Does seating preference mean anything?

[JohnK]

How does someone with an Aisle preference get allocated a window seat?

As a lowly VA Gold I take my chances not pre-allocating a seat since the switch to Sabre but do not understand how 8A satisfies an "Aisle preference" and when I ask for an aisle seat the best they can offer is 17D! :shock:

 

[Boris spatsky]

Always, always pre-allocate. Then you can't be caught out (unless they move you for op reasons).

 

[DGW]

How does someone with an Aisle preference get allocated a window seat?

As a lowly VA Gold I take my chances not pre-allocating a seat since the switch to Sabre

Why not pre allocate an aisle seat as far forward as possible when booking and then look for anything farther forward during OLCI? At least you've got some "insurance" then against being stuck down the back. FWIW I always call to do seat selection immediately after I book (it can't be done through our corporate booking portal) and when in Y I've never not been able to secure 3C or D and have never been bumped from these (except for op-ups).

 

[JohnK]

There is nothing special about pre-allocating 7D so I do not want to use up my 1 chance at pre-allocating a seat on 7D or worse.

 

[Fruitcake]

There is nothing special about pre-allocating 7D so I do not want to use up my 1 chance at pre-allocating a seat on 7D or worse.

You can move seats when online checkin opens at T-48. You could allocate yourself 7D at booking then move to 3C at T-48 if it's available. And, in fact, if you change seats then cancel online checkin, your seat selection will stick but you'll maintain the flexibility of not being checked in, which is important if you're flying a Flexi or J.

 

[LonePine]

Unless I have luggage (which is rare), I always check in at the Lounge. They work wonders for me.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Seat preferences or requests do not guarantee that seat, the system will simply look for a seat that closely matches your preference at the time you checkin.

If your particular flight has a high demand for aisle seats and at the time you checkin there is only 8A, 17D or 25E left then you're not going to get 3C or 3D.

Some airline systems may default to the most forward seat which may be a window (even if your preference is an aisle), other airline systems will search for an aisle seat & if 17D happens do be the most forward aisle seat on offer that's what you will get.

If getting your preferred seat choice is high on the agenda for you I would make it a priority to pre-allocate one at your earliest opportunity. If you do your own bookings & seat selection is not available at the time you book, then call up VA & they will do it.

We recently used our annual free Amex tickets ex PER to SYD (me on QF courtesy of Amex Ultimate & SO VA courtesy of Plat Edge) & after we arrived in PER on QF, we walked over to VA checkin who were happy to pre-allocate a seat for SO on his flight 2 days away. When he checked in at the airport on the day of travel using the kiosk he was able to move himself from 12K to 8K & the aisle seat remained free so he got a Silver shadow.

Like anything in life, things can be as easy or as hard as you want them to be.

 

[medhead]

There is nothing special about pre-allocating 7D so I do not want to use up my 1 chance at pre-allocating a seat on 7D or worse.

You have more than one chance to allocate a seat. If 7D isn't that special why then are you complaining about 17D?

 

[serfty]

You can allocate a seat on booking,
you can allocate/change a seat by calling at any time between booking and check-in if you'd like,
you can allocate/change a seat with online/kiosk/counter check-in and
you can allocate/change a seat at the service desk.

My SG B-I-L is flying today and was able to call up 3 hours before the flight and have 3D allocated (moved from 7D).

It's really as much effort with Qantas in the doing the T-80 WP dance from row 6/25 --> row 4/23 ...

 

[JohnK]

My question was about seating preferences and whether they mean anything.

Under the old system you were allocated a theoretical seat based on your preference when check-in opened if you did not already have a seat allocated.

Obviously implementation of Altea at Virgin is not the same.

My SG B-I-L is flying today and was able to call up 3 hours before the flight and have 3D allocated (moved from 7D).

It's really as much effort with Qantas in the doing the T-80 WP dance from row 6/25 --> row 4/23 ...

Point noted. Your brother in law was extremely lucky.

Remember with Virgin you only get one chance to choose seat with web check-in. So any further changes need to keep calling. Even though seating is important that is way too much effort.

In comparison the Qantas system is much easier to use.

 

[clarkkent]

Remember with Virgin you only get one chance to choose seat with web check-in. So any further changes need to keep calling.

Not quite, as Fruitcake said above, if you select your seats at online (or mobile) check-in then don't proceed beyond that, they will stick. So you can choose at T-48, leave the page, then if the situation improves at T-24 you can choose again. Only finish the check-in when you're satisfied.

 

[JohnK]

Not quite, as Fruitcake said above, if you select your seats at online (or mobile) check-in then don't proceed beyond that, they will stick. So you can choose at T-48, leave the page, then if the situation improves at T-24 you can choose again. Only finish the check-in when you're satisfied.

Is that a recent change? In the past as soon as you clicked on web check-in you were checked-in.

See what happens when you stay away from a forum?

 

[clarkkent]

Not sure when it was implemented, someone else might know. I think I first did it when Sabre was fairly new and there were discrepancies in seat availability between the web and mobile check-in pages.

 

[JohnK]

Well that explains it.

When Sabre was installed I had 6 bookings already in system and these could not be changed online.

 

[The Rok]

I have the same issue on QF. My seating preference is for a forward Aisle. Booking shows seat as 19F. Go to select seats, I can select row 4,5,6,7,8,9,10 etc in Aisle both sides. WTF?

 

[straitman]

In comparison the Qantas system is much easier to use.

Once again this thread highlights that there are differences between the airlines and that what is best for one person is not always best for another. ie sometimes we win and sometimes not.

My example is that our recent trip to/from Fiji the seat allocations which were set up months ago (4 adults & 3 kids) had us spread out across rows 3 & 4. With relatively full a/c in both directions the allocations stuck and we had all of rows 3 & 4 to ourselves. (We did get a few funny looks though)

Thanks VA.

 

[JohnK]

I am still confused and something weird is happening.

Last night I go to web checkin and allocated 5D for a flight from OOL tomorrow night and checked a few other times and could not get an aisle in row 3 or 4 although 4F was available.

I just went to check again and lo and behold I am in 4D! :shock:

There must be some sort of theoretical seating done at T-24 hours not T-48 hours which makes my 8A last week with an aisle preference look extremely weird.

So it appears seating preference does not mean much but I will be using the web check-in which allows seats to be changed more than once.

 

[samh004]

How does someone with an Aisle preference get allocated a window seat?

As a lowly VA Gold I take my chances not pre-allocating a seat since the switch to Sabre but do not understand how 8A satisfies an "Aisle preference" and when I ask for an aisle seat the best they can offer is 17D! :shock:

Between 8A and 17D there are 18 aisle seats? So if there are 18 Platinums ahead of you in the allocation process who want an aisle seat, or at least Platinums and Gold's more commercially important than you, then what can they do but to serve those customers first? That said, probably just their awful system.

 

[k3nnis]

Not sure if I should create a new thread or post here, I have no status, once I made a seat selection at time of booking for a syd-ool flight , can I change my seat preference by calling up at a later time?

 

[JohnK]

Not sure if I should create a new thread or post here, I have no status, once I made a seat selection at time of booking for a syd-ool flight , can I change my seat preference by calling up at a later time?

You should be able to change seat selection by calling.