Hi, New Member saying hi and queston

Hey all,

A really helpful gal told me about this site on Tripadvisor I am a Virgin airmiles member already and love flying so this forum is probably perfect for me

My name is Nick, so hi everyone

Question.........

I am on a Virgin flight to Vegas in couple of weeks on a 747 - seating on plane is the 3-4-3 config. Inbound is the usual dreaded night flight and we are all together in H,J,K. towards front of economy.

Question is............there are lots of rows of seats free in back cabin (rows 49-65) which are untaken - whole rows, at least 18 of them in left, middle and right of plane. There are 3 of us - what if I put each person is separate row hoping to get 3 seats each??? This happened to me on way back from Orlando before XMas and it was awesome. Example - me 60J, Wife 59J, Friend 58J.

If I do this, should I put each person in the 'aisle' seat or 'middle seat' - I guess what I want to do is pick the seat which would discourage others from sitting there, lol - so would middle seat be best as lots of couples, etc wouldnt want to sit separately??

Sorry for long post!

Hi Nick,

Welcome to the forum! [y]

Re your question, it is very difficult to say, as they change people seats at check in, people may see the availability and want to do the same. If I were you I would ask at check in to see what the availability is like and go from there. If you were seated near the available seats, you could always move once the doors have closed/taken off. Sorry that I wasn't much help!

Dominic

Thanks for reply - i will be doing online check in and I will keep an eye out on the seats.

You know the diagram on Virgin's website for seat allocation........does it show ALL open seats for people to choose or is it keeping some seats (sneaky, lol)??

[Neil]

Originally posted by nickdolphins
You know the diagram on Virgin's website for seat allocation........does it show ALL open seats for people to choose or is it keeping some seats (sneaky, lol)??

At the moment, only 60% of the a/c will be showing available for pre-selection. At OLCI all seats will become available apart from Exit Rows & Bulkheads as these can only be allocated at the airport.

Neil

thanks for info attitude So, if only 60% of aircraft is showing in economy and there are 18 rows free, then its looking good less than 2 weeks before flight yeh?

[ChuckC]

Nick,
Welcome aboard, mate. Glad you are with us and we hope you'll find V-Flyer your perfect cuppa tea!

As the others have said there's really no "best" way to guarantee you'll snag a row of seats all to yourself. If it were me, I'd probably choose aisle seats, picking rows nearest to the rear of the plane.

And with flight attendant approval, of course, you can always change seats after the aircraft door has closed.

Again, welcome aboard!

Chuck-

Hi Nick,

If the aircraft is really that empty, regardless whether you checked in online, when you drop your bags, sometimes they will tell that due to loading problem, they will have to ask all passengers sit from 59 onwards (just an example). I had that few times while travelling around Christmas time.

Once you onboard, the cabin crew will tell you don't move around at that point. But once you take off, cabin crew will be quite happy to let you sit wherever you want.

Get 4 seats if you can, good luck!

Snow

I am not sure, but there are several people on here who can confirm or deny....You may find that when you try and split your group up during OLCI or 'seat pre-request' the computer sez no due to the bookings being linked. If you do manage it, you may also find that when they close the flight for 'seat pre-request' the computer moves you all back together.

Chuck,

So you think booking middle seats is too much of a 'risk' then, ie - you would be worried about getting mr and mrs wierdo to left/right of you, lol???

Someone else said only 60% of plane can be booked from the online Virgin diagram so it must be really quiet if so many seats are still available!

Snow,

Never heard of that!!! I have however been onboard when the seat belt sign gets turned off and people jump outta there seats like maniacs to get the big rows, lol - its quite funny to watch........thats why for once I would like that luxury!!!

Sailor,

Sorry should have mentioned - we have 3 different booking references and as far as Virgin know, we are not related in anyway! Reason we did this is we all (3 of us) paid for our tickets and Virgin's website will only take one credit card for one booking reference!!!

Nick, Hate to shatter any illusions but I ain't no gal [:0]

Glad you found the site though...

Lemmingjuice..............ay?!?!?!

You have never posted before but you said 'i aint no gal' - sorry but I'm lost?!

[Decker]

Welcome on board Lemmingjuice And thanks for pointing others here too.

Originally posted by nickdolphins
Lemmingjuice..............ay?!?!?!

You have never posted before but you said 'i aint no gal' - sorry but I'm lost?!

I am assuming that LemmingJuice was the person who tipped you off about this site on Tripadvisor and you referred to him in your original thread as "a really helpful gal"!!

Hence the correction![y]

Originally posted by nickdolphins
Lemmingjuice..............ay?!?!?!

You have never posted before but you said 'i aint no gal' - sorry but I'm lost?!

