VA 86/87 Hong Kong A330-200 Seat config

[Gazza129]

Hi,
Have just booked 2 J tix for late March via BestJet (who want $20 for seat allocation) but can only seem to be offered seats in the old configuration of 2 + 2 not the 1 -2-1 that is shown on Seat Guru (SeatGuru Seat Map Virgin Australia Airbus A330-200 (332)) or indeed the VA site itself.
I called VA to double check and they only offered A and D which would be OK in a 2+2 but not in the new where D and G is our preference. She went away to double check after I sent her the seat guru link but still insisted on the 2+2 set up.

Any ideas if they have any old configurations still flying?

 

[serfty]

The GDS is not coding the seating correctly.

Go by seat numbers in seat selection, not the graphics.

 

[serfty]

This is the E/F seat map:


This is the actual layout:



3G and 3K are across the aisle from each other.

 

[serfty]

Seems they still havn't fixed the issue that been there since the inception of these flights:

Seat Selection for MEL-HKG

 

[Yipchoi]

Hi,
Have just booked 2 J tix for late March via BestJet (who want $20 for seat allocation) but can only seem to be offered seats in the old configuration of 2 + 2 not the 1 -2-1 that is shown on Seat Guru (SeatGuru Seat Map Virgin Australia Airbus A330-200 (332)) or indeed the VA site itself.
I called VA to double check and they only offered A and D which would be OK in a 2+2 but not in the new where D and G is our preference. She went away to double check after I sent her the seat guru link but still insisted on the 2+2 set up.

Any ideas if they have any old configurations still flying?

I had the same issues back in July last year....use the graphic that Moderator 'serfty' has given

 

[clipped_wings]

If you book with a third party, does it still mean you can go to Virgin's website and access your booking details? Maybe the itinerary will confirm the actual plane you are flying - for peace of mind if nothing else.

We have the same flight in April and I still can't view seat selection on VA, but the itinerary makes sense at least.

 

[serfty]

You can't select business seats on these even during the process of booking online at va.com.

 

[pauly7]

If you book with a third party, does it still mean you can go to Virgin's website and access your booking details? Maybe the itinerary will confirm the actual plane you are flying - for peace of mind if nothing else.

We have the same flight in April and I still can't view seat selection on VA, but the itinerary makes sense at least.

Quite often VA blocks any third party booking from online seat selection it’s a well known and long standing bug that seems unfixable unfortunately. All my work travel from one contract that goes through a TA requires a phone call.... annoying.

 

[serfty]

In this case VA are blocking "1st party" bookings from selecting J seats online.

 

[clipped_wings]

I just got off the phone from a very annoyed VA lady, who could not wait to sever the call fast enough. I had originally rung to ask if they could move our domestic leg (SYD-MEL-HKG) to an earlier flight. She was very kind and completed the task, before then announcing that she had noticed we were't sitting together on the MEL-HKG leg, so she'd fixed that as well. I questioned where she placed us and she said "I've put you together in 2A/D". I responded that I did not want to be there and to please reinstate our 3A/4A seats on the international flight (we both wanted window seats). She answered "No, it is 2+2 Ma'am - your aircraft has changed and is probably an older one".
I asked what aircraft we would now be flying and she said an A332. I said "Then please put us in our original seats of 3A/4A. She replied that they didn't exist as it was 2+2. I said it was not possible to be an older A330 as all were updated to "The Business".

Well things went from bad to worse. She denied that the Airbus had 1-2-1 configuration and firmly stated that her seat map was correct. I firmly denied the aircraft had 2+2 and implored her to check, as my knowledge of their fleet was that all six A330's were the 1-2-1. This conversation went back and forth until she checked with a supervisor then returned to formally announce that she was putting me back in our original seats. She told me to have a nice day and hung up on me.

Lost for words as to why this phone call went the way it did. I have never had issues with the Call Centre and now I'm feeling slightly sad that she thinks I'm some preppy upstart who has an attitude problem.

 

[Gazza129]

Glad to see NOTHING has changed in their call centers............SOOO ANNOYING. I have taken the advice of serfty and booked as per the map above.

 

[clipped_wings]

Glad to see NOTHING has changed in their call centers............SOOO ANNOYING. I have taken the advice of serfty and booked as per the map above.

What is incredulous - is the notion that dedicated VA Call Centres are manned by individuals who aren't even familiar with their own seat maps. I do understand that what she is seeing is all she has to interpret. But Virgin Australia just don't have that many different planes or configurations in their fleet. It's not like there are 100+ seat maps to know. Print it off if you have to. If I was supervisor at the VA Call Centre, I'd be handing those bad boys out to staff and saying "READ IT. AND KNOW IT".

How is it that a small time fly (like me) knows more about the current configuration of an A330, than the person employed to sell the seat in the first place?