Virgin Atlantic Seat booking charge from 17 November 2014

[Samaya]

Looks like VA updated 'Choosing your seat in advance' on the 18 November 2014.

A customer who booked your flight before the 12 November 2014, you can assign a standard seat, free of charge 60 days before your flight departure**.

**If you are selecting seats before March 2015 for travel within 60 days, you will need to speak to our Contact Centre who will manually waive the fee.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/e...omer-service/latest-news/seat-assignment.html

 

[catherine]

Looks like VA updated 'Choosing your seat in advance' on the 18 November 2014.

A customer who booked your flight before the 12 November 2014, you can assign a standard seat, free of charge 60 days before your flight departure**.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/e...omer-service/latest-news/seat-assignment.html

Thanks for posting this! I'm to hear that Virgin have done that, at least it saves me having to make a phone call. Now I just need to decide if I can wait, or is it worth spending another £300!

 

[chmurf]

Since we're talking about booking seats, let me jump on this thread with a slightly related question

VA is one of my options, does it matter if I book with expedia or ebookers (as far as dealing direct with the airline for seats or whatever cause I would have to deal with them.) ?

why am I asking ?

if we pay in Euros, our CC has a built in insurance, and we don't need to purchase a travel insurance through a 3rd pary, but paying direct in GBP with Virgin would mean a hefty 2.5% cross border fee from my bank ...

Booking with a UK card would not give me the insurance coverage I get with the French CC, and would require the purchase of a separate insurance.

So, my cheapest option is to book through a Euro broker/consolidator, but I also would like the convinience of "direct" booking and not be tied to a TA or 3rd party when it comes to managing my booking.

anyone has experience with expedia and VA ? (and to stay on topic, how easy would it be for me to prebook seats in case I wanted to spend a lot of money on "useless" stuff ?)

thanks

 

[tinkerpea]

Ive just booked the exit seats in the bubble, for my inbound flight as that was more important to me as were a two i did not want to have to keep disturbing somebody on the night flight,when ever i need to toilet and that might be alot and im greedy so i want the window seat!!

im not as fussed with the way out as ill be too excited "well hopefully" as dh says im a flaming nightmare to travel with and he would rather have the kids up until im nicely seated and strapped into my seat,then we become friends again.

 

[Laurafoster]

Since we're talking about booking seats, let me jump on this thread with a slightly related question VA is one of my options, does it matter if I book with expedia or ebookers (as far as dealing direct with the airline for seats or whatever cause I would have to deal with them.) ? why am I asking ? if we pay in Euros, our CC has a built in insurance, and we don't need to purchase a travel insurance through a 3rd pary, but paying direct in GBP with Virgin would mean a hefty 2.5% cross border fee from my bank ... Booking with a UK card would not give me the insurance coverage I get with the French CC, and would require the purchase of a separate insurance. So, my cheapest option is to book through a Euro broker/consolidator, but I also would like the convinience of "direct" booking and not be tied to a TA or 3rd party when it comes to managing my booking. anyone has experience with expedia and VA ? (and to stay on topic, how easy would it be for me to prebook seats in case I wanted to spend a lot of money on "useless" stuff ?) thanks

I booked my flights through a third party ( Orbitz) and was given my VA booking reference within a day or two. I had no problems booking my seats online

 

[Elise79]

Since we're talking about booking seats, let me jump on this thread with a slightly related question

VA is one of my options, does it matter if I book with expedia or ebookers (as far as dealing direct with the airline for seats or whatever cause I would have to deal with them.) ?

why am I asking ?

if we pay in Euros, our CC has a built in insurance, and we don't need to purchase a travel insurance through a 3rd pary, but paying direct in GBP with Virgin would mean a hefty 2.5% cross border fee from my bank ...

Booking with a UK card would not give me the insurance coverage I get with the French CC, and would require the purchase of a separate insurance.

So, my cheapest option is to book through a Euro broker/consolidator, but I also would like the convinience of "direct" booking and not be tied to a TA or 3rd party when it comes to managing my booking.

anyone has experience with expedia and VA ? (and to stay on topic, how easy would it be for me to prebook seats in case I wanted to spend a lot of money on "useless" stuff ?)

thanks

Our flights for next summer were booked through Lastminute.com and is in fact a DL codeshare outbound and VS inbound. (It was nearly £200 pp cheaper doing it this way )

As long as you have Virgins locator number you can manage your booking and book your seats - I did ours on Tuesday.

 

[Samaya]

Since we're talking about booking seats, let me jump on this thread with a slightly related question

VA is one of my options, does it matter if I book with expedia or ebookers (as far as dealing direct with the airline for seats or whatever cause I would have to deal with them.) ?

why am I asking ?

if we pay in Euros, our CC has a built in insurance, and we don't need to purchase a travel insurance through a 3rd pary, but paying direct in GBP with Virgin would mean a hefty 2.5% cross border fee from my bank ...

Booking with a UK card would not give me the insurance coverage I get with the French CC, and would require the purchase of a separate insurance.

So, my cheapest option is to book through a Euro broker/consolidator, but I also would like the convinience of "direct" booking and not be tied to a TA or 3rd party when it comes to managing my booking.

anyone has experience with expedia and VA ? (and to stay on topic, how easy would it be for me to prebook seats in case I wanted to spend a lot of money on "useless" stuff ?)

thanks

Hi and not sure if this is of any help as its not Expedia but we booked a VA flight online through Netflights and within minutes received a Netflights confirmation number and within 23-hours another email containing VA's 6-digit booking number which we need so to manage our flight.

Also we called VA on 0344 874 7747 and requested Seat Plus and had no problems booking that through them even though it states on the Seat Plus web page within How to Book: If you used a travel agent – ask them to check availability and reserve Seat Plus for you.

