Caribbean flights seat bookings

[Presto2]

At the minute there is a temporary issue and we can't get on to the site at all so hoping it gets sorted ..

[Presto2]

Well was going OK and had 2 seats sorted then it all started whirring and it's crashed saying essential maintenance needed. It's going to be a long night ...

[Presto2]

All done .. seats we wanted by a window 4a and 4c ....going bed now. 1.26am .. 🥱  Thanks for the tips Megabear and hope you didn't have to wait as long. 

Edited October 7, 2023 by Presto2

[Megabear2]

4 hours ago, Presto2 said:

All done .. seats we wanted by a window 4a and 4c ....going bed now. 1.26am .. 🥱  Thanks for the tips Megabear and hope you didn't have to wait as long. 

Well done.  Yes safely sorted too, bit earlier than you at 12.36am.  We also,got our first choice 6A and 6C for the double window.

[pete14]

6 hours ago, Presto2 said:

All done .. seats we wanted by a window 4a and 4c ....going bed now. 1.26am .. 🥱  Thanks for the tips Megabear and hope you didn't have to wait as long. 

Did nobody tell you that those are the ejector seats for if the driver wants some inflight entertainment?😱 Is your cat in 4b? Glad you got what you wanted though. 😊

[Cathygh]

I have just booked for the Caribbean, going in November. I am trying to book seats together but the system won't let me. There are seats available but when I hover over them a  red cross appears. However if I try to book 1 seat at a time in a row of 3 I can book the window seat, then the aisle seat, but not the middle seat. Is there a work around? It's a Tui flight. Thanks.

[Megabear2]

47 minutes ago, Cathygh said:

I have just booked for the Caribbean, going in November. I am trying to book seats together but the system won't let me. There are seats available but when I hover over them a  red cross appears. However if I try to book 1 seat at a time in a row of 3 I can book the window seat, then the aisle seat, but not the middle seat. Is there a work around? It's a Tui flight. Thanks.

The system is set to make passengers in pairs to either book the window and middle or two aisles.  Are the seats in the middle row showing booked where you are looking, ie all 3 filled?  

[ozzysdad]

I personally feel it's scandalous what we are being charged to book seats and leaves a bad taste for me.

[Cathygh]

36 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

The system is set to make passengers in pairs to either book the window and middle or two aisles.  Are the seats in the middle row showing booked where you are looking, ie all 3 filled?  

Thank you

 I am trying to book a window and middle seat which shows as available but the system won't let me book them. There is also availability in the middle does but I have the same problem. I can't book 2 together but I can do 2 separate bookings for the aisle seats.

 

[Presto2]

1 hour ago, pete14 said:

Did nobody tell you that those are the ejector seats for if the driver wants some inflight entertainment?😱 Is your cat in 4b? Glad you got what you wanted though. 😊

We wanted 2a and 2c ... can't tell you how frustrating it is trying to book in on 3 machines for 90 minutes to have say there was maintenance needed. Refrained from throwing the laptops and phone through a window though thankfully. 

Re the seats ... there is no 2b and there are only 2 seats not 3 in premium. Why it isn't called 2b we don't know as the other seat in the aisle is 2d. 2b or not 2b thank it the question .............

[pete14]

15 minutes ago, ozzysdad said:

I personally feel it's scandalous what we are being charged to book seats and leaves a bad taste for me.

I presume it is a charge levied by the airline that P&O collect for them as part of the charter agreement. I do agree that it doesn’t look good though but I cannot imagine P&O benefit from it. It does allow those who want to make a choice, possibly people who don’t like flying, to give themselves the certainty that they are sitting where they would prefer to be rather than allocations being random, as they are for those who choose not to book their seats.

[Megabear2]

6 minutes ago, Cathygh said:

Thank you

 I am trying to book a window and middle seat which shows as available but the system won't let me book them. There is also availability in the middle does but I have the same problem. I can't book 2 together but I can do 2 separate bookings for the aisle seats.

 

Unfortunately P&O consider two seats across the aisle as seats together.  How full is the cabin looking at this time?  If you go  row by row you may find a row which will allow a middle and window.  

[Megabear2]

10 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

We wanted 2a and 2c ... can't tell you how frustrating it is trying to book in on 3 machines for 90 minutes to have say there was maintenance needed. Refrained from throwing the laptops and phone through a window though thankfully. 

Re the seats ... there is no 2b and there are only 2 seats not 3 in premium. Why it isn't called 2b we don't know as the other seat in the aisle is 2d. 2b or not 2b thank it the question .............

As your OH is tall you'll be better off in row 4.  The plane narrows at the front and space is accordingly restricted together with head height.  The narrowing of the plane is also one of the reasons you get A and C, it's to keep the plane with all middle seats with the same numbering as in economy.

 

The needing maintenance message simply occurs when the system goes into overload, it's a very normal message on that section of the planner as the processor cannot cope.

