Twilight Checkin & £50 exit seat charge
Jan 13, 2003, 5:55 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2002
Programs: BA Gold, United 1K, *A Gold
Posts: 12
Twilight Checkin & £50 exit seat charge
Just a couple of observations that will maybe help you.
Twilight checkin (now available again). The idea is you can checkin in for next days flight, anytime between 1530hrs and 2100hrs the night before at Gatwick. When I got there, only 1 checkin desk was available, and a large queue to do it. Being Gold/Silver doesn't buy you anything here, as only one agent, and no Prem Econ or Upper Class checkin priviledges. It took me an hour to queue and check in.
I am 6'4" so requested an emergency exit row. Agent said "we're trialling a new system, OUT OF LONDON only, whereby it will cost £50 for one of these seats". Policy does not apply to the window seat (ie A or ?L on the 744) because the door gets in the way. Also the charge DOES NOT APPLY coming into London, and that was my experience when coming back from LAS last week.
The charge is a bad thing (in terms of customer satisfaction) in my opinion, but also as I am so tall it was worth every penny. The cabin crew I sat opposite to said no matter whether someone had paid or not, if she didn't think the person was fit enough to perform the duty of an exit row she would move them for take-off and landing. That could cause some problems .... but she's right to do that for everyone's sake.
Also, because there was no ticket sales desk open during twilight check-in the agent had to issue me my original (middle!!!) seat. and promised he'd leave a note for ticket sales in the morning. To his credit he did, and my new boarding pass was exchanged for my £50.
Twilight checkin (now available again). The idea is you can checkin in for next days flight, anytime between 1530hrs and 2100hrs the night before at Gatwick. When I got there, only 1 checkin desk was available, and a large queue to do it. Being Gold/Silver doesn't buy you anything here, as only one agent, and no Prem Econ or Upper Class checkin priviledges. It took me an hour to queue and check in.
I am 6'4" so requested an emergency exit row. Agent said "we're trialling a new system, OUT OF LONDON only, whereby it will cost £50 for one of these seats". Policy does not apply to the window seat (ie A or ?L on the 744) because the door gets in the way. Also the charge DOES NOT APPLY coming into London, and that was my experience when coming back from LAS last week.
The charge is a bad thing (in terms of customer satisfaction) in my opinion, but also as I am so tall it was worth every penny. The cabin crew I sat opposite to said no matter whether someone had paid or not, if she didn't think the person was fit enough to perform the duty of an exit row she would move them for take-off and landing. That could cause some problems .... but she's right to do that for everyone's sake.
Also, because there was no ticket sales desk open during twilight check-in the agent had to issue me my original (middle!!!) seat. and promised he'd leave a note for ticket sales in the morning. To his credit he did, and my new boarding pass was exchanged for my £50.
Jan 13, 2003, 9:58 am
#3
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: Various
Posts: 2,155
This charge is for fligths out of LGW.
I am not really interested in Twilight check in as such, Check in only takes a few minutes as a Gold.
I've not utilised LGW at all for over a year now. I would like to see them try to charge me £50 for a seat as a Gold. They would lose business quicker than you can say BA. dnw is right, this is what charter airlines do. Can you imagine someone on busines that has had to buy a last minute full Y fare ticket and then be told that they have to pay?
Wake VS and stop being so downright stupid. How much money have they wasted sending me multiple communications on the new Virgin Heroes scheme that doesn't beenfit flyers at all. and how mnay mailings on the current John lewis promo?
Thanks,
Richard
I am not really interested in Twilight check in as such, Check in only takes a few minutes as a Gold.
I've not utilised LGW at all for over a year now. I would like to see them try to charge me £50 for a seat as a Gold. They would lose business quicker than you can say BA. dnw is right, this is what charter airlines do. Can you imagine someone on busines that has had to buy a last minute full Y fare ticket and then be told that they have to pay?
Wake VS and stop being so downright stupid. How much money have they wasted sending me multiple communications on the new Virgin Heroes scheme that doesn't beenfit flyers at all. and how mnay mailings on the current John lewis promo?
Thanks,
Richard
Jan 13, 2003, 10:17 am
#4
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: anywhere but here
Programs: LH au VS au BMI au
Posts: 2,375
I dread to think how much i would have had to of handed over to VS last year for every time i got 51C (The aisle seat as you enter the plane) My thanks as ever to ***** for arranging it.
