Newbie seeks VS legroom advice

Looking at taking my first Virgin flight June this year. Ive read some conflicting reports about legroom etc on various flights on non-v-flyer sites, but most these forums allow anyone to post unregistered & some perhaps get a little carried away.
Therefore the next best to asking the horses mouth , is to ask you lot! Looking for some advice from the regulars to Virgin - Im looking at going LHR to NYC (dont care which airport) and returning either NYC - LHR or LAS - LGW.
Im looking at ecomony return , but budget might stretch to PE for the return sector.
I actually have to go on to ORD or MSP (its for brothers wedding & its midway between these 2 !!) & as Im flying from Scotland, unless i go AA direct from GLA to ORD I will have to connect flights anyway. This way I get a couple nights in my favourite city & can tag on a few nights in Vegas before I come home.
My query therefore:
Does legroom differ (greatly) on different VS flights? Consensus seems to suggest average of 30". This is bound to differ on differnt plane types, but I wouldnt mind knowing I was getting a bit more space without having to pay double for PE.
Reservations I had over this last year saw me take AirNZ to AKL/SYD on honeymoon instead of taking the Great-Escapade routing). If so - are there any flights you would suggest as better in terms of average legroom over others on the LON - NYC routes? Coming back is less of an issue, strongly favouring taking PE for bigger chair, more room etc. Im not best plane sleeper & this will certainly help.
Connecting from Scotland, so pretty much all flights are option. Would even consider BOS or IAD - have wanted to visit both anyway & connecting onto ORD a few days later not an issue from either. Hoping I can get a couple of exit row seats anyway, but as fall-back I dont want to spend 8-10 hours cramped when I could have flown another carrier with more room guaranteed.

Having spent half hour rereading the FAQs Ive half answered my own Q - however any follow up advice from season flyers would be of great help.

[preiffer]

Hi Willie, and welcome to the site [y]

Yes - the MINIMUM legroom VS offer is indeed 30" in certain seats. Some are 32", a lot are 31.

You can purchase an exit row seat for £50 per passenger, per sector - but this is only available at the airport on the day of departure.



(Great use of the FAQ's, too )

Hi

From personal experience legroom is slightly better on the A343 / A346 vs the 747 in economy.

JB

Pot luck on the planes then , not to worry.
Been wanting to go Virgin for 2 or 3 years & whilst Ive had chance to in the past, ive gone with other options. This year Im finally going for it though.
Will also be my first "January Sale" purchase of 2006 too (I did buy 2 shirts, but they were Dec 28th).

Originally posted by Jon B
Hi

From personal experience legroom is slightly better on the A343 / A346 vs the 747 in economy.

JB

Tnx - thats kinda what I was thinking with my Q, although I couldnt put it into words. Last 2 transatlantic flights I had Airbus on one & 747 on other , no real difference until you get back onto a smaller plane. Connecting from a BMI flight, so at first will seem slightly more spacious anyway.[:p]

As a taller guy I have to tell you. VS seat pitch is a problem in Y. Especially so if an IFE bok is under the seat in front.

I will nearly always tell people how much they will enjoy flying VS. However you asked specifically about leg room, and if this is a major factor for you seriously consider alternatives.

Oh! I forgot - welcome to the site - please ask all the questions you want. In other words, Feel Free Willie (groan)

With £50 each to secure exit row (on the day if Im lucky, eek) its almost like they are trying to get the tall people to pre-book onto PE... [?]
Have wanted to fly Virgin for a while - so think I will the risk on the way over ... chances seam at least fair that I get more than 30" , might get chance of exit row & failing that, and will be bareable long enough if I get a seat without IFE box, as well as an aisle seat & a plane without kids running about. Sorted.... I`ll phone up tomorrow and ask for just that.

[Scrooge]

Good luck,at least on the way out it's not to long a flight,being stuck in Y for a west bound left coast flight is not good if you are tall.

Yeah , when I go that far again its back to Air New Zealand

Originally posted by williestott
With £50 each to secure exit row (on the day if Im lucky, eek) its almost like they are trying to get the tall people to pre-book onto PE... [?]

