Need help- Virgin have changed my seats and allocated me away from my kids after I paid to sit together

[Fcukedupflight]

This is going to be a long one to get in all details, but here’s a short version- Virgin changed my flights, lost my seat bookings and have sat me away from my children and are now saying they can’t do anything about it.

long version- I booked my flights months ago, travelling as a single parent with two ‘disabled’ children (one is ASD with a physical disability and complex additional needs, one is deaf and adhd). I paid to upgrade to premium economy and paid to book our seats so we were next to eachother.
a few months ago Virgin text to say they’d changed my flight. I checked and it was only by an hour so no issues. Then today I had a thought and checked, yep, they’ve moved our seat allocations and we are all separate and middle seats.
so today I’ve spent 3.5 hours on the phone and gotten no where. Virgin say that it’s a delta flight so they can’t change the seats. Delta say I would have to downgrade to economy (I’ve said no problem, not ideal but I’ll it) but to do that I have to get Virgin to make the change. Virgin say they can’t and I need to ask delta to call them? I have cried, I’ve asked to speak to a manager (and got put on hold and then disconnected ). I’ve offered to pay to upgrade. No one can help me. They just keep blaming eachother and saying they can’t do anything.

I don’t think we can do the flight, my kids fly well and are used to travelling, but they’re very stranger conscious and won’t manage hours in the middle of random people. Also my daughter is only 7, she needs to be near me for safeguarding. I don’t know what to do. Does anyone have any experience of this happening? I feel like our dream trip has been ruined, I just don’t see how they’ll manage the flight.

any Virgin experts who can help me out? I’ve called (a lot!), emailed and tried their chat which no one ever responded to. Due to fly in two weeks

Airlines could sort all this out in a heartbeat, it's just sheer greed that they don't.

How awful for you. I would try a different tack with Virgin. You paid for something you are not getting. So how do they propose to look after 2 children with additional needs for the flight without you? Because of their error and unwillingness to listen to reason you are not sorting anything out at the airport or with Delta.

It should be publicised then that if you buy seats from Virgin and pay for specific requirements like this, then you're paying for something you may well not actually get, and Virgin will shrug and go 'not up to us, sorry not sorry'. Some consumer outlet like the ones mentioned ought to pick this up as it's unfair to charge for something and then just not supply it nor give a refund.

Contact the press. Nothing focuses the minds of big companies who are being ridiculous than public exposure.

@DeftGoldHedgehog

Plus have they heard of CAA rules? You have to be sat at least across an aisle or one row in front or behind, and it doesn't even sounds like they've bothered to do that, even though that may not be satisfactory in itself.

For info:

CAA "rules" on this do not say "have to" or "must".

in any event the carrier in question appears to be Delta, the sector may well be US domestic, so nothing to do with the CAA.

Absolutely agree. It’s just a very easy way for no one to take responsibility for the situation. I get things change and they may need to change aircraft type and re accommodate everyone, but ensuring groups that have already prepaid to be sat together get reaccomodated together should really be too much to ask!

Not true, I was in premium on a Dreamliner last week and it was 2-3-2 formation.

OP, don’t downgrade. Let them deal with it when you get there. Make your screaming children their problem. That’s what I’d do anyway.
I wouldn’t say that if you yourself had not paid to sit together but given you have, and they’ve moved you, let it be their problem to solve.

Hope you manage to sort it out OP.

Unfortunately, if you google, Virgin do this a lot. Frequently changing to their older planes, when the original booking was on one of their newer ones.

We’ve flown Virgin twice in the past couple of years, and both times there’s been changes. First flight just moved by an hour, but the plane and seating was still the same, so ok. Second flight they switched to an older plane a couple of weeks before, but as the flight was full, didn’t bother changing anyone’s seat allocation. We were in upper class, so ended up with DH one side of the plane, I was on the other side of the plane, and DC was in the middle facing me. Did manage a seat swap on board with another family, but DH is only partially sighted, and it really makes me angry that airlines don’t consider that changing seats isn’t easy for everyone.

Unfortunately, if you google, Virgin do this a lot. Frequently changing to their older planes, when the original booking was on one of their newer ones

That's as maybe, but in the case of the OPs grumble I can't see this being down to Virgin changing to from something like a 787 to a 737..

The issue is with Delta.

I had similar returning from Canada. My son was 15 months old and I booked him the seat between us because he was too heavy to be on my lap for hours. At check-in he’d been seated elsewhere because their booking system didn’t show his age. DP (also seated separately) nearly fainted when my response to them was “That’s great, I’ll get some well needed sleep” and I walked away from the desk. They found us within 5 minutes to give us new boarding cards with seats together. This was 25 years ago, seems like nothing’s changed.

