I apologise if this question has been asked in the past but here goes:

we have booked our flights for aug 08 however I cannot log onto the site to pre book seats etc. The site is telling me that this is because I have booked through agent and am inputting agents number. How do I get my own booking number as agent just keeps giving me 'their' number. Does this mean I cannot log on or check in on line coz I used an agent/

Sorry to waffle. Hope someone can help

Ali x

You can only do this one you have the ticket and see the reference number quoted on it.

Mark

Ali5

Does anything on your paperwork resemble a 6 letter/digit code (e.g. EC1CDF)? That will be the airline booking reference number or "locator". Alteratively ask the travel agent for the airlines "locator".

Once you have that you will be able to access the Manage your Flights section on the Virgin Atlantic website and pre-seat yourself.

Yes, the nice man at Virgin gave me my booking code so that I could manage my booking online. And I'm not going for ages yet !!

thanks everyone for your replies.

Travel agents contacted virgin for me and allocated me a reference number which now allows me to check my bookings etc on line.

Now I am happier

Ali x

Does anyone know, if I travel Upper from LGW will I receive the same IFE as economy or will it be VOD? (v:port) I know economy and PE don't get V:port from LGW but surely Upper must have something superior?

BY-TOM-AMM-FCA,

MAN/LGW aircraft aren't fitted with V:Port. It's only LHR based aircraft that have that. MAN/LGW have Super Nova (mainly) or Odyssey. More info on V-Flyer.

Darren

oh how vile!

Thomsonfly's IFE has spoilt me.

Thomsonfly IFE
Thats if you are on a flight that has it???? Try 4.45hrs on a 737-300 to Cyprus with sod all,at least Virgin has something.I was travelling on Thomson holidays in 1980 on 737s they are going backwards.From no1 as Britannia to rubbish now and that includes the upgraded 767s that have seen better days.

Well since Virgin does not do short haul, I can only compare like for like.
And since I am referring to the IFE, Yes Thomsonfly's knocks spots off Virgins- even V:port

Here are a few tips as I have just been to New York with Virgin.

We flew out from Heathrow to Newark on a Virgin airbus, in economy. It was very comfortable with enough leg room. We sat in seats 61A and C (LH side of cabin). Nice food, plenty of choice on the Vport, helpful staff. We got the airport express bus from Newark into Manhattan where we were staying. It goes from just outside the terminal direct to the Manhattan Port Authority bus station in central Manhattan. It costs 15 dollars - get on, the fare is collected at the next stop. You get on at the furthest righthand bus stop in front of the terminal as you emerge. it is Olympia lines and it leaves every 15 minutes. Not sure how long it takes in traffic but around 30 minutes if the road is clear.

We flew back from JFK in the late afternoon and got a taxi out from Manhattan which costs 50 dollars with tip. The traffic was more or less stationary and it took 1 hour and 3/4 and then when we were all on board, the flight had to be delayed for another 20 minutes to wait for a group of 30 people who were stuck on the freeway. So Newark is definitely worth a punt.

We checked in online for the return flight and did not have access to a printer so could not print out boarding passes. When we got to JFK we went to one of the Virgin kiosks and pushed our passports bar code reader up, into the slot provided and entered the booking ref. This generated boarding cards. We showed these to the young man at the desk next to the kiosk and he checked in our luggage and then we wheeled it to a Baggage drop area a few yards away and left it there. This all worked well. It made it back to London with us.

We were so pleased with seats 61 A and C on the way out, we tried to book them for the return flight - which was economy class from JKF on a Boeing 747. We could not book 61A and C so we booked the same pair on the opposite RH side 61H and K.

Row 61 is where the outer rows decrease from 3 seats to 2 in both cases. The resulting gap is left between the seat nearest the wall and the fusilage. This means, according to seatguru, that 61A and K are good seats, because there is some extra space between the seat and the wall. Well up to a point. You can stow stuff there in the gap but you cannot put your legs into the gap next to you because the armrest nearest the wall is fixed and you cannot stretch your legs toward the front because there is a three seat row in front so you cannot stretch your legs forwards into a space there either. The seats in the rows of 2 BEHIND row 61A and K are better because then you can stretch your legs into the space alongside the seat in front.