That's £75 or the equivant in dollars on west coast flights....

[preiffer]

Originally posted by Lipstick
That's £75 or the equivant in dollars on west coast flights....

Since when?

A friend of mine paid only $75 (£50 equiv.) for an exit row at the end of last year, from LAX... [:?]

[mitchja]

Originally posted by preiffer

Originally posted by Lipstick
That's £75 or the equivant in dollars on west coast flights....

Since when?

A friend of mine paid only $75 (£50 equiv.) for an exit row at the end of last year, from LAX... [:?]

Paul

Marc's post [url=http://www.v-flyer.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9637&SearchTerms=£75]here[/url] mentions that for flights over 10 Hrs, exit row seats are now £75 [:0]

Regards

[preiffer]

Wow - thanks James.

Completely missed that, as it was under a Gatwick check-in thread [:0]. That's quite a change (50% [:?])

Def. taking PE on way back - sadly my alternate routings are AA from GLA to NYC via ORD (cheaper than GLA to ORD on same day [:0]) , or take Continental direct to NYC from GLA or EDI - few friends done this & said never again .... hence why im looking to take plunge with my first (and 2nd!) Virgin flights. Think I`ll suffer economy US bound just to get the PE return.

williestott, welcome to v-fler!

As a 6' tall person, I don't find VS economy completely intolerable (we'd all love to fly at least PE all the time, but I for one can't afford it). I will say, that you will certainly want to ensure you don't have the IFE box under the seat in front of you. This does hamper leg room a lot. I've heard rumors that VS is redesigning the IFE box to be smaller, but not sure if anyone's seen one yet.

On my return LHR-EWR in November, I went with the exit row option. $50 for my flight, and I thought it was worth it. I will say, if you get an exit row, in Y, avoid the window seat, as the door has a bump in it that accomidates the exit slide. This hampers legroom in these seats. Not sure if its the same on the A34X, but it is a bit of an annoyance on the 744- I grabbed an exit row aisle, which worked out quite well for me.

Originally posted by webdes03
I will say, if you get an exit row, in Y, avoid the window seat, as the door has a bump in it that accomidates the exit slide. This hampers legroom in these seats. Not sure if its the same on the A34X, but it is a bit of an annoyance on the 744- I grabbed an exit row aisle, which worked out quite well for me.

The window on the 744 should not be charged because of this 'bump' although they will usually look to 'give' that one to someone paying for the middle seat as a 2-for-1 deal. Its worth asking at check-in.

Originally posted by Juliet
The window on the 744 should not be charged because of this 'bump' although they will usually look to 'give' that one to someone paying for the middle seat as a 2-for-1 deal.

Indeed, when I flew to SFO back in August there was no other option (checked-in in Y, but op-up'd to W) - the "bustle" seat was only available on the 2-4-1 purchase. Bit of a shame for us single travellers...[B)]

Cheers

Michael

I don't think the £75 exit row for flights over 10 hours is correct, as I paid 2x £50 for LHR to SYD on the 30th Dec.

Originally posted by jubjubbird
I don't think the £75 exit row for flights over 10 hours is correct, as I paid 2x £50 for LHR to SYD on the 30th Dec.

On both legs? Or was it £50 all the way?

There's been a lot said on this site about the seat pitch lottery in Econ. And after a recent flight on a 346 it confirmed my suspicions... Some rows are worse than others. Over wing window row was particularly intolerable (row 30 something), but on the return I choose further back (58) and really felt a lot more comfortable..

Of course if like me you feel agreived at paying extra just so the person who would have been in front of you can recline his seat and be a little more comfortable, then choose rows next to the exit rows, so that is they are still empty on push back you can jump in them quick... but don't do it on the same flight as me please!

all of the above comments seem quite fair, Many customers have mentioned that they quite like 61 d/g on Airbus aircraft as there is a liitle more aise space ( though armrests dont lift) as the row in front has 4 seats see seat map on v-flyer also on B744 consider those seats at the back where they go from a row of 3 by the window to 2 and again the a and k seats have space to the sides