I hope I never have to be in that position. I would in all sicerity go three shades of spastic if they tried that - I dont even fit in a normal seat - I have 35" inside leg
I hope I never have to be in that position. I would in all sicerity go three shades of spastic if they tried that - I dont even fit in a normal seat - I have 35" inside leg
Jan 17, 2003, 10:24 am
#5
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: UK
Posts: 2,483
they are complete idiots for charging £50
It is just a blatant way of trying to squeeze a few more £££ out of every flight.
Trouble is this action pretty much single confirms the belief they are merely a charter or holiday airline. They'll be selling scratch cards and putting Argos catalogues in the seat pockets next.
Would you consider them for business? No, in the same way I didn't consider Monarch or Brittania when I 'had (
) to go out to Orlando for a conference.
Would you pay extra for PE if on holiday - perhaps but £500-£700 is an awful lot compared to the premium services offered by their competitors Monarch and Brittania.
About 6 or 7 years ago I really liked VS - they had excellent entertainment, great staff and seat pitch was competitive. They were very much a benchmark for transatlantic travel for a while.
Nowadays, the competition have cought up on the IFE, VS' seat pitch is amongst the worst in the scheduled world and have you SEEN the queues to check into Economy at SFO?
Virgin have a great Brand - what a shame they don't have a great (or even good) product for the masses anymore.
rant over....flame away!
It is just a blatant way of trying to squeeze a few more £££ out of every flight.
Trouble is this action pretty much single confirms the belief they are merely a charter or holiday airline. They'll be selling scratch cards and putting Argos catalogues in the seat pockets next.
Would you consider them for business? No, in the same way I didn't consider Monarch or Brittania when I 'had (
) to go out to Orlando for a conference.Would you pay extra for PE if on holiday - perhaps but £500-£700 is an awful lot compared to the premium services offered by their competitors Monarch and Brittania.
About 6 or 7 years ago I really liked VS - they had excellent entertainment, great staff and seat pitch was competitive. They were very much a benchmark for transatlantic travel for a while.
Nowadays, the competition have cought up on the IFE, VS' seat pitch is amongst the worst in the scheduled world and have you SEEN the queues to check into Economy at SFO?
Virgin have a great Brand - what a shame they don't have a great (or even good) product for the masses anymore.
rant over....flame away!
Jan 17, 2003, 12:59 pm
#6
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 5,398
I totally agree with matthewuk. 5 years ago VS set the standards, both in Y and J. Sadly whilst the spin has continued, the product has pretty much stood still and the competition have not just matched them, IMHO they've overtaken.
dnw
dnw
Jan 18, 2003, 1:49 pm
#7
Moderator, Virgin Atlantic
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: www.V-Flyer.com
Programs: VS Red, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium - earned out of our own pocket!.
Posts: 2,393
Matthew UK
Though it pains me a little to say it, far from flaming you for your rant, I have to agree with what you say.
The IFE varies tremendously in Economy depending on the plane you are on. The VPort system is wonderful. The arcadia and odyssey are fine, but the Nova system - which I believe is on quite a few planes still, is far from being at the cutting edge anymore.
One of the few huge benefits of silver is avoiding the massive queues that are now accepted as normal for economy check in at LHR and LGW. I have never tried the twilight check in, and won't bother when I go to Miami in a couple of weeks out of LGW thanks to Concorde Charlie's heads up.
I still think that (in the main) the VS staff are great.
As I have said in previous posts, I declined to pay the £50 for an exit row when I went to Miami in November but was given an exit row at the gate as they hadn't sold them all.
There is no harm in asking
Nick
[This message has been edited by Nottingham Nick (edited 01-18-2003).]
Though it pains me a little to say it, far from flaming you for your rant, I have to agree with what you say.
The IFE varies tremendously in Economy depending on the plane you are on. The VPort system is wonderful. The arcadia and odyssey are fine, but the Nova system - which I believe is on quite a few planes still, is far from being at the cutting edge anymore.
One of the few huge benefits of silver is avoiding the massive queues that are now accepted as normal for economy check in at LHR and LGW. I have never tried the twilight check in, and won't bother when I go to Miami in a couple of weeks out of LGW thanks to Concorde Charlie's heads up.
I still think that (in the main) the VS staff are great.
As I have said in previous posts, I declined to pay the £50 for an exit row when I went to Miami in November but was given an exit row at the gate as they hadn't sold them all.
There is no harm in asking
Nick
[This message has been edited by Nottingham Nick (edited 01-18-2003).]