I had the same experience as described in the “Musical chairs” letter from David Lewis but with Virgin Australia. We had paid extra to be at the front of the plane for the whole family, but when we arrived at the airport the seats had been changed.
They could not give a reason, but unlike Qantas in David’s letter they didn’t return us to our original seats. Nor did they refund the money for the seats either until I contacted customer support.
I’m not sure if there is any other industry where they charge you for a service, don’t provide it and then make you go through barriers to get a refund, which seems an easy way of pocketing the money.
Virgin wants to attract premium customers, but it treats you worse than Jetstar.
Gaurav Singh, Tenerife, Qld