Buy a middle seat for a chance to win big
By Kate Northrop
An airline is hoping to encourage passengers to grab the less-than-desirable middle seat when booking a flight by holding a lottery that offers a six-figure cash prize.
The middle seat on an aircraft is everyone's last choice — it doesn't offer the same breathtaking views that a window seat offers, nor does it allow for a swift exit should you need to get up from your seat.
A social media poll conducted by Virgin Australia found that only 0.6% of over 7,500 voters prefer the middle seat.
However, Virgin Australia is on a mission to incentivize customers to rethink their decision to dismiss the middle seat when buying a plane ticket, and so the Middle Seat Lottery was born.
"Virgin Australia is an airline that's doing things differently, and we are having a lot of fun coming up with exciting innovations to make every part of the travel experience more wonderful." CEO of Virgin Australia Group Jayne Hrdlicka said in a press release. "Now we're giving our loyal guests the opportunity to win from a prize pool valued at over $230,000 for simply sitting in a middle seat."
To commemorate the lottery's launch, Hrdlicka showed up at the Melbourne Airport on Oct. 24 to surprise all customers seated in middle seats on a flight to Adelaide with over US$350,000 worth of Virgin Voyages cruises.
Other passengers sitting in the window and aisle seats were not sent home empty-handed. Each customer sitting in one of those seats received 10,000 Velocity Points.
The price for an entry into the special raffle is a voluntary — or involuntary — purchase of a middle seat on a Virgin Australia flight. Only Velocity Frequent Flyer members 18 and older and are seated in a middle seat can use the airline's mobile app to enter.
The Lottery runs from now until. April 23, 2023 and offers a top prize of $230,000 (US$145,000), but that's not the only prize customers can win.
Each week, the airline will award one winner with a different prize, with 26 prizes in total. Some of those prizes include a cruise in the Caribbean with return Premium Economy flights to the USA with United Airlines, a helicopter pub crawl with return flights to Darwin, and a Cairns adventure package including accommodations and return flights, bungy jumping, river rafting, and tubing in the Barron River.
Winners will be contacted via email after each week's draw, and joining the Velocity Frequent Flyer program to enter the lottery is free, the airline announced.
A social media poll conducted by Virgin Australia found that only 0.6% of over 7,500 voters prefer the middle seat.
Something's not right in the head with at least 45 people.
They're the people who want a view, but don't want to annoy two people when they have to go take a leak.
I would buy that middle row seat in a heartbeat. Given that Australians for the most part " live on the coasts " you would be missing out on viewing unending landscapes of deserts & dry brush and other less interest things. I could settle for the middle row, aisle seating.
*Sign me up for that lottery, l am not picky.🤛🏼
Never a middle seat. I was on a flight years ago and got stuck between a 5-600 lb man who spilled over and across half of my seat. On the other side was a large woman who kept looking at the food I left on my food tray. And there was no other seat available. I thought the big guy was going to die since his breathing was so loud. Never again.
* I can see the 500 pounder using your shoulder & thighs as a pillow. Someone had to have taken that pic of you constantly wrestling with that humongous head of his.
* You get all the luck!👌
Sitting in a middle seat on a short flight may be bearable. But long flights like L.A. to London would probably be a nightmare. I have always felt Airlines should eliminate the middle seats and just use that space for luggage storage so that people are not blocking the aisle trying to place some bag into the overhead storage that won't fit.
On the other hand..........$230,000 just for tolerating a middle seat does sound very tempting.