Airline to give prizes to passengers stuck in the least popular plane seat

Virgin Australia has launched the ‘Middle Seat Lottery’

Virgin Australia is offering prizes (Getty Images)

An airline is aiming to make the unpopular middle seat on a flight a more attractive option for passengers.

Virgin Australia has decided to incentivise picking the unloved plane position, launching a “Middle Seat Lottery” which has $230,000 AUD (£128,340)-worth of prizes to give away.

One winner a week will be picked on flights across the domestic network until mid-April.

Prizes include a Virgin Voyages cruise with return flights to the US, Platinum Velocity Frequent Flyer Status and a million points, tickets to AFL games with return flights, an outback helicopter pub crawl, and an adventure package to Cairns.

Virgin Australia Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said, “We are having a lot of fun coming up with exciting new innovations to make every part of the travel experience more wonderful”, and that the carrier is “doing things differently”.

The decision to awards prizes followed research by the airline showing that just 3 per cent of customers would pick the middle seat. A 2022 survey of its Velocity Frequent Flyer members found that 62 per cent would opt for the aisle seat while 35 per cent preferred the window.

A separate social media poll found that only 0.6 per cent of the 7,500 respondents would say the middle seat was their favourite.

However, the new prizes aren’t open to everyone. Only passengers who are Velocity Frequent Flyer members aged 18 years or older and have access to the Virgin Australia app can enter into the draw.

The weekly competition runs until 23 April 2023 for those who meet the above criteria and are flying in the middle seat.

Virgin’s other airline, Virgin Atlantic, recently announced that there was a surprise in store for passengers who stole its inflight salt and pepper shakers.

The airline’s iconic tableware frequently finds its way into travellers’ hand luggage, according to the airline, thanks to its cute design of cartoon-like planes on little feet.

But it will now be clear when someone has helped themselves to a five-finger discount after the shakers were given a small design tweak.

“Caught red handed?” the carrier tweeted. “If you’ve walked away from one of our flights with a ‘new’ salt and pepper shaker, take a peek at their feet and you’ll be in for a surprise.”

One user replied with a picture of the new shakers turned upside down; the bottom of one of the shaker’s feet reads “pinched from” while the other reads “Virgin Atlantic”.