Virgin Atlantic unveil 3 new ways to fly Economy

[Guest]

I'm curious...Does anyone know how many seats in the bubble that are economy...?,...I thought it was about twenty..We took a chance in 2014 flying from Manchester with VA and waited until the slot opened for free seats allocation and managed to snag three in the bubble..This year flying from Glasgow we decided to book our seats in the bubble..

[loves2plan]

Originally Posted by Coda

I'm curious...Does anyone know how many seats in the bubble that are economy...?,...I thought it was about twenty..We took a chance in 2014 flying from Manchester with VA and waited until the slot opened for free seats allocation and managed to snag three in the bubble..This year flying from Glasgow we decided to book our seats in the bubble..

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There are 33. Excuse the lopsided photo, but it's just how the seat map shows up on my phone.

[Burgmeister]

Originally Posted by AlexE

Does the above mean i am able to use Virgin air miles/reward seat and book a Delta flight? Virgin website says no. Would i book on the Delta site?

Hope that makes sense.

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I used the Virgin site for our upcoming trip to New York. I don't know when the website offers the Delta flights as it seems a bit "Hit and miss". I assume its to do with availability but I'm not sure. The Virgin call center staff didn't seem very clued up about the Delta flight options so I wouldn't bother with them. I don't think you can use VMs on the Delta website but I'm not certain. I don't know whether it would be worth ringing Delta (or facebook/twitter) to see if they know more than the Virgin staff?

Delta generally charges more miles (10,000 more for a return to NY in economy) but the charges are much lower (£161 compared with £266 on Virgin). We split the difference and are going out Virgin and returning on Delta.

[maclondon]

I was on a PE flight this week in the bubble and about half the people in there had MASSIVE 'hand baggage' trolley cases, this is on top of the two 23KG bags you are allowed! they all had to go in the cupboard - along with a load from economy. there must of been 12+ cases put away.

This will be chaotic come holiday season. I'd imaging families booking one or two Classic seats and then the rest in light - and do a ryanair brining on giant 'hand' luggages with no where for it to go.

Ryanair do force people to put bags in the hold 'for free' for this reason at the gate - because those cases don't fit under the seat and theres not enough room in the lockers when everyone is doing it.

But it is basically a way of pre- selling seat selection and bags.

[AlexE]

Thanks Bergmeister. We were looking at a Boston flight on the virgin website - delta flight is 9.40 and virgin is around 4pm and states if I pick the Delta flight i can't use air miles. I suppose i will need to contact virgin and delta to see what the response is?

[marlouwrig]

Originally Posted by AlexE

Thanks Bergmeister. We were looking at a Boston flight on the virgin website - delta flight is 9.40 and virgin is around 4pm and states if I pick the Delta flight i can't use air miles. I suppose i will need to contact virgin and delta to see what the response is?

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I find the v-flyer site a mine of information on all things VA. They seem to be experts and know the ins and outs of a ...

[disneyhol]

Originally Posted by Burgmeister

But how will you know? As we know flight prices are dynamic and change regularly so you wont be able to make a direct comparison.

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I will know as I have paid between £400 - £500 for economy in Sept for 3 years! So if economy light is coming in between those prices and I have to pay to upgrade to have baggage then we would fly TC / Thomsons or fly from London
Obviously if they I was happy with the price with the new change then I would book..

[Burgmeister]

Originally Posted by AlexE

Thanks Bergmeister. We were looking at a Boston flight on the virgin website - delta flight is 9.40 and virgin is around 4pm and states if I pick the Delta flight i can't use air miles. I suppose i will need to contact virgin and delta to see what the response is?

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I wonder whether the Delta flight just doesn't have any reward seats left? Given its good timeslot I wouldn't be surprised if they have all gone.

One more thing to note on Delta vs Virgin. When you depart from the UK Virgin will refund any APD for any children you have with you - Delta do not. I believe that is because Virgin split the cost between charges & taxes whereas Delta just bill you for "charges".

We reckon, as our DD is travelling with us, that we hit the sweet spot of departing with Virgin and returning with Delta. This way we had DDs £78 taxes refunded (equiv to £26 pp) and had £50 off the fees for the return leg albeit at a cost of an extra 5000 miles per person. I'm happy with the 1p per mile redemption rate for those 5000 miles

[Burgmeister]

Originally Posted by disneyhol

I will know as I have paid between £400 - £500 for economy in Sept for 3 years! So if economy light is coming in between those prices and I have to pay to upgrade to have baggage then we would fly TC / Thomsons or fly from London
Obviously if they I was happy with the price with the new change then I would book..

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Just because the last 3 years you managed to get those prices doesn't mean that would necessarily follow this year though (fuel prices and exchange rates are fickle). Also, presumably, you bought at a time when the price fell into your range? Prices will probably fluctuate in and out of your range during the year even with the change.

But, of course, it is your own hard-earned money and if you do not wish to spend it with Virgin, for whatever reason, that is definitely your perogitive. And I can see how, if you disagree with a new policy from a company you were previously happy with, you would wish to take your custom elsewhere. That is exactly what we should all be doing if we feel that way about any company. That's how the capitalist system is supposed to work after all.

I'm not a die-hard fan of Virgin. If I could get better value (not necessarily cheaper) flights from TC/Norwegian/Delta/etc then I would. You would be a fool not to.

[Lisbon]

How many people will be able to take advantage of these new tiers .
I'm sure Virgin have spent a small fortune on consultants working this new system out, whereas if they just asked people who travel they would find out people just want a comfortable seat, clean plane, decent food and some entertainment as well as being able to take a large case each
Rob