First time questions

Right so me and my partner are off to Florida in January and are really looking forward to it.

So the main question i have to ask is me and my partner read that it is possible to choose your seats as 60% of the seats on planes are not 'reserved' so to say, and we would like to sit at the back in the area where there are only 2 seats instead of the usual three on the outer sides of the plaen, and its only two of us and there would be no third random person.
Now when we check in and what not what would be the best way of going about to get the seats we want on the flight.

Also we have looked at the different options of checking in and wondered what would be the best way of going about that, as we have booked for a hotel the night before the day we depart.

A question that has both me and my partner puzzled as well is baggage! So do we get to have 2 normal sized suit cases up to 23kg each or not or just one normal and one thats smaller? And is hand luggage included in that or is it the usual 5kg?

Thanks a lot for reading and i hope some of you can help me! I would like to know whats what as we dont have long to go!

Thanks Kyle.

[Neil]

Hi Kyle,

The first thing to do is to try and reserve the seats using the 'manage my booking' part of the VS site, if they are free grab them and then use OLCI 24 hours before the flight. If they are already taken then the advice given in this thread should help you understand your options. Always remember though that any pre-reserved seats are subject to change and are not guaranteed.

You are allowed 2 cases each, each case can weigh up to 23kg. The size of the case is irrelevant really (as long as its not stupidly large or anything). Hang luggage is seperate and you are allowed 1 piece each weighing max 5kg and remember to make sure the other dimensions are within the allowed limits as detailed on the VS site.

Neil

Thats brilliant Neil thank you very much that has made lot of things clear for me!

With the online check-in do i need to print anything, like boarding pass, as im staying in the travelodge the night before?

[Neil]

Originally posted by KCDavis
With the online check-in do i need to print anything, like boarding pass, as im staying in the travelodge the night before?

You can print your boarding passes if you want, but as you will be checking in luggage then you will have to go either to the PE check in desk or the bag drop, they will print 'proper' boarding passes for you then anyway so I would say it is kind of pointless.

Neil

Ah thats good then, thanks a lot Neil thats really helped me.

Now i know what i will be doing for check-in!

Thanks

I booked my flight about 2 months ago, i am flying with 2 young children so it was vital we sat together. On the manage my booking page there were only sets of two seats together.
I phoned Virgin and they told me not to worry families always get put together.
Anyway, one night i logged on and loads of seats had become available so i booked three.

In regards to Online Check in i would take caution, i have flown virgin many times and have never ever been able to check in online yet, i cant even use those machines.

If that happens the best advice is to turn up at the time check in opens. Usually i stay at a hotel the night before and all the flights tend to be in the morning so check in opens early, i tend to go to the airport and check in then return to the hotel and have breakfast or a spa or whatever. Its much better than waiting in a lounge looking at the departures screen every five minutes.

In terms of luggage what has been said already is spot on, sometime security can be pretty strict with carry on luggage other times they dont seem to be that bothered. Its worth looking at the what you can and take on board. Last Jan on the way to Florida my kids couldnt even take their fruit shoots through security.

Have a great time, ill be out there in a couple of weeks ; )

I wouldnt rely on the vs for making sure families are sat together. We booked seats day they became available. Did diy and noticed seats had changed. We had various bookings and were told they were linked, but due to a plane change (although same seating config) we ended up all over the place! Phoned day before and told not to worry as they'd put a note on the system. Got to check and told plane full so no can do! Told to board and ask passengers to swap! After 20 minutes of complaining, they managed to re-arrange seats so my 4 & 6 year olds werent sat in one row on their own, and my 10 year old wasnt at the back of the plane on her own!

They are not allowed to seat children on their own without a parent or guardian, I've overheard this subject many times being discussed by the Senior Cabin Crew.

[Neil]

Originally posted by sickbag
I wouldnt rely on the vs for making sure families are sat together.

Whilst VS didn't give you boarding cards that made you set next to each other, in the end they sorted it out, which as ukcobra said, they have to do. Your situation is worst case scenario and it still got sorted. Best option is to use OLCI exactly 24hours before the flight, I've never had a problem with this and the other 40% of the a/c opens up so there are lots of free rows to choose from. Then make sure you get to the airport early and everything should be fine.

