Your guide to Virgin Australia's new economy Space+ seating

Virgin Australia’s new economy ‘Space+’ package pairs extra legroom with perks like priority boarding and ‘preferred’ overhead lockers, plus priority check-in, noise-cancelling headsets and more on longer flights.

Space+ is available to all economy class travellers on Virgin Australia’s domestic and international flights, starting at $20 on popular business routes but rising to as high as $140 for international journeys.

Here’s what you need to know about your Space+ seating options.

Virgin Australia Space+ seats: where you’ll find them

On domestic flights, Economy Space+ seats are located at the emergency exit rows of Virgin Australia’s Boeing 737-800s, Airbus A330-200s, Embraer E190s and Fokker 100s.

They're also available in row one of the airline’s all-economy ATR-72 turboprops.

On international Boeing 777-300ER flights, you’ll find five rows of Space+ seating directly behind premium economy (as shown below) as well as at the exit rows further back:

Note that the roomy front row of economy on Virgin Australia’s Boeing 737-800s, A330-200s, E190s and F100s won’t be sold as Space+, despite the airline's confusing use of this 'row three' shot as part of its Space+ marketing:

Virgin Australia has confirmed to Australian Business Traveller that economy front row seating on its domestic jets will continue to be offered to Virgin Australia Velocity Platinum members at no charge from the time of booking, subject to availability.

Read: Virgin clarifies seat selection under new fare policies

Virgin Australia Space+ seating: what you get

On all Virgin Australia domestic flights, guests booked in a Space+ seat will enjoy priority boarding privileges and access to ‘preferred’ overhead lockers, plus at least 25% more legroom than a regular economy seat.

When taking shorter international flights such as from Australia to New Zealand and Fiji, paying for Space+ also gets you priority check-in via a dedicated counter.

Take a Space+ journey on those longer flights to Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi and you’ll get these and even more privileges, including a noise-cancelling headset to use with the inflight entertainment and a guarantee of your first meal choice from the regular economy menu.

Virgin Australia Space+ seating: what it costs

Reserving your spot in Space+ is easy – just make a regular Virgin Australia economy booking and instead of selecting a standard seat during the booking process or when managing your existing booking, just select one in the Space+ zone:

While prices can vary from flight to flight, here’s what you can expect to pay across a variety of popular Virgin Australia routes when travelling on the least-expensive fares, according to pricing searches by Australian Business Traveller:

• Sydney-Melbourne: $20
• Sydney-Brisbane: $20
• Sydney-Canberra: $20
• Brisbane-Melbourne: $20
• Sydney-Cairns: $30
• Brisbane-Darwin: $55
• Sydney-Perth: $40
• Sydney-Auckland: $20
• Sydney-Los Angeles: $135
• Brisbane-Los Angeles: $140

When seated in an exit row, also remember that you’ll still need to meet Virgin Australia’s usual safety requirements, including being willing and able to assist in the event of an evacuation, not requiring an extension seat belt and not flying with an infant or guide dog.

Also read: VA upgrades Boeing 777 premium economy to 'business lite'

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Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.