Virgin America Elevate - Seat pitch in maincabin... seat guru lists a range

They list 32 to 34 inches. I'm 6'9 and never flew VX. I fly southwest regularly and their normal seats are ok (I think 33 pitch). Delta is too tight for me, have to fly first or exit. Was wondering if I'll fit in VX MC seats. Which seats have the 34 inch pitch that seatguru speaks of? Flying A319 SFO to BOS.

Really have no idea where Seat Guru got their numbers. In main cabin, it's always been 32" on the A320 and a range of 32" to 33" on the A319. Up to today Virgin America's A320 and A319 layouts didn't change, the planes didn't get longer, so I really have no idea how Seat Guru have such a huge range. I would also have to guess that the seat pitch for Main Cabin Select is also wrong since I always assumed that its about 36" to 38" in the exit row and 35" just didn't seem right.

I fly southwest regularly and their normal seats are ok (I think 33 pitch).

WN is 32"-33" pitch. DL is 30-33" (a lot of planes having 30-31"). I find VX's seats to be comparable or better than WN's, but I prefer a slimline seat to one with more cushioning, and I tend to want more width at shoulder-level, and VX's seats are wider (as a function of being on an A32x as opposed to a 737, coach seats get about 3/4 an inch in additional width).

At 6'9" VX will be a nightmare unless you are in MCS or F. The VX coach seats are tight to begin with but they also employ a hard plastic seatback pocket that makes the seats incredibly uncomfortable for tall people. I'm 6'4" and find that I cannot tollerate the VX coach seats for anything longer than about an hour. I think there are other tall people who have reported that it is not as much of a problem for them, but at 6'9" I can't imagine any scenario under which it will work for you. WN is going to be much better simply because of the soft seat back.

thanks for the feedback guys. What is WN?

Southwest Airlines; WN is their International Air Transport Association code. If you Google "xx iata code" that will generally let you know which airline is being referenced.

rjque, the soft seatback doesnt help as it is the table tray rails that usually hit my knees (on DL). I just hate the rip off upgrade to MCS, 100 bux for exit row? C'mon!

I'm PM on DL. they don't do non-stop SFO to BOS. United does and so does AA but they are higher priced altho I could do a status match on united I suppose.

If you're willing to risk it, you can always try for a T24/standby upgrade. There is a decent overall success rate: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/virgin-america-elevate/992942-post-your-24-hour-upgrade-f-hits-misses-here.html

The FAQs have details on how a MC->F standby upgrade works and how much it costs ($50-250): http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/virgin-america-elevate/838255-virgin-america-vx-faq-thread.html

Does anyone know how much a T24 MC->MCS u/g costs?

I was told MC to MCS for that flight is 100 bux.

I was told MC to MCS for that flight is 100 bux.

Is that the T-24 upgrade price or the regular upgrade price? Upgrades drop significantly in price 24 hours before the flight, but there is risk involved.

rjque, the soft seatback doesnt help as it is the table tray rails that usually hit my knees (on DL). I just hate the rip off upgrade to MCS, 100 bux for exit row? C'mon!

I'm PM on DL. they don't do non-stop SFO to BOS. United does and so does AA but they are higher priced altho I could do a status match on united I suppose.

I feel your pain re the tray table rails, but the hard seat back pocket on VX is really, really bad for those of us with long legs. At 6'9", I wouldn't even try it.

I often end up on convoluted routings just to avoid uncomfortable Y seats and, if I were you, I would probably just connect on DL or pay the $100 upgrade fee to MCS. It's not just exit row - you get free food and entertainment (though not Internet). I think you have to ask yourself whether your time is more important (upgrade to MCS) or your money (fly SFO-ATL-BOS on DL).

As to UA, they have not been status matching lately but have instead offered challenges. I'm not sure if that will work for you but you might want to check on the UA board. E+ is really a wonderful feature if you can tollerate UA's terrible employees.

that is T-24 upgrade

that is T-24 upgrade

:( ouch

If you have a checked bag, you'll 'save' $20 with the u/g. Free food may also help offset the cost a little.

IMHO - it was much better before MCS. You could just book exit row seating for an extra 15 bux or so. Keep your pomp, I just want to be able to straighten my bad knee.

rjque, the soft seatback doesnt help as it is the table tray rails that usually hit my knees (on DL). I just hate the rip off upgrade to MCS, 100 bux for exit row? C'mon!

I'm PM on DL. they don't do non-stop SFO to BOS. United does and so does AA but they are higher priced altho I could do a status match on united I suppose.

If you are flying SFO-BOS and must fly coach, you should definitely be flying B6 (JetBlue). They have the best coach seats around. And I think it's $30 to upgrade to their EML? Just bring your own food!

Yeah I was going to do jetblue.. but it will be the same price as VX with the $100 T-24 upgrade both ways. Normally I wouldn't care about the 100 or 250 dollar upgrade, business has been slow lately :(

Yeah I was going to do jetblue.. but it will be the same price as VX with the $100 T-24 upgrade both ways. Normally I wouldn't care about the 100 or 250 dollar upgrade, business has been slow lately :(

I hadn't thought of Jetblue but it is very good advice. With VX there is a chance that the T-24 won't be available (not sure how much of a chance, but it is a chance). At least with Jetblue you know that you will have OK legroom no matter what.

yah looks like jet blue it is!