Virgin Australia's sneaky lure to get passengers to book the middle seat

Arguably the worst seat on the plane, there's now a very good reason why you might want to sit in the middle. Photo / Joseph Bobadilla; Alexander Schimm, Unsplash

It's arguably the worst place on the plane – but now there's $230,000 worth of reasons you might want to opt for the middle seat.

Virgin Australia has launched a new campaign whereby passengers who have either voluntarily – or been slapped – with the middle seat will now enter a 'lotto' to win tens of thousands worth of prizes.

The new campaign aims to make the most hated seat on a plane the most desirable by giving guests who sit in the middle seat the chance to win one of the airline's prizes on offer, with a new prize and winner every week.

There are $230,000 worth of prizes on offer. They include a cruise in the Caribbean with Virgin Voyages, including return Premium Economy flights to the USA with United Airlines, flights and tickets to your AFL team's away games in 2023, flights to Melbourne plus entry to the AFL 'Before the Bounce' pre-game lunch, AFL Grand Final seats and even a helicopter pub crawl extravaganza, including return flights to Darwin.

The airline said the results from a recent survey of Velocity Frequent Flyer members, showed that 62 per cent preferred an aisle seat, while 35 per cent opted for the window. Just 3 per cent of passengers said they were unfussed.

he airline is attempting to make the middle seat the most appealing on the plane. Photo / Nick Sarvari, Unsplash

But the airline's CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said that while it may be the most unpopular seat on a plane, it can have its advantages – such as giving you the chance to meet two people instead of one.

"This goes way back, but I was sitting in a window seat and there was a guy sitting next to me, and it turns out the guy's name was Kelly Slater," she told News Corp.

"We had this really interesting conversation because he was coming to Australia to train and compete. Much further down the track I realised he was a hugely successful surfer, but he was a really nice, interesting guy. He was in the early stages of his career and he was pretty daunted by the world of possibilities."

Make new friends in the middle seat. Photo / Alexander Schimm, Unsplash

The lottery can be entered in three easy steps:

1. Be a Velocity Frequent Flyer member, aged 18 years or older

2. Fly in any middle seat on a Virgin Australia-operated domestic flight by April 23, 2023

3. Open the Virgin Australia app and tap the Middle Seat Lottery tile to find your flight and enter your details. Entrants must enter the competition within 48 hours of their flight's scheduled departure time.