Virgin Australia Unveils Middle Seat Lottery Incentive

There are a few common factors that unite all travelers, queer and straight alike: the hope for on-time departures, the anxiety of checking luggage and the avoidance of the dreaded middle seat!

Virgin Australia has heard our cries and launched its first customer innovation, the Middle Seat Lottery, as part of a new brand and advertising campaign, Bring on Wonderful, which follows a 24-month transformation journey that has returned the airline to profitability.

Bring on Wonderful sets a foundation to elevate every part of the customer journey when flying with Virgin Australia, starting with the middle seat which has been a bug bear for travelers since the dawn of aviation.

The Middle Seat Lottery literally turns Virgin Australia middle seats into wonderful lottery tickets. The middle seat, which has always struggled for popularity, will be transformed into the luckiest seat on the plane with more than $230,000 worth of prizes up for grabs throughout the competition, for guests who either select or who are assigned a middle seat when flying with Virgin Australia until Sunday April 23, 2023.

Through a social media survey in May 2022, Virgin Australia discovered that travelers are (shockingly) least likely to choose the middle seat, with less than 1 per cent intentionally selecting the middle seat as their first seat preference.

As of May 2022, 62% of Velocity Frequent Flyer members who nominated their seat preference favored the aisle, 35% the window, and just 3% nominating “any seat”.

For each week of the competition, one winner will be randomly selected from guests who enter the Middle Seat Lottery, winning one of 26 unique and wonderful prizes. Prizes up-for-grabs include: 

• Platinum Velocity Frequent Flyer Status plus one million Points.
• 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, a pre-game boundary line experience, merchandise and entry to the AFL Grand Final after party.
• A helicopter pub crawl extravaganza, including return flights to Darwin.
• Cairns adventure package including accommodation, return flights, and a range of thrilling adventures – Bungy jumping, giant swinging, river rafting or tubing in the great Barron River.

The full prize list can be viewed here.

How to enter the Middle Seat Lottery 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 Sunday 23 April 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.

Winners will be contacted via email after each week’s draw. Those who aren’t already Velocity Frequent Flyer members can join for free, here.

To celebrate the launch of the Middle Seat Lottery, Virgin Australia Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka surprised an entire flight of unsuspecting travelers flying on VA219 from Melbourne to Adelaide today (Monday 24/10), with each guest seated in a middle seat receiving a Virgin Voyages sailing valued at up to $5,999 USD (total value given away today is USD $350,000+). Virgin Australia ensured no one went home empty-handed, offering each aisle and window seat passenger 10,000 Velocity Points.

For more information on Bring on Wonderful, visit virginaustralia.com/bringonwonderful and for the Middle Seat Lottery, visit virginaustralia.com/middleseatlottery.