Virgin Australia Introduces “Neighbour-Free Seating” — Bids Starting at $30

If you’ve ever dreaded being sandwiched between strangers on a flight and thought, “I’d pay to have that seat next to me empty”, good news is here. Virgin Australia just launched Neighbour-Free Seating, a new program letting eligible Economy guests bid to reserve an empty seat beside them — turning a cramped row into a little extra space.

What Is Neighbour-Free Seating?

After booking a flight, eligible Economy customers can submit a bid (starting around AUD 30) via the Virgin Australia app to keep the neighbouring seat empty.
You’ll find out if your bid was successful at least 2 hours before departure.
If for some reason the seat can’t be kept free (e.g. the airline had to fill it), you get a refund.
This option is only open to bookings of one or two passengers.
It isn’t available for Economy X or Business Class — those classes are excluded.
The service rolls out initially on selected domestic and short-haul international routes, with plans to expand.

Routes at launch include:
Melbourne ↔ Adelaide, Melbourne ↔ Sydney, Brisbane ↔ Sydney, Brisbane ↔ Cairns, Melbourne ↔ Perth, Sydney ↔ Perth, Brisbane ↔ Samoa, Melbourne ↔ Bali.

Why Virgin Australia Is Doing This

Virgin says it’s responding to direct customer feedback. In a 2023 survey of Velocity Frequent Flyer members, 42 % of respondents said they’d consider paying to keep a middle seat free on international flights over 3 hours, and 35 % said the same for domestic flights over 3 hours.

Libby Minogue, one of Virgin’s executives, framed the initiative as giving travellers “more value and choice” without forcing everyone to pay for more space.

In short: this is a premium add-on for those who want more elbow room, without needing to book Business or First Class.

Pros, Cons & Things to Watch

Pros:

More comfort for less: You get extra space without needing to pay for a full upgrade.
Flexibility: You bid after booking, so it doesn’t force you into a higher fare up front.
Refund safety net: If they can’t deliver the empty seat, you’ll be refunded.
Consumer alignment: It reflects real passenger desires — many already said they’d pay for it.

Cons / Risks:

No guarantee: Even if you bid, you might not get it. Virgin reserves discretion.
Limited availability: Only select flights and only for one or two-person bookings initially.
Exclusions: Business Class, Economy X, and certain fare types are excluded.
Added cost: For some travellers, the extra expense might not feel justified, especially on short flights.
Bidding psychology: You’ll need to guess how much is “strong enough”—bid too low and lose, bid too high and pay more than necessary.

What It Means for Travellers (Especially in Oz / NZ Context)

For frequent flyers in Australia and New Zealand, this could be a game changer — especially on popular domestic corridors (Sydney–Melbourne, Brisbane flights) where flights are often full or overbooked. Having the option to secure more space could sway people away from premium class, or at least make Economy more palatable.

It also raises questions about pricing psychology: how much are people truly willing to pay for personal space? For longer domestic or trans-Tasman hops, this could become a standard expectation rather than a luxury.

If Virgin rolls this out more widely, we might see competitors (Qantas, Jetstar, Air NZ) respond with similar offerings — or even better ones (fixed empty-seat fares, bundled comfort seats, etc.).