the airport the night before. Hope I have been some help.

 

[Hilary]

I understand (but don't know for a fact!) that the pre-bookable seats are all in the rear section of the plane. If I had a party of 5 (plus one), I'd try to get the last row of three window seats plus the first row of two window seats. I don't like being 'hemmed in' by other people, so like an aisle seat for our party.

When I rang to book our October seats, I couldn't get the ones I wanted, even though I rang early in the day on the dot of the 180 days out - so I'm not sure how all the other seats had already been booked . Consequently, don't bank on getting the seats you ask for, and be prepared for them to be changed should there be a change of aircraft, etc. before you fly.

If you're lucky you'll get a helpful operator on the phone who will be happy to discuss the best options for your party with you.

Good luck!

 

[keith&carol]

I also had problems booking on-line as we needed a single person discount but when I phoned Virgin direct they said that they realised there was a lot that the website couldn't yet do so I think honouring the discount was probably the norm for them in those cicumstances.
We also rang the other day to book seats for our Nov trip flying into Miami and the seats we wanted had supposedly all been taken. This I do not believe but there seems little to be gained at the moment by trying to persue it so we have settled for the offered seats & will try nearer the time to get them changed or if all else fails, we'll turn on the charm at check-in & see what we can do.
Either way we'll have a good time so hope you will too,
Regards,
Carol

 

[jjcollins]

Hi Simon what date in Nov do you go on we're going on Nov 11.Try this website for seating maps-

http://www.frequentflyer.oag.com/airlines_airports/seating.asp


jj........

 

[SimonY]

We go on the 12th (I think anyway) - it is so far away that I haven't even got it in my diary yet. First trip for 10 years. We got married at Lake Eola in Orlando and we are going to redo the service with the same JOP as last time - you would think that I had learned my lesson the first time around! (I have to say my wife didn't believe me when I told her I had booked it and had to check with others that I hadn't just thought of it on the spur of the moment - should make up for one bouquet of flowers per year though).

Thanks for all the advice and so quickly - not exactly sure when 180 days pans out but I think it works out at 16th May (this Thursday). We will try and book some seats then.

 

[kirstenjet]

I'm flying on the 14th Nov. Probably a silly question but there's a choice of three different plane types, how do you know which one it will be?
Thanks,
Zoe

 

[floridamum]

I heard the Gatwick planes are 747 400s, 3..4..3 configeration.

 

[Noiruk]

Just to let you know.

That I called Virgin on Monday for seat allocation for our trip in November and didnt have any problem's what so ever. What I did was print out seating plan's for all the aircraft virgin use and then when she told me which seat's we had plane (747) I could then look them up. I was also told that it was no certainty that I would get these seats. However a message then came up saying that we were travelling with a disabled child and was then told that if no matter if we got bumped from our seat's we would still be sitting together. Now I can breath a sigh of relief.

 

[Mazzy]

Hilary, if you are wondering why you didn't get the seats you wanted, I may have the answer for you.

If you have special needs and register with Virgin special needs dept, you fill in a form which includes which seats you would like. When I rang to prebook our seats last year, I found they had already been booked for me by Special Needs, so that may be why you couldn't get the seats you wanted - then again, there could be another reason!

If anyone has a disability and is travelling with Virgin, it's worth ringing their special needs dept and you are more likely to get the seats you want, but I cant guarantee that!

But as I don't trust anyone (but myself!) I will still be ringing next month to make sure our seats are prebooked - call me a pessimist but from past experience I won't rely on anyone else to do it for me!

 

[Hilary]

Thanks for the info Mazzy

It didn't <i>matter</i> to me that we couldn't get the seats I had in mind, but I was surprised that so many seats appeared to have already been allocated even though I was ringing early on the first day they could be requested for that flight. Your explanation makes it much more understandable (I though it must be a flight full of Virgin employees all getting first pick ).

Hope you get the seats you want - I'd be just the same and would be ringing to check!

 

[BevS97]

(I though it must be a flight full of Virgin employees all getting first pick ).

if it;s anything like BA, then employees get the last choice, and sit where they are told. My mum does sit assignments, and only about 1/3 of the plane is actually available for pre-booking, so it could be that you wanted a seat in an area of the plane that is not available.

Bev