Sold out classes?

Hi all,

New to the forums, and this website!
Must say, well done, it’s a very comprehensive site!

I travelled on virgin once about 8 years ago when I was a teenager and because I liked it so much, im taking the over half to orlando next month on virgin!

Anyway, I digress. Question: Upon booking the flight, Upper Class wasn’t available. We actually booked economy. As a surprise treat to the missus, I wanted to upgrade to upper class, if it wasn’t available on the main Virgin Holidays site, does that mean it’s sold out?

BTW – when I go to my booking and where I can book seats, ALL Prem. Econ says ‘unavailable’ however, on the Virgin Holidays site, it says Prem. Econ is STILL available? Confused? Me? Yes!

Thanks all,
londonguy

[preiffer]

Hi londonguy, and welcome [y]

To cut a long story short, Virgin Holidays have a subset of tickets on every flight that they sell. This allocation is independent of the "main" inventory.

So, VH can run out of THEIR Upper Class tickets, while there are still plenty of "regular" Upper Class tickets available through Virgin Atlantic.

Likewise, Virgin Atlantic *can* sell out, but VH still have their allocation available (something which the airline would have made provision for originally).


Hope that helps.

Thanks for the reply.

So if Virgin Holidays ran out but I asked for an upgrade and there were other seats avalible, would I be able to get one of them other seats?

Thanks again,
londonguy

Yes - a big wlecome to the site:)

As Paul said - if VH have used up their allocation then usually that is that!! The two compnaies operate as two separate businesses - so if VH have 4 places in UC then once they are sold then thats that!

However - what you should do is book the best class you can and then stay in touch with VH to see if they can get any more allocation - a great deal will depned on the fligth and what VS has sold etc etc etc - VH should be able to do this automatically for you but it is always worth a call every week to check.

With regard to the PE shpwing as unavailable on the "manage your flights" section - once again you are trying to join the two companies - VS has PE avaialble - and if you booked seats then the manage your flights section woudl then show you what seats were available ( although this could still be bank as some seats are onlu allocated on check in) the VH site is just showing what availabilty they have to sell - if you bought seast from VH then these too would then show up on the VS site( subject to the same caveat above)

Hope thats clear - a great many people think that VS and VH are acting as one - one is the airline the other a tour operator[y]

I also believe that the VH fares are quite heavily discounted ones - (see the fares guide on this site for more info). Therefore, it may be harder or significantly more expensive to upgrade some VH fares.

That said, if there is space very close to departure at the front of the plane / upstairs, they are likely to become a bit more flexible with regards to upgrades. After all, if someone has paid say £350 for a discounted Y return to the USA through VH & all of a sudden they want to pay an extra £500 to sit closer to the front in a seat that would probably go empty, they will take your money.

If you're flying a B&S route like Orlando, the above may well work. As a guess, it is less likely to work on a "business" route like Ney York, where VS would probably hold out as long as possible for a business passanger who has to fly [so will pay the full W or J fare].