• by Tanya Gazdik , August 12, 2009

Virgin America is celebrating its second birthday with a contest to thank its current "Elevate" loyalty club members and welcome its one-millionth member.

Current members are being asked to share their favorite "first time" experience at: www.virginamerica.com/onemillion. The winning story, which must be 50 words or longer, will get 100,000 Elevate points. And just to clarify, it's supposed to be about the members' first time flying on Virgin. The airline sent an email to all current loyalty members Wednesday with details on the promotion.

"Tell all your friends to join for a chance to win," the email reads. "You never know, maybe you'll get a little love out of it."

The San Francisco-based airline currently has about 950,000 Elevate members and expects to hit the one-million mark later this month. That member will win 100,000 Elevate points -- equal to one year of free flights (up to 20 short hauls or eight long flights.)

The airline is publicizing the promotion mainly via social media sites including Twitter and its Facebook fan page, which currently has 31,000 fans.

When the one-millionth Elevate member is announced, all members will receive a special discount offer for travel on the airline in appreciation of their loyalty.

"We couldn't be more pleased to celebrate our second anniversary than by thanking the people who believed we could change the way people fly," said Virgin America President and CEO David Cush in a statement.

Earlier this week, Virgin announced that it will begin twice-daily nonstop flights to Fort Lauderdale from both San Francisco and Los Angeles beginning Nov. 18.

The airline wars continue, with JetBlue making a similar announcement the same day -- debuting a new, daily nonstop service between San Francisco and Fort Lauderdale starting on Nov. 17.

Spirit Airlines introduced its "We're No Virgin" sale Wednesday, with the subhead "We've been cheap and easy for years."