 

Edited October 7, 2023 by Megabear2

[Presto2]

11 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

As your OH is tall you'll be better off in row 4.  The plane narrows at the front and space is accordingly restricted together with head height.  The narrowing of the plane is also one of the reasons you get A and C, it's to keep the plane with all middle seats with the same numbering as in economy.

 

The needing maintenance message simply occurs when the system goes into overload, it's a very normal message on that section of the planner as the processor cannot cope.

 

Just looked and we have a double window.. that was a fluke! 

We have 2a and 2c to Cyprus in September but can live for 4 and a half hours. We booked extra legroom and got premium seats by accident as we are on a Dreamliner. No premium.service but we were happy with that! Done in now ..

[kalos]

27 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

We wanted 2a and 2c ... can't tell you how frustrating it is trying to book

 

Further up the front the better with a nice window view ,they made me give my seat up all because the captain wanted to fly the plane from there .🙃

Glad you and Mega got your seats you wanted 🙂

[Presto2]

29 minutes ago, pete14 said:

I presume it is a charge levied by the airline that P&O collect for them as part of the charter agreement. I do agree that it doesn’t look good though but I cannot imagine P&O benefit from it. It does allow those who want to make a choice, possibly people who don’t like flying, to give themselves the certainty that they are sitting where they would prefer to be rather than allocations being random, as they are for those who choose not to book their seats.

I like to be near a window. Don't like flying when I'm in the middle of a plane for take off and particularly landing. Also wanted to make sure we were sitting together particularly for a 9 hrs flight. 

[Cathygh]

31 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Unfortunately P&O consider two seats across the aisle as seats together.  How full is the cabin looking at this time?  If you go  row by row you may find a row which will allow a middle and window.  

Sorry I didn't explain my self clearly. The middle row has 3 seats. Seat nos 4,5 and 6 are available but we can't book 4&5 or 5&6 but we can book 4 and 6 if we do them one at a time. 

 

 

.

[Presto2]

2 minutes ago, Cathygh said:

Sorry I didn't explain my self clearly. The middle row has 3 seats. Seat nos 4,5 and 6 are available but we can't book 4&5 or 5&6 but we can book 4 and 6 if we do them one at a time. 

 

 

.

Thats odd ..... that must be an error. Just had a look at the flights and it's whirring again and saying maintenance our end. Would it be worth trying to phone or is that going to be a long wait ?

[Megabear2]

1 minute ago, Cathygh said:

Sorry I didn't explain my self clearly. The middle row has 3 seats. Seat nos 4,5 and 6 are available but we can't book 4&5 or 5&6 but we can book 4 and 6 if we do them one at a time. 

 

 

 

Right, I understand. I though you were looking at window seats A  B and C.  Normally the middle three seats are not available to couples to prebook as the seat plan looks at the passenger profile, ie family groups, singles, couples etc.

 

Generally you should be able to prebook seats A and B where available, or the opposite side H and J.  The next option will be C and D or F and G which are across the aisle. 

 

If none of these work you may be better being allocated at the airport - arrive exactly as the gate opens the 3 hours before the flight.  We have never been split but do frequently get given the seats in the aisles. 

[Megabear2]

6 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Thats odd ..... that must be an error. Just had a look at the flights and it's whirring again and saying maintenance our end. Would it be worth trying to phone or is that going to be a long wait ?

That will be the system dealing with the early morning bookers.  Not everyone stays up overnight.  You're looking at a big number of full aircraft so thousands of passengers involved.

[Cathygh]

11 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Thats odd ..... that must be an error. Just had a look at the flights and it's whirring again and saying maintenance our end. Would it be worth trying to phone or is that going to be a long wait ?

Yes it is weird. I will try to call them when I have a few hours spare 

[Cathygh]

6 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Right, I understand. I though you were looking at window seats A  B and C.  Normally the middle three seats are not available to couples to prebook as the seat plan looks at the passenger profile, ie family groups, singles, couples etc.

 

Generally you should be able to prebook seats A and B where available, or the opposite side H and J.  The next option will be C and D or F and G which are across the aisle. 

 

If none of these work you may be better being allocated at the airport - arrive exactly as the gate opens the 3 hours before the flight.  We have never been split but do frequently get given the seats in the aisles. 

Thanks. I still have time to sort it . I'll probably call them 

[EmilyJay]

How do you book seats? When I try and log on I just get "The ability for pre purchase flights seats is currently unavailable." Our cruise is in 8 weeks... Have used laptop, phone, tablet and nothing. 

[Presto2]

1 hour ago, EmilyJay said:

How do you book seats? When I try and log on I just get "The ability for pre purchase flights seats is currently unavailable." Our cruise is in 8 weeks... Have used laptop, phone, tablet and nothing. 

Should be available so I'd phone them and ask why ...

[Megabear2]

I assume you are on 1 or 2 December sailings if its 8 weeks.  The Maleth flights only went live last week if I recall correctly so it may be that the system is loaded for flights departing earlier. There are 14 departures across both ships before 1 December. The whole affair has been messy and as there are apparently only two planes from Maleth flying for P&O charters it must have taken a lot of sorting out, particularly as the flight booking system collapsed for a number of days.