Virgin Premium but no seats together?

[Mrdudecool]

Hi All,

Been a while since posting on here!

We are off to WDW and on a Disney Cruise in September for our honeymoon and have used miles to upgrade our economy seats to premium.

We have had no issues picking seats on the return leg home but on the outbound flight, there are 2 seats available not really anywhere near each other! In all honesty, I wish id have known this before paying the taxes etc as well as paying for the miles boost to be able to upgrade as with it being our honeymoon, would kind of like to sit next to each other!

What on earth our the options now? Do they hold some back like in economy or is there 0 chance of us sitting together as I will be majorly annoyed at spending the extra money to sit at opposite ends of the cabin.

Thanks!!

Jack

 

[Jon84]

They sometimes hold the bulkhead seats for families or accessibility passengers, but they could also be gone to people in those groups too.

You've got a slim chance of sitting together. Ask when you check in, and I've seen people mention it to crew when boarding, and they usually ask a single traveler if they could swap.

You'll never book PE again without getting an agent on the phone to check the seat map for you!!

 

[saintrob]

Some of the seats will have been allocated to Virgin holidays and if they don't sell (unlikely unfortunately) then they'll be released. You can also ring Virgin and see if they can be of assistance - failing that I'd check in as early as possible. If any seats have been held back, then they'll be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Do a dummy booking for your dates - sometimes it'll show whether there are any available seats.

Good luck!

 

[Cornish Lad]

Seats go very quickly on Virgin flights - I got our PE seats up in the bubble the same day that the flight was released for seat booking - you have to be quick to get what you want.

 

[Tash87]

Are you a member of the Flying club? If so....Try calling them, they are very helpful and may be able to give you more info.

When Virgin changed the booking system into the economy classic etc, we already had our flight booked but didn't plan on paying to prebook our seats, we always have done in the past but as the fee had gone up and as a party of 4 we didn't want to pay the extra £240, so we decided to ring Flying club and they very kindly let us prebook without charge. Maybe they're worth a try

 

[california37]

Are you a member of the Flying club? If so....Try calling them, they are very helpful and may be able to give you more info.

When Virgin changed the booking system into the economy classic etc, we already had our flight booked but didn't plan on paying to prebook our seats, we always have done in the past but as the fee had gone up and as a party of 4 we didn't want to pay the extra £240, so we decided to ring Flying club and they very kindly let us prebook without charge. Maybe they're worth a try

Just wondered what number you called about your seats? We’re a family of 5 so don’t usually prebook seats and as we are Flying club members, we can usually get our seats together 72 hours in advance - however with the changes (we bought way before any announced change!) we no longer have that advantage over other bookings I called Virgin (usual booking number back In march) and was told there was nothing they could or would do. I argued politely for like an hour but still nothing and they refused to it me through to a manager. We fly in October and would love to make sure seats are together. Sounds like you were successful?

Thanks in advance and happy travels

 

[Tash87]

Just wondered what number you called about your seats? We’re a family of 5 so don’t usually prebook seats and as we are Flying club members, we can usually get our seats together 72 hours in advance - however with the changes (we bought way before any announced change!) we no longer have that advantage over other bookings I called Virgin (usual booking number back In march) and was told there was nothing they could or would do. I argued politely for like an hour but still nothing and they refused to it me through to a manager. We fly in October and would love to make sure seats are together. Sounds like you were successful?

Thanks in advance and happy travels

We called 0344 412 2414. It's "open" 24 hours.

Also planned on using the 72 hour booking but we was so concerned with 2 little ones and hubby not a confident flyer we thought we would give them a try. They was soo helpful but first they wanted to pre book the 2 isle seats and leave the middle ones empty as he said not many people book them ( middle rows of 4) we said we wasn't keen on that idea cause if someone did book those we would all be split up, gaining us nothing! Then he came round and booked all 4 for both journeys.
Sorry for long explanation, I just want you to be prepared

It's worth logging onto the seat map 1st and making a note of which ones you would ideally like.

I really hope it works for you too! Good luck and let us know how you get on.

 

[california37]

So we called Virgin on sat and today- both times they said they couldn’t do (more likely wouldn’t do) anything about the ticket structure change and to reserve us seats (without us paying another £300)
We fly in October and looking at the seating plans there are not many seats left together- especially with them taking up the middle part of economy for ‘delight’ passengers (or which we are only classic but without the ability to book seats) it annoys me since we are flying club members and we have flown every year with them since 1998.
Tash84- when do you fly? Sounds like you got someone really friendly and understanding. Our situation is the same (3 small kids with me and DH) and DH is not a good flyer so I would hate being in the middle 4 and then him stuck on an end somewhere. Or near the back of the plane.

We don’t have £300 to reserve seats and whilst I understand the ticket I bought did not have this as an option, being a fly club member gave us a bit more of an advantage with the 72 hours pre flight check in and seat selection. Never since 1998 have we been unable to get seats we want.

Frankly this sucks!!

Anyone else been successful in challenging this seat problem?!

thanks in advance and happy magical travels

 

[Tash87]

Oh no @california37 that really does suck!!!! I'm sorry it didn't work for you, I guess we have been really lucky (for a change lol)

We fly October 16th, I looked at the seat map last night and it looks 50/50 availability.

We have always used virgin or one of their sister companies but next time I think we'll be looking elsewhere. We may have been lucky with the seat allocation but their prices seem to be astronomical. We was also really annoyed with the new tiered booking system being introduced AFTER we had a confirmed flight and this time we was relying on the 72 hour seat booking system.