oliuk

I guess from VS' point of view this could push more PE sales as the price difference gets smaller and smaller too

travelfreakuk

I have just bought an UC ticket from EDI/LHR/MIA. When i login to MMB I am told that the 'Seatmap is unavailable'. There is a link to FAQs page that offers two pages to view, one telling me about changes to econ seat assignment and the other telling me that UC are exempt. I still can't select a seat. Any ideas?

LAXRuss

Who knows, maybe DL is viewing this new policy as an industry trial balloon to watch. From their perspective, if it turns out Flying Club customers are unhappy with the new policy, the travelers can elect TATL to still take a free seat assignment and earn their miles by flying DL metal instead.

All I can say as a frequent traveler is that I would divert my travel to other carriers if I were required to pay such a charge in economy class for a long haul seat that is not extraordinary such as exit row etc.

Silver Fox

Well they have changed their website quote:

"From 1 April 2014 If you are in Upper Class, Premium Economy, Economy booked in Y Class or you are a Flying Club Gold member, you can choose your seat free of charge any time from making your booking."

So, from April 1st I reckon.

Somehow that date seems appropriate given the Virgin marketing and IT folks.

UKtravelbear

But under the joint venture revenue is shared between the carriers so VS would still get their cut of the revenue even if previous VS pas moved to DL

travelfreakuk

This is even worse than having to pay for it with BA. What's premium about that?!

kaizenflying

It makes sense for airlines to charge for additional services like this but it depends how greedy they get.

How do you value a service which involves the customer taking 1 minute to confirm seat 34A 366 days before the flight, for example? Is there a discount for choosing unpopular seats, including the back row, seats next to the toilets or noisy galleys? I'd certainly pay a reasonable amount to sit in Y or W on the 747 upper deck but that's probably it.

I have frequently travelled with VS in J, W and Y classes to North America and Japan and am increasingly surprised at the decline in service and quality. The Tokyo route now "suffers" the A340-300 which includes out of date IFE and dolly sized food portions and drinks offered grudgingly for a 12hr journey. The quality in J to North America has also got worse and I now avoid VS as much as possible.

Given the decline in standards I probably won't be booking many VS tickets in 2014, let alone paying to choose my seat. Those Virgin adverts don't quite match the actual experience nowadays. Sad.

ned

Has anyone been able to choose a seat recently? The web site indicates the following under Advanced seat assignment Updated;

If you are in Upper Class, Premium Economy, Economy booked in Y Class or you are a Flying Club Gold member, you can choose your seat free of charge any time from making your booking.

I have tickets in UC for next June, LHR-LAX, and am unable to select seats on the web site or with a CSR by telephone. The CSR said I would not be able to select seats until after April 1. This is worse than the previous 90 days or maybe it is an April Fools joke. Any insight would be appreciated.

Silver Fox

Well they have changed the website and removed "From April 1" so you should be ok. However, this is Virgin we are talking about and sometimes things aren't as simple as they should be.......

travelfreakuk

Yeah - the 2 pages on seat booking on the FAQs contradict each other. I still cant pre-select seats either.

Silver Fox

So, apparently April 1st (which seems appropriate) is when you can book seats. I have booked for a flight in November, PE, seats will not open until April 1st. When the VS system will crash under the strain, as one of the reps said to me today "I am really not looking forward to April 1st".

travelfreakuk

I am not sure if I should laugh or sigh at the state of big business today who should know better.

Marked in the calendar; perhaps we should open a book on what time of day the system will crash?!

stifle

Seems unlikely as BA manages to charge for seat assignment on LON-TYO just fine. Perhaps they think there's fewer people who will pay it or there is more competition on the route, or something.

Overall, am I the only person who thinks this is a slippery slope and coming down the line will be differential pricing for preferred seats, extending the fee to premium economy, removing the privilege for FC Gold to pick seats for non-status members on the same bookings, ...

Silver Fox

Yes, it is funny, I was thinking the same thing and doing it on v-flyer !

tanglin

I would not fly if I had to get a random seat on check in. My luck it'll be right next to the toilet.

I will add the cost of the seat reservation to my bottom line when selecting an airline. If another is cheaper and I can select my seat, I will take that one.

Why is it airlines today only 'listen to their customers feedback to improve service' when it makes the benefit less for the customer, the price more to the customer, or both?