Anybody else experienced this?

[R36snowbound]

I was booked on a flexi ticket for a 6pm flight, with my preferred seat 3C.

Day went well, go to the airport early and asked if I could move to the 5pm flight and if an upgrade was available.

Answer was yes to both questions and a boarding pass for seat 1C issued for the 5pm flight. I then spent 15 minutes in the lounge before being paged.

I was then advised that a mistake had been made and I could no longer have the upgrade, as business was full. I was advised this 5 minutes before boarding commenced. Then, I was told that the only seat left on the 5pm flight was row 24, middle seat or I could wait till the next flight.

Whilst not an ideal situation, this is a "first world problem" and not the end of the world.

The way Virgin handled it was good, so I am not angry, just curious if such events are common place or if I managed to experience a rare problem when flying? Status with VA is plat.

Thanks,

 

[TirEoghain]

My level of satisfaction would have depended on what I saw when I boarded the aircraft. If the J cabin was less than 100% full, or better seats appeared to be unoccupied in Y, then I would have been less than satisfied.

In all likelihood I would never have got to see the inside of the plane, and rather wait to the original 6pm flight, than be stuck in a middle seat at the back of a full flight.

As a matter of interest, what happens to the Sequence Number in a case like this when you get a new boarding pass? Is it the same as your the original sequence number for that flight, or does the new seat allocation get you a later sequence number?

 

[Velocity Frequent Flyer]

Hi R36snowbound, I'm really sorry this happened and would like to find out what happened. Please send a DM with your Velocity number and booking reference number. Thanks.

 

[JohnK]

Whilst not an ideal situation, this is a "first world problem" and not the end of the world.

The way Virgin handled it was good, so I am not angry, just curious if such events are common place or if I managed to experience a rare problem when flying? Status with VA is plat.

I would be angry. Simply not good enough regardless of how well they handled the situation after they stuffed it up.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I would be angry. Simply not good enough regardless of how well they handled the situation after they stuffed it up.

Agreed, perhaps someone from "The Club" wanted to fly ahead at the last minute :?:
Pretty poor sequence of events.

 

[Ausbt]

I would be angry. .

Don't get angry John, get compensated. Angry leads nowhere. Just look at how reasonably Snowbound considered the situation and posted "the way Virgin handled it was good". And lo and behold VFF swoops in no-doubt to offer something more tangibly soothing. I've always found constructive, polite but persistent feedback wins the day. Angry ...not so much

 

[JohnK]

Don't get angry John, get compensated. Angry leads nowhere.

Angry doesn't mean one needs to run around like a headless chook.

Compensation would have been high on my list. I wouldn't have travelled in a middle seat down the back. I would have travelled in business class on the next flight. And I would expect monetary compensation from customer care as well.

 

[bullerdude]

Given that upgrades on Virgin are classed 'confirmed' bookings in the same way as a purchased ticket (which is really good of VA to do this!) it is quite poor of them to override a confirmed seat for 'operational' reason and then offer a Platinum member a poor economy seat down the back. The only plus is that the lounge staff seemed to have been quite apologetic and perhaps it was out of their control and VFF has swooped into to find out what happened.

 

[R36snowbound]

As a matter of interest, what happens to the Sequence Number in a case like this when you get a new boarding pass? Is it the same as your the original sequence number for that flight, or does the new seat allocation get you a later sequence number?

TirEoghain,

I have no idea and did not think to check. I handed back my upgraded J business class ticket and was given the new economy boarding pass straight away.

The staff member at the Virging Lounge was very sincere and apologetic and I could see she felft bad about the situation. The staff member that paged me was the same staff member who had served me when I arrived in the lounge.

The flight looked full, I asked one of the FA's during the flight and was told there was only one empty seat on the flight and it was not in J.

VFF,

Thank you for contacting me, I will send you the details regarding the flight.