There is absolutely nothing appealing about sitting in the middle seat on a flight. And yet, Virgin Australia wants to flip the script on that stone-cold fact. The airline has dedicated $237,132 to a nice little initiative geared toward making the middle seat much more enticing for passengers, temporarily running across domestic flights with some potentially big benefits. That’s the Virgin Australia Middle Seat Lottery, purposed towards rewarding passengers for booking the middle seat on the carrier’s domestic flights.
It’s rather simple, really. Book the middle seat on a domestic Virgin Australia flight and you’ll have the chance to win one of 26 different prizes. We aren’t talking about those throwaway gifts budget airlines tout at the end of each flight either.
These are some serious prizes worth some serious moolah – think helicopter pub crawls in Darwin, cruises onboard Virgin Voyages (with international flights included), instant Platinum Velocity Frequent Flyer Status with one million points and a whole host of other itineraries that’ll have window warriors and aisle acolytes green with envy.
The Virgin Australia Middle Seat Lottery represents an investment of around $237,132 from the airline, so the carrier is taking this whole thing pretty damn seriously. It’s the first time, at least that I’m aware of, that an airline has found a creative way to show the middle seat some more love and it’s pretty impressive that Virgin is throwing such coveted prizes at us to make this all happen.
The lottery won’t be around forever, though. It all runs up until April 23, 2023 and a winner will be selected randomly each week and notified by e-mail. To qualify, you just have to have flown a Virgin Australia domestic flight in the middle seat.
Prizes include:
- An adventure package in Cairns with accommodation, return flights and an itinerary including bungy jumping, giant swinging, tubing in the great Barron river and river rafting.
- Platinum Velocity Frequent Flyer Status and one million Velocity points.
- A cruise in the Caribbean with Virgin Voyages, inclusive of return premium economy flights to the US with United Airlines.
- A helicopter pub crawl in Darwin with return flights.
That last one, the helicopter pub crawl, is one of the best things you can do in Australia as well. Two of the BH boys have experienced the boozy ariel adventure on separate occasions. We included it as one of eight epic bucks party ideas in Australia you and the boys will be talking about for years.
Note that to be eligible for the Virgin Australia Middle Seat Lottery you’ll need to be a Velocity Frequent Flyer member aged 18 years or older. Joining the loyalty program is free, so best do that now if you’re planning any flights in the next couple of months.
You’ll also need to actually tap a dedicated Middle Seat Lottery tile in the Virgin Australia app within 48 hours of your flight’s scheduled departure time. Once you tap this tile you’ll simply need to find your flight and enter your details. Although anyone who just has a middle seat assigned to them during check-in will also be eligible for the Virgin Australia Middle Seat Lottery.
The lottery launched just recently on flight VA219 from Melbourne to Adelaide. Virgin Australia Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka was reportedly onboard and surprised passengers by announced, Oprah-style, that every middle-seat passenger on the flight had won a Virgin Voyages sailing trip valued at around $9,270 each.
No doubt aisle and window seat passengers on that flight were fuming, but they got a bit of consolation as well with 10,000 Velocity points each.
