One Virgin Galactic trip = 25 million air miles

Hitch to space for just 25 million air miles with Virgin Galactic
Hitch to space for just 25 million air miles with Virgin Galactic

Strewth! Even Oz's famous flying doctors will struggle to rack up enough air miles for Virgin Blue's latest frequent flier offer - a trip into space with Virgin Galactic for a stratospheric 25 million air miles.

Points for internal airline Virgin Blue's Velocity program are earned at a rate of one per mile flown - meaning that you'll have to make around 10,000 cross-country flights between Perth and Sydney to leave the atmosphere.

If you'd rather spend your way to space, you can accumulate one Velocity point for every Aus$5 you spend and earning a free trip simply by splashing out Aus$5 million (£2.2 million).

25 million reasons to move to Oz

Alternatively, you could catch a single flight and just get lucky: Virgin Velocity will be handing over 25 million points to one person in a draw to be made this September.

Each member on the Virgin Velocity gets one chance for every Velocity point they have, although only residents of Australia are eligible.

The winner will jet away with two (air) tickets to Los Angeles, and just one seat on one of the first Virgin Galactic sub-orbital flights, scheduled to start in 2010.

Winners are liable for their own personal and medical expenses - including travel insurance. Good luck with that.

Seats on Virgin Galactic are currently being sold for $200,000 (£141,000). TechRadar is keeping its fingers crossed for similar promotion on Virgin Atlantic - and perhaps even Virgin Trains - any day now.

Mark Harris is Senior Research Director at Gartner.

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