Good luck

 

[chmurf]

thanks all
It's a relief. I've had some issues with TAs before, so I'm now being extra cautious.

 

[Samaya]

thanks all
It's a relief. I've had some issues with TAs before, so I'm now being extra cautious.

Not sure if this is also of any help but do you have a low-cost call number for VA from within France, if not then do you use SKYPE as it might be worth calling the USA freephone number on 1-800 862 8621. It's worked okay for us and was free.

 

[tinkerpea]

Just a warning to those who are looking to book exit row seats. I booked mine over the phone a month ago and was told I had the last 2.

Last night I tried to select them but was constantly told by the site that I had to pay £35 for them. 3 problems here.
How could I pay for them if there were none left to buy???
The seats actually cost £50.
Why can't I select on line?

I rang Virgin and after aaaaggggees on hold, they said that selecting one bought previously couldn't be done on line because of a glitch, that the price was actually £50 and the £35 was also a glitch that would not be honoured and they were stunned to discover that the site was selling seats that were, he confirmed, not available.

Just seen this and have to say,im now pretty worried as i booked exit in the bubble,and will be so mad if we lose out on them,and the twos at the
back of the plane are then gone!

is anyone else that has read this worried? as i seen a few people have recently booked these seats?

 

[Elise79]

Just seen this and have to say,im now pretty worried as i booked exit in the bubble,and will be so mad if we lose out on them,and the twos at the back of the plane are then gone! is anyone else that has read this worried? as i seen a few people have recently booked these seats?

New system is bound to have teething troubles so if you are worried I would give them a call.

 

[chmurf]

Not sure if this is also of any help but do you have a low-cost call number for VA from within France, if not then do you use SKYPE as it might be worth calling the USA freephone number on 1-800 862 8621. It's worked okay for us and was free.

Thank you
actually, I have a mobile phone plan with free calls from france to the UK and to the USA (landlines and mobiles), but I'm sure your heads up will help some lurkers around here
thanks

 

[tinkerpea]

New system is bound to have teething troubles so if you are worried I would give them a call.

Already have done, they dont seem to know anything about the issue the pp was letting us know about with the seats being £50 instead of £35, and they said since its paid for they cant see them changing it out now.However they also said that seat allocation can only be done online and that they have not had much to do with the new system, I asked to get sombody to check and they came back and said if its saying £35 online and allowed us to book the seats then they are ours unless an issue occurs and they have to change them as per the T&Cs.

 

[crabbie1]

I mentioned a while back my friend had booked for her honeymoon and was told by 2 different advisors that she would not hv to pay for her seats as she had already booked before they confirmed when the charges would start. Despite being told otherwise on here Im glad the two obvious VA managers were right and must hv known about this so gave her the correct information. Im relieved now I have not paid £200 and ok wont get pick of plane but at least can book 60 days out free of charge. 113 days till we can book and long as we have 4 together And not right at the back I will be happy.

 

[wilma-bride]

I mentioned a while back my friend had booked for her honeymoon and was told by 2 different advisors that she would not hv to pay for her seats as she had already booked before they confirmed when the charges would start. Despite being told otherwise on here Im glad the two obvious VA managers were right and must hv known about this so gave her the correct information. Im relieved now I have not paid £200 and ok wont get pick of plane but at least can book 60 days out free of charge. 113 days till we can book and long as we have 4 together And not right at the back I will be happy.

That's interesting Alyson as when they first launched it, the details did not say that you could select seats at 60 days free if you'd booked before 17th November - but I see they have now updated it so that's good news for those who don't want to pay

 

[crabbie1]

That's interesting Alyson as when they first launched it, the details did not say that you could select seats at 60 days free if you'd booked before 17th November - but I see they have now updated it so that's good news for those who don't want to pay

I know thats why I was a bit confused when you and others said they wld have to pay. She had an email saying that her seats were booked and there was no charge. That was last week which is strange as it coincides with their new ruling of no payment if already booked. Ah well im sure it will change again in the next year or so. To me sitting together is important as I am a nervous flyer and maybe if they had not announced this new update I would have caved in. As much as It grieves me to pay £200 .

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[cathydisneynut]

Thanks for the heads-up on this folks! Spent a good while on the Virgin website sorting out our flights for next July!

 

[chmurf]

and is in fact a DL codeshare outbound and VS inbound. (It was nearly £200 pp cheaper doing it this way )

regarding codeshares with DL, let me add that booking direct with DL may not be a cheaper option than booking the VS codeshare flight, depending on who's flying. (this is unrelated with your experience, but I thought I'd mention)

DL works in terms of "passengers", when VS works in terms of Adult/Child

as a result, the same flight booked on DL website will be more expensive than the same flight booked on VS, if there is at least one child in the party
a child will apparently pay an adult's fare (if booked direct on DL. com

for example, booking a LGW-MCO flight direct on VS site is £100 cheaper for us than booking the same flight on DL. com

just thought I'd mention this DL specificity.

of course this is irrelevant when booking through a consolidator/booker.

 

[tinkerpea]

I mentioned a while back my friend had booked for her honeymoon and was told by 2 different advisors that she would not hv to pay for her seats as she had already booked before they confirmed when the charges would start. Despite being told otherwise on here Im glad the two obvious VA managers were right and must hv known about this so gave her the correct information. Im relieved now I have not paid £200 and ok wont get pick of plane but at least can book 60 days out free of charge. 113 days till we can book and long as we have 4 together And not right at the back I will be happy.

Im glad to know this too, as we paid to sit in exit row in the bubble for the way home,however with xmas didnt want to spend another£50 on seats so decided that we hopefully would get to sit together and that the excitment on the way over would be enough to be happy anywhere,but im much happier knowing that i can now book 60days out!