have just pre-booked mt seats with virgin, they have said not guanted ,has anyone had experience of them do they generally keep the seats you`ve asked for or are we likely to have different ones on arrival ? many thanks
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have just pre-booked mt seats with virgin, they have said not guanted ,has anyone had experience of them do they generally keep the seats you`ve asked for or are we likely to have different ones on arrival ? many thanks
Hi Daisy, if you do a search, there are quite a few topics about Virgin prebooked seats [msnwink]
We have never had problems!
Best thing to do is arrive at Checkin as soon as possible to try and get the seats you have booked!
We have all ready chosen our seats for next month!
Lets hope things don't change or there may be some arguments!!
Its awful when they split you up!!
[msncry]
Hi, we just got back had no problems with the seats, we got the ones we booked, just the food was awfull worst i have ever had on a plane, and the staff werent the friendliest i have had either. We were a bit dissapointed as we beleived virgin were supposed to be the best. Will travel with them again though only for the fact they fly direct and the downtown disney checkin was so much easier.
mark
They HAVE to say your seats are not guaranteed in case something happens (eg unplanned maintenence) and they have to use a different aircraft, where the configuration varies from the original one.
we had our seats changed but i picked it up in time when i viewed them on-line and was able to change them again...you can do this yourself on their website and also you can check in on-line the night before saving you the large queues:)
I got back last weekend and had pre booked seats on the outward and return flights. No problems at all and we didn't even use Downtown Disney check-in on our last day.
I must agree with armagedon the food was awful, probably the worst I have known in years of going with Virgin. I made Matthew some sandwiches for the outward flight even though I had ordered a child's meal for him.
Michelle
We've never had a problem with seats, shame I can't say the same for the food. The service on our last flight home was awful, very rude stewardess!!!
I suppose Virgin have us by the short and curlies, they are the cheapest (usually) and they fly direct.
And as for being child friendly, a rucksack with some pencils and a comic does not make you child friendly, the backpacks make very useful swimming bags though[msnwink]
We had reserved seats in Permium Economy last year, when we got there they said that they had given them away. I was just ready for a row when she said we had been upgraded to Upper Class.
I have had a lot worse food than what they serve up on Virgin, the best was on US Airways.
We have just booked our seats on our flight for August. Have done this in the past and have never had a problem. We too got upgraded on our last flight to first class, we had paid for economy and used miles to upgrade to Premium and then they upgraded us again which was fantastic.[msnsmile2]
Hi Guys hope you can help. A while back on a Virgin thread somebody posted a site where you can see the kayout of a virgin plane.I think it was something like v-flyers. Does anyone know the exact web site. We are flying Virgin. My friend has been talking to Virgin direct to arrange our seating as we both have children with special needs. They apparently have sorted the seats, special food for one child etc both ways. It all seems to be going smoothly i will keep you posted when the cock- up occurs!!![catinhat][catinhat]
Try
http://www.v-flyer.com/seats.asp
or
[website link edited]
andrew
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by bluebirds
Hi Guys hope you can help. A while back on a Virgin thread somebody posted a site where you can see the kayout of a virgin plane.I think it was something like v-flyers. Does anyone know the exact web site. We are flying Virgin. My friend has been talking to Virgin direct to arrange our seating as we both have children with special needs. They apparently have sorted the seats, special food for one child etc both ways. It all seems to be going smoothly i will keep you posted when the cock- up occurs!!![catinhat][catinhat]
[/quote]
We have pre booked seats 5 times and got them each time. Also try the pre booking service on the net. It saves you getting to the airport 3 hours early.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by daisy
have just pre-booked mt seats with virgin, they have said not guanted ,has anyone had experience of them do they generally keep the seats you`ve asked for or are we likely to have different ones on arrival ? many thanks
[/quote]
Hi Karen
We pre-booked seats with Virgin from Manchester. We asked for bulkhead seats due to our son's diability but were told that it is not possible to reserve these seats in advance. They allocated five seats together, but made a note that we had requested bulkhead seats if any were available (I think they are offered to families with small babies as a rule). We arrived at the airport just before the check in desk opened (as advised by Virgin), and were very pleasantly surprised when they told us we had been given bulkhead seats before I even had the chance to ask the question.
Despite many reservations about Virgin after reading of the experience of some other members of the forum, I have to say that we were very well looked after and would definitely fly with Virgin again.
