flying with virgin

[gpullan]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Katys Grandad
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by jimiansville
Liz,

This has happened to us a few times on various airlines. You should be able to get moved at check in as the airlines hold about 30% of seats for allocation at the check in desks.[/quote]I don't think they save anything like 30% of seats for check-in Jim but there will be some available such as bulkheads and maybe exit rows. The Friday Virgin LHR-BOS flight is pretty full and the seat map currently shows 250 out of 280 seats allocated.[/quote]<span style="color:red">Approximately 60% of seats are available for advance seat assignment, the remainder being held for check in on the day of departure. If the 60% of assignable seats are taken, the seat map button will not be displayed. Therefore, you will not be able to change your seat.</span id="red">

The seat maps show held seats for check in as allocated so it may look like someone has bagged them but they haven't.

[Katys Grandad]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by gpullan
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Katys Grandad
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by jimiansville
Liz,

This has happened to us a few times on various airlines. You should be able to get moved at check in as the airlines hold about 30% of seats for allocation at the check in desks.[/quote]I don't think they save anything like 30% of seats for check-in Jim but there will be some available such as bulkheads and maybe exit rows. The Friday Virgin LHR-BOS flight is pretty full and the seat map currently shows 250 out of 280 seats allocated.[/quote]<span style="color:red">Approximately 60% of seats are available for advance seat assignment, the remainder being held for check in on the day of departure. If the 60% of assignable seats are taken, the seat map button will not be displayed. Therefore, you will not be able to change your seat.</span id="red">

The seat maps show held seats for check in as allocated so it may look like someone has bagged them but they haven't.[/quote]Thanks for that Gary but I think you've misunderstood my post.

I am aware that seats are held back but what I'm questioning is the statement that 30% are "held back for allocation at the check in desks". I still don't believe that to be the case otherwise the opportunity to check-in online would be limited to the first 70% of ticketed passengers. If it is true then I'll happily stand corrected on the point but that's another good reason for me to continue to avoid them.

Of all the airlines I have flown, Virgin's tendency to change selected seat assignments outdoes all of them hands down.

[E. Cosgrove]

Back in Feb we complained like hell as we had been moved on the previous 2 flights as well, there were no alternative seats left (we were 10 rows apart and on opposite sides of the plane near the back[msnsad]) So they upgraded us instead

Somehow don't think that is going to happen this time[msnsad]

[Robert5988]

My son and wife had confirmed seats with Virgin MCO - LHR.

The arrived at the airport and were told the plane was overbooked and they were now on the standby list!!

They made a big fuss and eventually were seated but not even close together in the cabin.

Some while ago on a Virgin flight to Barbados I was moved from my exit row seat at check in because the seat was broken and 'blocked off.' I was put in the seat immediately behind and told it may be fixed by the tme we fly - the plane was not fully booked.

I sat in the 'broken' seat which appeared to have no fault. Two ladies who had been drinking heavily(and continued to do so on the flight) came and sat in the seats next to me. They expressed surprise I was sitting there as the daughter of one lady was a Virgin Employee and had arranged that they would have the 3 seats to themselves!!

[redsandy]

we flew virgin last year. there was 11 of us and when we booked, reserved seats together. when we went to check in, our allocated seats were changed and we were seated all over the plane. same happened on the return journey. not happy bunnies but plane was full so little we could do, apart from not using them again unless we are forced to.

[Sniff]

All seats are allocated well before check-in. They must be, so that the airline can start building seat maps, start DCS processing etc. The question is, does the carrier allow a lot of seat swapping at check in time? Some do, some don't. It depends how much work they want to have their check in agent do, and what sort of profile their passengers have on that particular route.

Virgin clearly do allow this quite a lot...and often they move people who booked online and requested a particular seat, which is very annoying. Other carriers clearly don't do much of this - Lufthansa have never moved me at check in time.

Likely it's a consequence of Virgin having a much more family-oriented passenger list, and therefore they make allowance for moving people around to accommodate family groups. These sort of groups are less likely to try and allocate their seats online also, are so check in agents try to seat them together. LH obviously have a lot less family groups (at least on the routes I fly) and clearly don't feel the need for this as much.

But the notion that 30% of passengers turn up at check in and don't even have a seat allocated is just rubbish. The carrier might not show it online, they might not allow other people to book it, and they might or might not allow you to move seats at check in. But that doesn't mean they aren't allocated.

For standby and overbooking...all airlines do this. It's particularly prevalent on some carriers/routes/dates combinations, especially those that are primarily business routes...for example London-Paris on a Monday morning could well be overbooked by 20% or more. This is because business men tend to book/cancel seats at the last minute deopending on their schedules, and they book ticket classes that allow this, so the airlines know from long experience that even if they sell 120 seats on a 100 seat aircraft, 99% of the time they will be OK. Yield management is a hugely complex and sophisticated process, but in the majority of cases the airlines do a pretty good job. When I first started at BA 25 years ago it was easy to fly standby on staff discounts - BA literally had no idea how many people were going to turn up for a flight, and so many seats were empty. These days they are too good at predicting loads dependant upon day, date, route, etc - and then they got better at selling off seats to last minute shops etc. So staff travel lis a lot less attractive than it used to be!

Overbooking is much less likely on tourist routes, where people have booked months in advance, on cheap tickets with no flexibility or cancellation allowed. But it happens.