An Exit Row Seat On Virgin America Costs How Much???

These aren't really exit row seats in the traditional sense we think of. The exit row as well as the first row of coach are known as "main cabin select" and are a completely different fare class. So the price you saw probably is the fare difference between the two classes plus a change fee. I'm not saying I or anyone else should pay these prices (I never fly virgin America but their main cabin select fares seem substantially more expensive than what they should be for what you ultimately get) but hopefully that explains part of the pricing rationale.

It's more likely some sort of price error.

These are more premium Y than E+. Early boarding, extra bags, unlimited food and drinks, free entertainment. I don't think it is unreasonable for VX to not have a rock bottom sale on these seats. The price of Y will increase as the flight gets closer and the difference between MC (Y) and MCS (prem Y) will decrease.

Count your blessing that UA still let's us lowly 1Ks book months in advance and snag an exit row and doesn't reserve them for full Y fares or the like.

Virgin has a different model. They market MCS and First at pretty high prices, and then sell off the remaining open seats starting 24 hours out at discounted prices. So for example, DAL to LAX, 24 hours prior, you can usually upgrade to MCS from any economy seat for $70 and to First Class for $200. Elites get access to the upgrades first, including complimentary MCS. MCS is a nice seat, but not worth several hundred dollars (BTW, the bulkhead is much nicer than the exit row). Bottom line, wait for a First Class sale - Great Product and worth it. Or see if there's any First or MCS open in the 24 hour window.

Main Cabin Select is Virgin's 'premium economy' style seating – extra legroom, free food and drink, free IFE, priority security lines, and priority boarding. Pricing varies depending on demand and the length of the flight. That's also the only seating that elites can be upgraded to - Virgin doesn't provide complimentary upgrades to first class regardless of elite status level.

that being said, obviously I wouldn't pay $630 to sit in MCS.

Being a separate fare class, it can vary significantly from being a few bucks more than economy to more expensive than first!

For extra leg room on the A320s you can also book the "express" exit row. The seats don't recline but have the same legroom as the MCS seats.

Are you sure those weren't for full fare Main Cabin Select and not the usual "discount" non-refundable cost? I booked some SFO-EWR MCS at about $350 one way as opposed to the $150ish for Main Cabin.

Ben was on a domestic flight! Transcon, but domestic!

For a second I thought I missed something and that he really flew in the back for a longhaul!

Marc -- I got the wrong link. Meant to link to "Hello, Live From Ehihad Economy".

Will fix it.

James -- This is just based on what the seat map shows after booking (or potentially booking) the $139 fare. For $630 more, you can sit in the exit row.

Often you can find Main Cabin Select seats pricing out at a lower cost than Main Cabin Select. It all depends on how close to the travel date you are, etc. In addition, if you are in Main Cabin Select, the price of upgrade to First Class gets reduced from $299 to $240. So if you plan to try and upgrade yourself and the difference is less than the $50 difference, you're better off buying the extra at booking. Also, I am Elevate Gold and you do not get to select Main Cabin Select seats, only Express seats, for free. They will upgrade you for free from MC to MCS if there are seat available X hours before the flight itself, at both Silver and Gold levels. This information is based on my heavily traveled IAD-SFO route.

row 9 is also an exit row, for an upgrade price of $50. the seat doesn't recline, however.

Well, you can see that 5 of the Main Cabin Select (MCS) seats are already taken with 7 more to sell.
So I think you're seeing an combo of plenty of deep discount "normal coach" seats available AND the deep discount MCS seats sold out.

Folks buying far in advance generally don't have as much interest in paying more for frills, they want that cheapest ticket. As departure date gets closer, the "normal coach" fare will increase both due to selling out of the lower fare buckets and moving inside the 21/14/7/3 day advance purchase requirements of various lower fares. Thus the price spread will lessen during the same time frame that the folks booking are not as price conscious. Many times I've seen the increment to MCS of only $50-100. To me, that's a good rate.
Airline pricing dynamics are a little more involved than you're making them out to be.

And as already mentioned, Virgin's MCS is more like a step towards a "premium economy" vs simply a seat with more legroom.

You seem to have completely missed the "UPGRADE" tag for both Main Cabin Select rows as well as the First Class rows. Main Cabin Select is an entirely different fare class, the $630 is not the standard seat select fee that you see labeled as "EXPRESS". Main Cabin Select at that fare difference was very likely the refundable option as well. Your headline is nothing but click-bait, read the fare rules next time.

@Jared Scott

I don't think the headline is clickbait at all. Honestly, I wouldn't care if virgin america makes their "Main Cabin Select" seats refundable or not. The fact is, this is what they charge if you want a seat with extra legroom. "Express" seats *don't* have extra legroom, which was the whole point. I guess it'd have been more accurate to say, "Virgin America doesn't offer extra-legroom seating at all. Instead, they make you buy up to a whole different fare class."

So how does one shop for this without having to go to each airline site? How long did it take you just to find out the COST (not "price") of your flights?

I fly Virgin America for probably half of my domestic travel, and I've only sat in MCS once (when the rock-bottom economy seats were sold out, making MCS the least expensive option). It's nice getting unlimited free food and free entertainment, but obviously not worth the upgrade cost. I agree that Virgin is probably blocking those seats to provide upgrade inventory for day-of-travel purchases (or free elite upgrades). Those same-day (cheap) upgrades are a major selling point for them, so I bet they prefer not to have first and MCS sold-out unless they can sell out those seats at very high prices.

Jay -- I shopped for it pretty much as it's described in the post. First I went to Google Flights to see what the fares were. Then I went to AA, UA, and VX in succession to see how much E+ would cost. Yes, that's a total pain especially given that you have to pretty much click all the way through to the purchase page to see what extended legroom is going to cost. I'm not sure there's a better way to do it yet.

Travis, I'm a little surprised you (or the team) isn't aware of VX fare classes! I wouldn't be surprised if something similar eventually happens to Delta.

This is one reason I *don't* fly VX... if extra legroom is all one needs out of what a premium economy product is for domestic travel, then VX isn't a great deal unless you leverage the T-24 upgrade options, which are often a race unless you're elite.

I flew VX exit row before, and the legroom definitely is a lifesaver on a transcon. I booked through a third party site without an assigned seat, and was given the exit row with no exit charge at checkin. It's all luck but might be worth trying to avoid paying several hundred.

I paid $89 to upgrade to Main Cabin Select once (at check-in 24 hours before departure). More leg room, plug, more entertainment options, unlimited food and drink, and helped me earn a bit more miles in a promo.

I recently flew Virgin from Ft Lauderdale to La Guardia. When I booked, main cabin select was $199 extra. Oddly, first class was only $99 extra. Guess which one I chose.

Airlines rank with Congress as far as Im concerned. They continue to gouge passengers for each little thing. I am tired of it and I dont even fly a lot.

some virgin locations are using seatboost which a guy sitting next to me (in first) told me about. sounds great if you can get it to work. i'm gold so bought the upgrade the day before for a relatively low price.

Honestly don't know how the pricing is set but I booked Main Cabin Select coming home (EWK to SEA via LAX) for an extra $90. That extra $90 which covered both segments got me free checked bag, anything I wanted to eat or drink and I wasn't charged extra for watching "premium" (movies) TV on the entertainment system. Add in more legroom and I was happy with the fee but if it had been any higher, I likely wouldn't have paid it.