We too have always been fortunate with Virgin, Fletch, and so still tend to book with them if possible. With two boys who get "bored" easily, you just can't beat their in-flight systems for films and games. It keeps them happy which in turn keeps us happy as we can relax and unwind whilst they are entertained.[msnsmile2]
thankyou to everyone who has replied to me. i have requested my seats and can cheack on the web site to see if they have changed.so be be keeping an eye out .just didnt want to be in the row of 4 toghether get a bit twitched and it will be better if just 2 of us togher for me and other people !
We have had 2 flights recently where the entertainment system failed. My husband has yet to sample the 'delights' of their 'state of the art' equipment as it has never been available. Neither were games available - and these were the newest 'planes' from Heathrow.
Last time, on our return from Miami on New Year's eve we didn't even have any lights, and spent the whole flight in darkness, made it difficult to eat their awful food, too. The cabin crew were not at all helpful and although they eventually brought us individual CD players, it took them another hour to bring us a cd from a list of very old films, and then they conked out immediately because the batteries were flat. And then of course it was another long wait for them to be changed, and as for getting another film to watch, by the time they got round to getting one it was too late as we were on final approch.
Following the very poor meal the pot of tea was brought round at such speed that by the time you had heard 'Tea?' both it and its operator were halfway down the 'plane!
My daughter and friend returned from Miami 2 weeks ago. During the night they needed some water, as they were both becoming dehydrated. They pressed the call button and waited. After a long wait a very irate crew member came along and said 'Do you KNOW your call light is on?', (presumbly they did, and it was becuase they needed something!)then proceeded to turn it off and marched away without even asking what they needed!
Virgin do seem to be quite expensive and in many cases just don't care about the service they offer to their cattle class passengers. There are cheaper options and airlines which DO provide considerably better service.
Of course, every airline can have an 'off' day, and I am sure there are loads of people who can quote chapter and verse about their poor flights, but this has been so frequent - 10 poor flights in the past year - that we really feel that they are resting on their laurels and think that it is enough just to tell everyone they are the best. Their claims for the excellence of their food are certainly wide of the mark - with a supermarket pot of sweet and sickly chocolate dessert as part of the main meal being the best they can offer, it falls far short of the best.
Luckily for Richard Branson people seem to be prepared to accept anything as long as it has the Virgin name.
Sorry to hear of all your problems with Virgin Ellie, sounds like you should boycott them in future.[msnoo][msnsmile]
Interesting reading. I thought I should share my own experience of Virgin. This is going back some time (about 1993), but we were travelling to Orlando from either Heathrow or Gatwick with our son, who was about 2 years old at that stage. My wife had got him added to her passport, but when she got the passport back, it had recorded the fact that there was one child, but they hadn't put his name in where it should have been. She wrote in his name and thought no more about it.
We reached the top of the queue for check in, the Virgin rep took the passports, handed my wife hers back and said "Your passport is defaced, you can't travel with us. Next please". Naturally we were a bit put out and not a little upset, wanted some explanation, would have liked a sympathetic ear, or some advice as to how to sort it out. We got nothing. Ignored, dirty looks, impatient tuts. Thoroughly unpleasant all round. Bearing in mind this was a Sunday, there wasn't much we could do.
We eventually found a nice lady from immigration, explained to her and she wrote us a letter for the US authorities, stamped the passport and offered to come with us to the Virgin desk to help. With much reluctance from Virgin, we eventually got on the flight, with a parting shot as we walked through the gate from the Virgin check in lady: "that'll teach you not to deface your passport again." We found it offensive in the extreme. All my wife had done was write our son's name in the appropriate place.
We had lost our seats, had to sit separately and found the staff on the aircraft hugely unpleasant.
We voted with our feet and have not flown Virgin since. As I travel to the States a couple of times a year on business, plus usually once a year as a family for a holiday (there are 6 of us and we normally take one or other sets of our parents along, making 8), I reckon their unhelpful and unpleasant attitude has cost them many, many thousands of pounds in lost fares.
the point is, I'm not protesting at the fact that they have a job to do and can't accept a passport with an irregularity (it was our own stupid fault, after all), but a friendly human face, with an offer of help or advice would have made all the difference. They could have offered to call US immigration and explain, or just been a little supportive and we would have turned into fans and booked all our flights with them.