Look back on Tripadvisor, I'm the same Lemmingjuice from the Tripadvisor board that pointed you here - I thought I'd correct your little mistake

Yes these are my first posts - hello everyone! I've been lurking for a bit absorbing all the hints 'n' tips. I'm a Virgin virgin and am off in late May to Las Vegas (followed by hiring a car & going to Zion, Byrce & North Grand Canyon).

Lemmingjuice (a.k.a. Adrian).

EDIT: Just seen your post MarkJ, you hit the nail on the head...

Welcome on board to the board Adrian - Im sure that you will have fun exploring here and as you've seen there are lots of tips and ideas.

I think if I had to suggest one key thing to anyone new then it would be to use the search facility whenever you need to find something - theres lots on here and often this is a really useful starting point - after that - post away!!!

[Scrooge]

Welcome to the pair of you.

Originally posted by nickdolphins

I have however been onboard when the seat belt sign gets turned off and people jump outta there seats like maniacs to get the big rows, lol - its quite funny to watch........thats why for once I would like that luxury!!!

Yep it's fun to watch, whats even more fun is if a certain someone happens to know another certain someone who happens to block of the 4 seats in the middle section so a certain someone can lay down, then if the cabin crew keep making lot's of announcements that pax are NOT to leave there seats until the seat belt sign is turned off after take off for safety reasons (give me enough time to streech out and fall asleep) the look of anticipation on people faces is kind of funny, the look of pure hatred is even better..

Long live the Scrooge

[}:)]

Originally posted by nickdolphins

If I do this, should I put each person in the 'aisle' seat or 'middle seat' - I guess what I want to do is pick the seat which would discourage others from sitting there, lol - so would middle seat be best as lots of couples, etc wouldnt want to sit separately??

It's probably rather early to say considering there's a couple of months to go, but I do have some experience in psychological blocking. If I am travelling with one other on a flight with equipment where there are three seats together, I always book the window and the aisle leaving the middle seat empty. No one ever wants a middle seat. Unless the flight is full, this has worked every time I've tried it.

In the unlucky worst case scenario, the flight will be full and someone takes the middle seat - in which case you can offer them the aisle or window (who would refuse?) and you still get to sit together.

When there's three flying it's rather more risky - if you take middle seats leaving the aisles and windows free you can be certain these will get taken if the flight is starting to fill up.

I would go for A,C,D or G,H,K towards the back, that way you are almost guaranteed at least one free spot.

Cheers, Howard

I had this dilemma on my recent flight to PVG.
Should we upgrade to PE or UC with miles, or since the flight was showing less than half full, should we choose strategic Y seats and hope to stretch out across 4 of them each?

We took the cheap option (I find 4 seat are longer than a UCS, and in PE the armrests are fixed, so you have no hope to stretch out!), and then began a game of ÒChicken ChessÓ maneuvering ourselves to the best rows as the people boarding got less and less and the CC werenÕt noticing and sending us back to our allocated seats.

I find that the Chinese have little respect for either seatbelt signs or requests from the CC not to move until after takeoff, so on a flight with majority Chinese onboard (my wife included! ), if you canÕt beat them, join them!

It paid off, though we ended up with me on a four row, and MrsPVG on a three row about ten rows away from me. I slept like a log (after sampling most of the Clubhouse cocktail offering Ð well it was new years eve!), and was mighty glad IÕd saved my miles for another day.

This is a great debate and it will be interesting to see what happens......if the plane get close to full I will switch to 3 aisle seats - I still have the 3 middle seats and I will see what happens for now.

I was also unsure if Virgin offer online check in on the return leg of journey (vegas to gatwick) and I just called them and they confirmed you can check in online.

I wonder why you are not allowed to change seats until in the air and seat belt sign goes off..........

Sorry to the person who sent me to this site and for being 'slow' - i should have figured out it was you who sent me over to site

Nick

[mitchja]

Originally posted by nickdolphins


I wonder why you are not allowed to change seats until in the air and seat belt sign goes off..........

Nick

This is due to loading and weight factors. Flight Ops have to get the weight and load balance correct for take-off and landing ie the weight of passengers has to be distributed evenly around the A/C cabins depending on how much cargo and how many bags the A/C is carrying.

This is why on any flight you should sit in your designated seat for take-off and landing. This is also why only approx 60% of seats on VS flights are pre-bookable before the flight.

Regards

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by nickdolphins

I wonder why you are not allowed to change seats until in the air and seat belt sign goes off..........


Nick

A couple of reason's, firstly so the crew can do a head count without having to stop and start as people move.

Second reason, at least in my case, crew knew what was happening as was making sure nothing stopped it from happening....btw sorry if you happened to be on that flight, but trust me I needed a bed that day.