Neil

VS went the hard route about sorting it. After loads of other 'service related problem flights, this is why after our next flight to the states we will no longer be flying VS (just finishing up the miles!). The person on the checkin desk simple said 'full', no can do. I asked to speak to a senior supervisor. He basically said we should have got to the airport 6 hours earlier to get sets together. It was only when I asked to be put in touch with the Flying Club that he walked me over to the ticket desk. I explained the problem to them, and within 5 minutes they had us seated together! Had they told us that all would be sorted onboard by staff, rather than for us to ask other passengers to move, then I agree there would not have been a problem.

[Neil]

Some of what you've just said is a bit contradictory to your first post. You have to remember that the check in agent can only allocate you seats that are showing as free, if they don't have a row together they can't just move people as boarding cards have been printed etc and it would cause chaos when boarding.

Virgin offer enough options IMO for you to ensure you are sat together, pre-allocating & OLCI are there for your benefit and if you choose not to use them when others do then well done them Its each for his own and, if I want a specific seat I will go out of my way to ensure I get it by using all possible means (I check my reserved seats are still there every week once booked and then every day leading up to the flight), if I've done nothing then turn up at the last minute and expect the airline to sort it for me then more fool me.

Neil

neil - Contradictory? If you read my original post you'd find I did do DIY checkin and phoned virgin the day before! I purchased the seats the day they came available. It was only doing DIY checkin 24hrs before that I noticed the seats had changed. I contacted VS and they said it was due to plane change (although seat config the same). They assured me that they would make a note of the system and the people who arrange seats in the morning would correct it. We got to checking 4hrs before and told there had been no notes on the booking and that the plane was full. I did pre-allocate (and paying a full price fare the day the seats became available for 5 of the seats). I did do DIY check 24hrs before. I did contact VS day before. I turned up 4hrs before departure. Not sure what else I could do?

Originally posted by sickbag
I wouldnt rely on the vs for making sure families are sat together.

It is a pain when this happens. My experience has been slightly better than yours, in that though we have lost our pre-assigned seats (even, as you say, when the aircraft config is the same) they've always sat us together.I've seen the problem manifest on other airlines, and I don't think that VS is any worse than any other in this respect.

Originally posted by ukcobra
They are not allowed to seat children on their own without a parent or guardian, I've overheard this subject many times being discussed by the Senior Cabin Crew.

Unfortunately they don't always insist on this if the parent / guardian seems happy with being seated away from their little darlings. On our flight to Boston earlier this year a couple arrived on the plane with three offspring. Their seating arrangement had the parents apart but with the children either next to them or across the aisle. They declared this unacceptable as they didn't want any of the children sat next to a stranger and rearranged themselves so that the parents sat together and the children sat 3 rows in front.

Paul

[Decker]

They declared this unacceptable as they didn't want any of the children sat next to a stranger

Perhaps their children were psychopaths who couldn't be trusted not to savagely attack strangers? If so very considerate of them.

[Neil]

OLCI for me is at home using the internet, and I always class DIY check in as usually the kiosk things at the airport, so that was the confusion. I am surprised that using OLCI 24hrs before the flight was totally full, as it is at this stage the 40% of seats not available for pre-allocating become free. Re the a/c change, the 2 LGW/MAN configs are very similar but do differ slightly so this is probably the reason why it didn't look any different but was (its only the small first section Y that has a couple more rows in the other config).

I agree that it is stupid that the system totally cocks up the pre-assigned seating when an config change is done, although it usually just re-assigns you new seats, still together but just a different row etc.

Told to board and ask passengers to swap! After 20 minutes of complaining, they managed to re-arrange seats so my 4 & 6 year olds werent sat in one row on their own, and my 10 year old wasnt at the back of the plane on her own!

I apologise for continuing off the original question.

But... on my last flight to IAD (and the return flight) in Oct, the FSM was making announcements to the cabin telling to stay in their allocated seats when taxi-ing and take-off and then you can switch seats once the a/c was in the air but you had to go back to your original seats on descent and landing.

As this was a safety issue for indentification purposes, how can the check-in staff tell you to rearrange on the plane![?]

[honey lamb]

It's also a weight and balance issue for take-off and landing. That's why often on the LCCs you will see the first few rows blocked off if it isn't a full flight