Tonish
We had a bad flight with Virgin too where the entertainment system failed. The cabin staff did not seem too bothered but we persevered and kept asking them for something to be done. They eventually gave out the portable video systems they had but quite a few people didn't get anything, including some of our party. They eventually took our names and addresses in order to compensate us (a ploy just to keep us quiet for the rest of the journey so it turned out). We didn't hear anything from Virgin and out of principle I wrote to them. They wrote back expressing their concerns only to give us vouchers for us to buy something on one of their flights, so in other words we had to book more flights with them and they had to be within 12 months because the vouchers ran out!!
We didn't book any more flights through Virgin and we now only book flights through the american airlines and can honestly say the american cabin staff have a very different approach to the British ones. Much friendlier and more professional. We prefer their planes which seem to give more legroom (good when 3 of our party have long legs), seem to supply better meals and make the long trip more enjoyable all round. Yes, we are extremely biased towards the american planes/staff/service given. We also don't seem to encounter as many problems when booking veggie meals. Our flight this year to Las Vegas (sorry not Florida) was with Delta and they got it right both ways. This should not be a surprise as we checked about 5 times before we flew, something we have learnt to do as they always say they don't have our names down for veggie meals and cannot guarantee a meal throughout the whole flight!!!!! As I said, it shouldn't be a surprise but with the British flights we have had problems when they say our names are not down. The Americans say "Leave it with me, I'll sort it out for you" but the British staff say things like "Well, you should have checked" and when we say we did they say "You must make sure you order it when you book the flight". We always do!!! It's just not worth arguing with them though!
We are giving Virgin a wide berth as we do not think their staff care as much as the Americans do. Hope you don't encounter any problems though. Good Luck and have a great time.[msnsmile]
Ellie, Tonish & Fran19,
Sorry to hear about your bad experiences with Virgin. The one thing I do tend to agree with you about is the food, It is sometimes sub-standard other times it's fine as far as airline food goes. As for the cabin crew I have nothing but praise for them we have been travelling with them since 1990 and they have always been very pleasant. In the early days we smoked then and Virgin became non smoking after we had booked. They sent us £50 voucher each which could be used on board ( Pressumably to buy cigarettes:)) Or used towards the cost of our holiday which we did. In the US this year in Dec, while waiting to check in at downtown disney It wasn't due to open for another 20mins, it was freezing cold and the girls came out of their cabin and opened early for us..... Much appreciated:) Finaly though Tonish & Ellie did you write to complain to Virgin? As that is the only way for them to know about bad service. I think if a member of cabin crew had snapped at me i would have complained to her cabin supervisor also.
Steve & Dawn
So Far, we have managed numerous trips with Virgin, have to be honest, they have ALL been great! Sorry to hear troubles and complaints :( On top of that, we have NEVER been upgraded to anything, nor do we currently have the spare pennies for anything other than economy. Hope we will not be jinxed now with our flights in March [msnscared] fingers crossed.
never had a problem with virgin either..
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by CarolAnn
We have NEVER been upgraded to anything, nor do we currently have the spare pennies for anything other than economy.
[/quote]
My sentiments exactly! Virgin (and most other airlines that I have used) economy seats are reasonably comfortable and to be honest, once I get into my seat, a good sleep is all that I look for. I have never looked for any upgrade above economy in over 20 years of travelling to various places around the world - and never will. Personally, I always thought that an upgrade was a pointless waste of money, but I accept that each one to his/her own.
Have to say that the first time I flew with BA, the plane was changed at the last minute and we ended up with an older one. However, the staff were pleasant, there was a water tap on board and because a lot of children were on the flight the crew decided to change the standard film to the new Harry Potter. We might not have had the latest gadgets but we were well looked after and since then we only want to fly with BA. We also appreciated the children getting their meal before ours so we could help them get sorted without our own meals getting in the way and getting cold.
I only have the highest praise for my dealings with Virgin.
Two years ago i missed my flight to Orlando because i got stuck on the motorway because of some snow and a jack-knifed lorry.
When i arrived at the Virgin check-in desk 2 hours after my flight had left and told them the situation they booked me on the exact same flight the next day at no cost despite the fact me missing the flight was no fault of theirs.
I also missed an American Airways flight later that day and had to buy another ticket from them that cost more than the original so well done Virgin.