OP- I feel for you. Has the same issue over 15 yrs ago when my booked and paid for chosen seats at extra cost - got changed, no help from anyone. I had an almost 4 yr old and a 2 year old on the 95th centile for height separated from me by 4 rows behind and 10 rows behind.

Cabin crew told me I should have paid which I had costing an extra 150 quid!

My solution was to take 4 yr old to their seat 10 rows back - gave them their soft toy and some sweets and said holler when you need the toilet and walked away. The look of horror on my fellow passengers faces was priceless. I then proceeded to do the same with the 2 yr old and advised his neighbours he was potty training at the moment and walked to my seat. I made it clear to everyone around I had booked and paid for 3 seats together but they had been changed - looking at my chosen row - minor Z list celeb. I even had our original boarding cards printed as you did in those days to prove a point.

It took all of 5 minutes before the 2 yr old lost it and about 8 for the 4 yr old. The problem got resolved very very quickly after that. It was not my problem to sort. Airlines push it to the limit and then rely on fellow passengers correcting their mistakes - the kids were perfectly behaved after that!

Some well timed words to your DCs will probably resolve things once on board.

It is actually quite ridiculous for Delta to suggest that they have no control over the seating on their own aircraft regardless of who the booking was made through. And they are quite capable of downgrading people without worrying about who they booked with originally.

Since it's a US flight it can probably be resolved quite easily at the gate or if not, by asking for the Complaints official. Air travel for people with disabilities comes under the ACAA which is enforced on both international and domestic flights into / in the US. They can, and do, move people to accommodate this kind of situation.

They are just hoping you'll go away and they don't have to bother and it's easier for them to do that when you are not actually stood in front of them. I've actually found the check in staff can be really helpful with this as well if you explain the situation to them. They do have the power to move people if they want to.

I can understand why you might not want to wait until then though. Have you tried making an official complaint in writing to Delta and Virgin. The problem with codeshares is that when things go wrong nobody wants to take responsibility. I would escalate it as a disability rights issue with both of them.

If you booked with Virgin your contract is with them - don’t let them fob you off with Delta. They need to fix the problem. Agree with others re social media, and you might have to turn up in person (appreciate it’s an hour away). The other option is the CEOs email address which you can usually find online. If you bother them enough they’ll get someone in their office to sort it out.

That’s awful OP.
Definitely put this on X or BlueSky (a less rage-batey option).

Only commenting to say that and keep the thread up the algorithm so hopefully a Virgin employee see it and realises they need to act to avoid reputational damage.

Who the hell could have possibly voted you are being unreasonable! FFS. Really hope you get it sorted x

Do these airlines not have “manage my booking” giving other seat options? Also on board people can be asked to move by staff. They won’t want to be supervising your dc and there’s safeguarding too. The only thing that really really annoys me is parents sitting together and dc are elsewhere and parents won’t split themselves up to sit with them. That boils my blood!

If all else fails, I agree naming and shaming on social media can work wonders.

I have a friend who works for Virgin (cabin crew). I'll forward her your post. Not sure she'll be able to help, but worth a shot.

Have you got any legal cover on any of your insurances?worth checking. Which legal are very good at this type of thing but you need to pay, and 2 weeks isn’t very long I’m afraid. Good
uck!

it might need to be sorted on the plane. I was in a similar position (albeit kids are not disabled, but were 6 and 8 at the time). Had to book a very last minute flight and no seats together were available. Boarding was rubbish because we had to chat to staff on the plane about it, then stand around until everyone was boarded, and then people had to move around (not something I’d ever expect; we always pay to sit together). But we did end up sitting together. Speak to someone at check in, then again at boarding, and once you get on board… good luck

Also do you not board first with disabled DC. On a BA flight you would be priority 1, the same as first class.Business is priority 2. So why would this not be sorted out at that point? Or at bag drop?

Last year, travelling back from Joburg on Virgin with my Dd, we checked in online and the seats we had chosen and prepaid weeks before had changed, so we were split up. For a daytime flight I wouldn't have minded but this was 11hrs overnight. We tried to upgrade at the airport but there were no premium economy seats available, I went up to the check in desk and explained that we had been spit up, she said ' I'm sorry madam but the flight is full', I explained I was booked as a special assistance passenger and that we needed to be together for reassurance, she picked up the phone, spoke to someone and then asked us ' could we put you at the emergency exit?' I said fine. Our new seats were actually one row behind emergency and there were empty seats beside us. It pays to stand your ground, I would just keep complaining

If you all have middle seats then im sure someone will swop wity you. We would

Ha ha love this. Well done you!

The airlines have got to stop this nonsense.

But boarding first doesn't help because the seats are already allocated, it just means you can get on first and get sorted. It doesn't help with the seats if they won't change them.

I realise that if a plane changes you lose your booked seats and they have to fit people in differently but if you have booked special assistance you (should) get priority.