Pre-booking flights seats with Virgin

[tweenie123]

I've just booked a holiday with Thomas Cook for August 2006 (excellent deal by the way - worked out cheaper than DIY) which includes flights with Virgin. The travel agent said that they can't pre book the flight seats until January 2006. Does anyone know if there will be an additional charge for this as she was unsure? She didn't think so but as I haven't flown with Virgin before, wanted to check.

[Keith]

No extra charge but no guarantee either! (although fingers crossed, we're running at about 90% success for getting our reserved seats)

[djhammon]

Hi

I pre booked my seats nearly 11 months in advance, it is something now that virgin offer.
I would just ring virgin and ask them about their pre bookable policy as the T.A might not be aware of this. I booked my holiday in January for November and they were fine and all prebooked

David

[orlando-sky]

You can pre-book seats on Virgin flights about 300 days in advance, give virgin a bell and confirm with them, using your flight reference..

When we have used virgin we have also booked way in advance and always got the seats we were allocated without any probs.

[Vikki]

We booked out tickets on Sunday, which is 11 months prior to our flight. We could reserve our seats at the same time. If you're going in August, you should be able to reserve your seats now :)

[tweenie123]

Thanks for that - I'll give them a ring tomorrow.

[PaulaK]

You can book seats 336 days before your return date, BUT if you have booked with TC, you will need to ask TC if they have passed your details to VA yet. When this has been done, you will show on VA's system and you can obtain your VA locator reference number which allows you to book seats online or over the phone. You can't book seats until you have a locator number as you won't show on their system. It sounds complicated, but it's really not. You just have to gee Thomas Cook up to do it for you if they haven't already. :thumbs:

[Markelle]

Don't forget that before you book your seats try visiting a site like http://www.v-flyer.com which gives you suggestions of good places to sit etc.

Hope this helps

[glosflamingo]

We have just booked thru jetsave for oct 2006 we asked about pre-bookable seats but jetsave said virgin tend to sit you altogher anyway so pre booking wasnt really necessary. After reading this thread thou im a bit concerned do you definately recommend pre booking or should we just check in early and hope for the best. Any further advise about Virgin would also be gratefully recieved as this will be our first flight with them.

[Keith]

We have just booked thru jetsave for oct 2006 we asked about pre-bookable seats but jetsave said virgin tend to sit you altogher anyway so pre booking wasnt really necessary. After reading this thread thou im a bit concerned do you definately recommend pre booking or should we just check in early and hope for the best. Any further advise about Virgin would also be gratefully recieved as this will be our first flight with them.

Welcome to the forum :)

They DO tend to try and sit you together with priority given to families with small children.

Pre booking gives you one more level of, perceived, certainty though ;-) and you can choose if you'd like window seats, or middle seats and so on.

Checking in early also helps because loads of seats aren't released until checkin.

It really depends how bothered you are about where in the aircraft you sit.

[triciacarole]

Personally I would book. Ring Virgin, they are currently up to 1 Sept 2006 so give it a few weeks and I expect you should be able to do it :). Have you joined Virgin Flying Club? I don't know if you can collect miles for flights booked through jetsave but you should be a able to manage your account, ie change seats allocated and order special meals.

[glosflamingo]

:shrug:thanks for the advice, for peace of mind if nothing else we will probably pre book. How much is this service and any advice as to what are the best seats to go for? no point booking if you book the worst seats anyway!:(

We are a party of 8, 5 of which are children/teens we could mangage if we were split up but as the kids have never flown before it would be best for us all to be together really.

What exactly is the virgin flying club? do you have a link?

sorry to be asking so many (silly) questions as you may have guessd we are first timers, and although we are all really excited :wiggle: am finding the whole planning and booking process very daunting:eek:

[triciacarole]

Here's the link for Virgin Flying Club (http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/frequentflyer/index.jsp), if you join just do it yourself first then recommend friends and family and when they fly (if they have a qualifying fare) you will get bonus points, the scheme is called miles more friends and is on the Virgin FC site. Here is another link to the seat map (http://www.v-flyer.com/seats.asp?search=yes&pid=2). Hope this helps :D

[Keith]

:shrug:thanks for the advice, for peace of mind if nothing else we will probably pre book. How much is this service and any advice as to what are the best seats to go for? no point booking if you book the worst seats anyway!:(

sorry to be asking so many (silly) questions as you may have guessd we are first timers, and although we are all really excited :wiggle: am finding the whole planning and booking process very daunting:eek:

It's free of charge :) and don't worry about asking questions, we all ask them!