But there is a more important warning here. Seatguru says that there is a 32" pitch on Virgin flights. Not in economy on most of Virgin Atlantic there isn't, it is mostly 30" with some 31" seat pitches. This is confirmed on the Virgin website. I think we must have struck lucky with some 31" pitch seats on the Airbus outbound in 61A and C.

On the Boeing for the return journey I could not believe how small the pitch was in 61H and K -barely 30" . I think it was even less. I did notice that Seats 62H and K behind us had a much more generous pitch than us so I don't know if 61H and K were misplaced accidentally on our Boeing or if there were engineering reasons why we were so close to the seats on front.

For my husband who is over 6foot, his knees were right up against the back of the seat in front. As soon as we were airborne the entire row of 3 people infront fully reclined their seats and he kept pressing his knees against the seat in front which forced them forward but he could not help it we were so squashed in we could scarcely use our trays. We would have asked to move but the plane was full.

So be aware of this - most Virgin Atlantic seats only have a 30" pitch - which is what Virgin itself says - and are not 32" as seatguru says. (I have reported our experience to seatguru but they have not updated their website.) And AVOID seats 61H and K on the Virgin Atlantic Boeings as they are even narrower, maybe only 29".

That said apart from a two hour delay going out - due to planes being in the wrong place and having to bring one up to Heathrow from Gatwick, I cannot fault the service on Virgin. In particular on the return flight to London when the plane was completely full, the staff served everyone very efficiently. Food was fine and so were the v-ports and the aircon was particularly effective - nozzles be pointed straight at you, (I like some fresh air on me during a flight).

BY-TOM-AMM-FCA
Why have they stopped showing The Vicar Of Dibley,never done Thomsonsfly long haul the rubbish they serve up short haul is enough for me,however the V port to Barbados in March in PE was excellent.And the food was not Aldo Zili slop.

I shall not bite, qatarman, I am a frequent user of V:port and also know Thomsonfly's IFE offering inside out would definately say the latters IFE is superior with the exception of being able to zoom in on cities with Virgins flight map.

As for Aldo Zilli, it is personal taste, without exception our feedback results have improved quite dramatically over and above previous none zilli meals. The Aldo Zilli catering is aimed at a higher audience than our standard catering that we previously carried and thus won't appeal to our traditional customer base.

Again, you refer to short haul, short haul is a different kettle of fish all together. The profit in short haul is far slimmer and on the whole peoples expectations are lower(thanks to the low cost carriers) therefore a different level of service is offered.

Anyway back on track...
Thank you for your information Dazbo, I shall pick my next Virgin flight carefully.

Thank you,as a Business Class passenger and Gold Card holder on Qatar Airways I have an idea about good airline food and to me the Aldo Zilli meals are not what I would serve on a holiday flight and short haul is your main customer base not Long Haul.

Hi quick question,

Basically I am flying (with family 4 people in total) from LAX-LHR with virgin in UC, this summer. Flight arrives into LHR at 12:25 (terminal 3).

I have then booked a flight with BMI, from LHR (terminal one) to Manchester. This flight leaves at 16:00. My question is it possible to through check our luggage to MAN from LAX. I should say that the flights are on separate itineraries. I was flying from MAN-LHR the other week and asked a bmi staff member at the sales desk in terminal 3 and she said it would not be possible. However, i thought that virgin and bmi had some sort of agreement that could maybe allow this?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks,
Rich.

rich1241,

Although Bmi / VS have an alliance, as your flights are booked seperately, you won't be able to through-check your baggage. For more information, refer to Virgins website.

Darren

Ah right ok, that's what i suspected. I supposse its not a major inconveince.

Thanks for a quick reply,
Rich.

as ive said in the other post - flying to florida in June next year with virgin. according to their website ive seen it advertised that on their economy flights they have console games???? can anyone enlighten me further??? is this for anyone???? do you pay extra???? do they provide the console along with the seatback tv - hope i dont sound too stupid here but im just wondering!

mdaly1,

Depending on where you are flying from and the aircraft type they are using, depends on the IFE system installed. If you let me have your flight details, I'll let you know. They have Nintendo games installed which can be played via your seat back screan. For more information, refer to V-flyer.

Darren