Seat Allocation

Im on VS19 tomorrow and was allocated 58E - which is a useless seat (not a window or an aisle). Im travelling on my own and am Silver. Every flight Ive ever taken Ive been Window or Aisle. clearly my preferences dont count or arent kept.

Should I expect VS to remember I like a Window?

did you request through 'manage my flight' a window or an aisle seat?

[Neil]

I think it is a big ask to expect VS to remember what type of seat you prefer, as Juliet said, did you "reserve" a seat through the "manage your flights" section on the VS site - with this facility available I imagine VS expect you to go and select your own seat rather than them remember.

Neil

Why didn't you just ask for an aisle/window when you booked?

[ChuckC]

This flight is very full; I count only about five open seats, none of them aisles. Nonetheless it will not hurt for you to check in early and request a seat change at that time.

Good luck!

Chuck-

There's no way VS can 'remember' your seat preference.

Yes you have a flying club card that maybe that department could note your preference, but everytime you create a new booking, you do just that, create a new booking - the reservation system has no way of knowing you prefer this that or the other.

I suspect this service is open to top 50 flyers who would deal the premier team would deal with but other than that it's only business travel agents that i know who hold preferences.

Just get there early and see if there is a switch available, but don't leave it too late as on a fully booked flight, the seats on the day to choose from at check in are far from desirable.

OLCI gae me a window. Thank goodness for that.

[preiffer]

Just to clarify, MF - as asked before:

Did you previously use "Manage My Booking" to REQUEST a Window, or make that request when you booked? If not, I'm presuming you were simply hoping they'd remember that you like the window seats?

Hi,
Hope you get on better than we did last May when we flew on VS028 from MCO. I resevered 2 seats at the rear of the aircraft upstairs in PE (I forget the seat numbers) and printed off the confirmation. When we checked in for the flight I was told "we had been allocated different seats" I showed the lady my seat confirmation and she tossed it to one side and said "we don't take any notice of this I really don't know why they let you reserve them" Tried to argue my case with her and her supervisor but they wouldn't let me change the seats they had allocated. Notified VA of this when I got home and received what I'd call a "standard" reply and complained again and got 5000 Flying Club miles as a goodwill gesture.
Good luck.
Mick.

preiffer Yes I was simply hoping for the best!

My company travel agent booked it and they are frankly useless but I have no choice in the matter. I guess I was expecting (wrongly it seems) that my window preference would be automatically allocated by VS. It shouldnt be that hard these days for VS software to flag it and automatically alter it for me...

[preiffer]

... but based on what?! You're assuming that VS store the seats that every passenger's ever sat in within a database?

What if they weren't sat there out of choice? Does 3 x middle seats in a row mean I'm destined for the same forever [?]

The only way to request a seat preference is through the airline, while/after booking. That's the same with all airlines, so I don't think this is really a VS issue. If I want a window seat, I ask for one, whether that's through my saved FC profile when booking or via a phonecall... [:?]

It's hard to think any major airline could hold such a database unless it is for it's top, top flyers. And preferences change!

And if you knew the systems VS uses, you'd be surprised you'd get any seat at all!

Originally posted by mysteryflyer
preiffer Yes I was simply hoping for the best!

My company travel agent booked it and they are frankly useless but I have no choice in the matter. I guess I was expecting (wrongly it seems) that my window preference would be automatically allocated by VS. It shouldnt be that hard these days for VS software to flag it and automatically alter it for me...

My company's travel agent stores all my preferences but they seem to have no effect on where I end up...

Originally posted by g7dyd
Hi,
Hope you get on better than we did last May when we flew on VS028 from MCO. I resevered 2 seats at the rear of the aircraft upstairs in PE (I forget the seat numbers) and printed off the confirmation. When we checked in for the flight I was told "we had been allocated different seats" I showed the lady my seat confirmation and she tossed it to one side and said "we don't take any notice of this I really don't know why they let you reserve them"

I think out of 9 years flying with VS on arrival at the check in we've been allocated the seats we've reserved about 75% of the time. What I find really teeth grindingly irritating is when the agent says "oh, yes, pre-allocated seats.." and then it's revealed that it isn't the seats you'd requested. This happened a couple of times when they had decided that there being four of us we would dearly love the four seats in the centre of the 747...errr, no.

Paul

Originally posted by Lipstick
It's hard to think any major airline could hold such a database unless it is for it's top, top flyers. And preferences change!

Can I just say that Expedia holds my seat preference on their database and flags it up to me each time I make a booking through them Yes I do realise they are not an airline, but the technology exists.

^For travel agents and on line agents it is so easy to create profiles - in fact i bet you the customer does it yourself in your own details section but there is no way, in the system VS and other airlines use for this to happen.

Flying Club can do it for their top 50 flyers as it's a nice Windows style application they can bring up and create for each pax.

But airlines reservations systems are another world. When i first started to learn it i was told it's closer to binary code than anything we'd used on a computer before!

From previous experience, I tend to find that VS release more available seats for selection during OLIC. Rather than the limited number you can choose through 'manage your flight' days or months before your actual flight.

I thought with Flying Club it dd hold your preference

I asked for a better seat in the CH but it didnt happen. 31K in the end wasn't too bad and I slept for over 4 hours. No IFE box, and the person in front was clearly a member of staff or other VS friend as they spent most of the flight somewhere else than in the seat which meant it wasnt reclined.

Now personally I think its great that VS crews will offer extra bubbly to people all the way through the flight - for example if they are going on honeymoon or whatever - but it was annoying some people around me you could tell.....

[preiffer]

CH? Have you got your Gold card now, MF? Cool [y]

Not quite - BMI Gold trumped me in 3 more TP required. 2 on Friday on VS20 then I need one last one before Sept!