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Virgin America Expands Loyalty Program With A First

Virgin Atlantic Virgin America this week will send out email blasts to members of its Elevate frequent flier program to let them know they can begin redeeming points for award travel.

In what it calls a first, Virgin America's loyalty program enables guests to redeem points for any unsold seat on any flight any time, with no black-out dates.

Elevate members earn five points for every $1 spent on published base fares, and as of today can book a free flight with as few as four paid roundtrips. Through www.virginamerica.com, Elevate members can access all the features needed to manage their travel online--including using points like dollars to book flights online, viewing points and credits, and tracking past and future flights.

Elevate offers Web-based redemption with dynamic pricing and no black-out dates, so guests don't have to jump through hoops to find or book the flights they've earned," said Virgin America President and CEO David Cush in a statement.

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Virgin America flies to Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, Las Vegas, Seattle and San Francisco. Next year, members will also be able to combine points and dollars to redeem online. Members will be able to tailor the in-flight experience by loading a favorite playlist or video game avatar.

David Rosen--who heads Loyalty Lab of San Francisco, which worked with Virgin America to design and implement the program--says that in loyalty programs, "we talk about earning and burning. Here, the way you earn points is the same, how they're burning is innovative."

On the Web site, Rosen says, members can pay in dollars or in points. After members select destinations and dates, the system evaluates whether there are promotions going on such as a lower amount of points for midweek travel versus weekend or whether the member gets a discount for being a founding member.

"As airline 2.0, we wanted to create a next-generation loyalty program with a Web-based, user-friendly interface that delivers actual rewards fast," said Cush. "Travelers shouldn't have to rack up unachievable mile totals and then struggle to find an open flight."

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