I can't figure out when I need to book my flight for

The 24th!

Fly out on the 24th, to arrive early hours of 25th, then at least your room will be waiting for you.

Jellybaby, can i ask you a virgin question?

I would go for flying on 24th to arrive on the morning of the 25th.

Assumming check in is at midday, that would mean your hotel room would have been available from midday on 24th.

If you get the flight on 23rd you will need to find somewhere to sit/sleep until check in time on 24th.

Fly out on the 24th but make sure your hotel know it's a late check in.

Thanks everyone. I think I've been looking at it too much and pregnancy brain wasn't helping with the decision making situation.

LoopyLoo - ask away.

Jellybaby, sorry for delay, had to pop out. Thanks for helping me.

Im going to orlando with VH in December. I have connecting flights from GLA-LGW, which were booked thru virgin.

Can I use OLCI the night before, to check in for both legs, or even the MCO part?

Will my bags be checked straight thru?

Should i use Downtown Disney Check In? And if i do, can they book me straight thru back to GLA?

I hear everyone uses OLCI to bag good seats, or seats together for their flights. As it stands now, ive managed to prerequest seats together online. Think they are row 35, at the side. The main reason I wondered about OLCI, is because I wondered if Id be able to get bulk head or exit row seats for extra legroom. We would have upgraded to PE but it seems to be full. There will be OH and my brother, who are both over 6ft and myself.

If you could answer any of these id be really grateful.

You can definitely use on line check-in for the LGW-MCO section and I would. So much easier. You'll have to see which airline you are flying with from GLA-LGW to see if they do online check-in as you won't be able to do that through the Virgin website.

Yes, your bags should be checked all the way through. Atlhough you may have to go to the transfer desk when you arrive at LGW to confirm you are there before they will load your bags. Not 100% sure on that.

Definitely use the Downtown Disney check in for your flight home. Orlando airport is chaos when our flights are checking in, particularly if you are flying home Fri / Sat as there are 2 MAN flights and up to 3 LGW flights all checking in at the same place. Horrendous.

As for getting extra leg room, you can't do that on line as the bulkhead seats are reserved for babies / medical people and only released manually by check-in staff. Additionally exit row seats can't be booked on line as you have to meet certain criteria so the check-in staff need to see you. I'm not sure when you are going but they are tweaking the aircraft a bit to make some sections in economy with about 2" more leg room which they will charge £35 for although I don't know whether that can be booked online either though. You can still do the online check-in and then when you get to LGW ask whether you can change to an exit row - which you'll be charged £50 for by the way.

Not surprised Premium is full - it always is !

Think I've answered everything but ask away if I've missed anything out. If you can get seats further to the back of the aircraft I would. Where you are sat is right by the first galley and on a lot of the aircraft it's a tiny galley and so we tend to spill out in to the aisles. My favourite seats on the aircraft are right down the back around about row 64/65. There are less seats at the side of you and the door area so you feel a bit less cramped in - oh and food and drink starts there so you always get your first choice of meal.

I can answer the leg room/upgrade questions because we've just used Virgin over the weekend. You can't get the leg room on line - you have to do it (and pay for it) at the airport. If you go to the ticket sales desk when you get to Gatwick they'll be able to sort it out for you there. We checked in online the day before and when we got to the airport went to sales and paid for the PE. It seems to be much cheaper at the airport than it is on line.

Thanks so much JB.

It is BA we are doing the connecting flights with. I thought cos we were maybe doing connecting flights id need to check in at airport for both legs. I shall try online check in for the MCO part.

We are going this December, so i doubt, from reading v flyer etc, that the refit for the extra leg room at the back would be done by then. it was just a thought.

OH and bro are both big strapping guys, so id imagine physically theyd be allowed the exit row seats, theyd be able to open the door if reqd. Dont mind paying for extra legroom at the airport if possible.

Only reason I didnt book the back of the plane was cos someone told me that you can feel turbulence more, at the back. I'll go have a look on the va site to see what seats are left and i'll maybe swap

Nearest to the back i can get is row 58 hjk, or 59 abc.

On the seat map, the seats we currently have are 35hjk, they are 3 rows forward of the exit row and toilets and 7 rows away from the first galley.