Cannot Book Seats Until 7 Months Before Flight (Travel Agent Booking)

mostlybobbins · 15 Jun 19, 11:37 AM

I've booked with a Travel Agent for our holiday next May, flying Premium Economy with Virgin. When the 11 month date came around, I contacted Virgin to obtain the locator and they could not find our details and to ask the TA to upload info.

I asked the TA and they said they don't release the information to the airline until 7 months out. I don't want to ba pain in the derriere to the TA, but does anyone know what the significance is of the 7 months?

I know we're 'on the flight' and yes, I'm eager to book our seats, but I'm not sure of the reasoning behind it. Any ideas? (It's not to do with any payments or final payments, I've asked about that).

lizzie145 · 15 Jun 19, 11:52 AM

Are you sure that the TA have booked the flights as virgin would have a record

mostlybobbins · 15 Jun 19, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by lizzie145

Are you sure that the TA have booked the flights as virgin would have a record

I guess Virgin have a record of the TA's booking as a block and I've asked the TA, so I suppose so!

toonarmani · 15 Jun 19, 12:22 PM

I imagine it�s a block booking and not sorted on their side yet but is as far as your booking goes ie you�re on that plane.

Bestbubba · 16 Jun 19, 09:11 AM

We had a similar situation booking through a TA for our cruise recently. The only way around it apparently was to pay in full for our flights. We did this and were given the locator number to book our seats. DH has just reminded me, it happened twice, with a Virgin flight and a Norwegian one too. We usually book directly with BA, so booking through a TA, and "block booking seats " was a new experience.

mostlybobbins · 16 Jun 19, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by Bestbubba

We had a similar situation booking through a TA for our cruise recently. The only way around it apparently was to pay in full for our flights. We did this and were given the locator number to book our seats. DH has just reminded me, it happened twice, with a Virgin flight and a Norwegian one too. We usually book directly with BA, so booking through a TA, and "block booking seats " was a new experience.

That is interesting as I asked the TA in my initial enquiry if it was related to payment and they said no, it was nothing to do with that. ODD!

Peko · 16 Jun 19, 07:18 PM

Originally Posted by Pinju

That is interesting as I asked the TA in my initial enquiry if it was related to payment and they said no, it was nothing to do with that. ODD!

There can be a few reasons for this, but payment is likely to be part of the issue. The reason you can�t book seats yet is highly likely to be that the booking has not yet been ticketed. Once a booking is ticketed, the agency issuing the ticket has to pay the airline for that ticket on the next IATA payment run (usually twice per month).

That said, the reasons may not purely be financial, since it has to be remembered that any block bookings will not only be for your dates, but quite possibly for most days of the year. So, operationally the agency is working through the ticketing chronologically.

As to the significance of 7 months, it could be a number of things, but is there any relationship between this time and the final deadline for making payments on your package?

mostlybobbins · 17 Jun 19, 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by Peko

As to the significance of 7 months, it could be a number of things, but is there any relationship between this time and the final deadline for making payments on your package?

The deadline is very early February for the final payment.

15 Jun 19, 11:37 AM	#1
	15 Jun 19, 11:37 AM mostlybobbins slightly serious Dibber
mostlybobbins slightly serious Dibber Join Date: Apr 10	Cannot Book Seats Until 7 Months Before Flight (Travel Agent Booking) I've booked with a Travel Agent for our holiday next May, flying Premium Economy with Virgin. When the 11 month date came around, I contacted Virgin to obtain the locator and they could not find our details and to ask the TA to upload info. I asked the TA and they said they don't release the information to the airline until 7 months out. I don't want to ba pain in the derriere to the TA, but does anyone know what the significance is of the 7 months? I know we're 'on the flight' and yes, I'm eager to book our seats, but I'm not sure of the reasoning behind it. Any ideas? (It's not to do with any payments or final payments, I've asked about that). Edited at 11:38 AM.

15 Jun 19, 12:22 PM	#4
	15 Jun 19, 12:22 PM toonarmani Imagineer
toonarmani Imagineer Join Date: Mar 12 theDIBB Guidebook Guidebook Photos: 137	I imagine it�s a block booking and not sorted on their side yet but is as far as your booking goes ie you�re on that plane.