A newlywed goat farmer and her new husband who live on Burndoo Station two and a half hours north of Broken Hill, have won a cruise and a free return flight to Miami – all because one of them sat in the mostly unpopular middle seat.
Mrs Lauren Jackson and new husband Nick jumped on a Virgin Airlines flight to the Whitsundays for their honeymoon following a dream wedding that came together in just 48 hours.
Lauren happily took the middle seat, allowing her new husband to take the window seat. Mrs Jackson saw the ‘Middle Seat Lottery’ pamphlet sticking out of the seat pocket in front of her on the Virgin flight. She went ahead, filled it out and didn’t give it another thought.
“I know Nick loves looking out the window, so I did say to him you can have the window seat. I’ll sit in the middle and make friends. I don’t mind that,” Mrs Jackson said.
But it turned out Lauren was the first ever winner of the recently launched competition.
When the congratulatory email came through, the couple thought it was a scam.
But after doing some investigating, they confirmed it was not a scam and Mrs Jackson had, in fact, won two premium economy return tickets to Miami and a Virgin Voyages cruise around the Caribbean.
“I’ve never been to America before, so Miami seems like a good spot to have a look. I have also never been on a cruise ship before, but from what I have heard it is a lot of fun.
“It’s just so unbelievable. I am so grateful. I can’t believe it really. This type of thing doesn’t happen to people like us.”
“I’ll definitely pick the middle seat next time,” Mrs Jackson laughed.
Named the Virgin Airlines Middle Seat Lottery, the competition can see people sitting in the least coveted seats win prizes including Velocity Platinum Status and a million Points, Caribbean cruises with Virgin Voyages including return flights to the US, or even a custom artwork by an Australian artist.
