April Fool’s Day is here, which means many Australians have unknowingly fallen victim to some cruel (yet hilarious) pranks by some of the biggest companies in the world.
One of the first major airlines to celebrate the pranking day was Virgin Australia. Early on Sunday morning, the airline uploaded a very convincing ad to their Facebook channel, suggesting that passengers would be able to work out mid-flight when Virgin introduced cycling studios to some of its flights.
“Today we’ve launched Virgin Australia Spin Class, the world’s first in-flight cycling studio,” a Facebook message read. “Partnering with our friends at Virgin Active Australia, Spin Class allows guests to work up a sweat in the sky on long haul flights, and even earn Velocity Frequent Flyer Points for every kilometre they cycle. Get ready to gear up and try Spin Class for yourself!”
The message was also posted with a promotional video, which, in all fairness, looked like the real deal. It featured footage from the inside of a luxury plane and the Virgin logo even appeared on the exercise bikes people were riding in the clip.
“Our crew will provide a menu of classes and session times for you to choose from,” a voiceover in the video explained. “There are sessions for jetlag prevention, relaxed cruising above the clouds, and our spin and sleep class, which we know our night time travellers will love.”
If that wasn’t enough, passengers in the video were given their own active wear to wear while working out on the plane. It also said that passengers would be able to earn reward points for every kilometre cycled, explaining, “the harder you spin, the more you’ll grin”.
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The clip has already been shared thousands of times, with many unaware that it was all an elaborate prank for April Fool’s Day. Many also flooded Virgin’s Facebook page with comments, unaware that they had been tricked.
One person wrote: “I get so bored on flights. A spin class would be great!”
Another comment read: “Not a bad idea. I’d be into it,” while a third added: “ How about cheaper flights, more leg room, more space, just better and more comfortable long haul flights?”
There were also those who understood it was a joke, questioning if passengers would really appreciate sweaty and smelly people stinking out the plane. Virgin had an answer for those people as well, saying: “We have it all thought out, Spin Class guests will be able to freshen up with exclusive shower and change room facilities after their class :)”
What do you think? Would you have been fooled by the video?
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