Last year my Virgin flight from Manchester had to return an hour in to the flight because of engine problems which turned out to be nothing worse than a faulty gauge but of course they could not take any chances with over 300 passengers on board.
Anyway the flight was delayed for 24 hours which was obviously very annoying but to their credit they did give us a coupon for 50% off any future flight to anywhere in the World anytime in the future.
I saved over 300 quid when i used it to fly direct to Las Vegas later that year.
So to me Virgin have only ever been great and i would and will fly with them again in the future thats a fact.
In fact one of my legs to Orlando in March is with them:D
John.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by ORLANDO_MAGIC
I only have the highest praise for my dealings with Virgin.
So to me Virgin have only ever been great and i would and will fly with them again in the future thats a fact.
In fact one of my legs to Orlando in March is with them:D
John.
[/quote]
I have also used Virgin in preference to BA wherever possible and in that particular comparison, Virgin have always won hands down on all routes. But having said that, I confess that I have the feeling that there has been a slight deterioration in the standard of Virgin's service in the last couple of years. I felt that the flights to and from Orlando last year left a few loopholes, but nothing so serious that some firm management exercises cannot sort out.
Strange how people have such differing opinions about Virgin; my flights with them and those of my family and some friends have been a catalog of disasters. In particular the Orlando trips have been notable for the very poor attitude of their staff.
It seems we have just been unlucky.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Robert5988
Strange how people have such differing opinions about Virgin; my flights with them and those of my family and some friends have been a catalog of disasters. In particular the Orlando trips have been notable for the very poor attitude of their staff.
It seems we have just been unlucky.
[/quote]
I think some people are just unlucky with certain carriers. I hate BA with a passion and would NEVER fly with them anywhere unless I have absolutely no choice. I don't even mind paying more to get into another carrier if I had the alternative.
Another reason i like flying with Virgin is that when a youngster starts annoying the passengers they have a special place for them >>>
http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums..._HOLDTIGHT.jpg
Also the welcome you get from the Virgin staff when you reach Orlando is just amazing >>>
http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums...5058_HEELS.jpg
dont like ba myself either. even their passengers have a [bad language filtered out] attitude.
Wow John better warn my boys to behave or suffer the consequences.[msnscared][msnsmile2]
Just returned from orlando with VA and the entertainment system packed up as the pilot pointed out when your thousands of feet in the air it is difficult to get an engineer in. All the staff were very apologetic and brought round a form to fill in. You could choose which type of compensation you wanted 25% of a flight, £25 of pre-ordered duty free on next flight or 5000 air miles, we chose the air miles.
We having nothing but praise for Virgin even though like Nostromo we feel that they are not as good as when we first travelled with them back in 96.
We have flown numerous times across the Atlantic and we have never had an issue with Virgin. To be honest our opinion is that they beat the US airlines hands down for service and I actually feel their attitude at check-in has improved over the last 2 years or so. Sure you are going to come across the odd individual who prefers to attempt to give you a 'bad day' but surely you meet these people throughout all airlines and society in general.
Also things go wrong sometimes e.g entertainment not working, but again this is not specific to Virgin all airlines have problems in this area. At least you get entertainment with Virign, I have flown with some US airlines who have no entertainment (other than radio and a cabin screen) at all.
As always the customer can always vote with their feet. There is anough choice going over the atlantic these days.
We were a party of 8 and at the departure lounge they called our friends up to say they had moved them. Once my friend being a nervous passanger flew off the handle and told them she wanted to be seated by us they then changed the seats back to the normal configeration. They tell us right up to getting on the plane they can change your seats. So when you hear names being called out at departure lounge that is what they are doing.
Food at xmas was awful choice of vegetarian lasagne or beef which was in a gravy with pasta! Yep, not a good combination. We were some of the first to be served so don't know what happened to the choices. The kids meal was the most awful dried up hamburger with soggy potato bits.
Went with United a couple of years back and they have partnered with a burger chain and the kids get large burgers in foil wrap etc.
Think virgin will have to start looking at their food etc very closely.
we got our requested seats on way out but entertainment system kept packing up but we just kept calling them over to reboot the system didnt get seats on way home but eventually they gave us bulkhead seats,also didnt get kids meal for our son when we requested one,but seeing as our daughter couldnt tell what her meal was supossed to be,he didnt miss out!our food was awfull as well[V]