Everything You Need to Know to Grab Virgin America Elevate Gold

July 26, 2012 at 3:05 PM | by JetSetCD | Comments (0)

Well this is sure the week to announce loyalty programs changes, huh? First we had the announcement of JetBlue's TrueBlue Mosaic level, and now Virgin America is going to reward their more frequent flyers with two—count 'em—two levels above regular Elevate Red, and with accompanying complimentary perks.

Please welcome Virgin America's Elevate Silver and Elevate Gold to the frequent flyer status dance party. The program officially kicks off August 8, so don't go logging in to check your status quite yet.

Becoming Virgin America Elevate Silver

· First off, you've got to be a member of the Elevate program in general. Join here for free and you'll begin at level Red.
· Fly somewhere, and do it a lot. To go from Red to Silver, you must earn 20,000 status points in a calendar year. Elevate points are based on how much money you spend on flights, not on miles flown, and it's 5 points per $1 spent.
· You'll need to spend $4,000 in one year flying Virgin America. Assume you spend $500 on each roundtrip, coast-to-coast flight, that's doable in 8 roundtrips.

Perks of Elevate Silver

· Check in using the First Class line at the airport
· Use the Priority lanes for both security and boarding
· Check one bag for free
· Earn 25% bonus points on your flights
· Select Main Cabin Express seats for free
· Opt-in for possible free upgrades to Main Cabin Select
· Purchase an upgrade to First Class at 12 hours before the flight
· Get one 25% off code per year for Non-refundable economy (aka the cheapest seats)
· Access a dedicated phone line

Becoming Virgin America Elevate Gold

· First, get your butt up to Elevate Silver. See above.
· Then earn another 30,000 status points on top of the 20,000 you earned to reach Silver, in one calendar year. That's 50,000 status points total needed.
· Again, Virgin America awards points based on dollars spent, so you'll need to spend a total of $10,000 flying Virgin America in one year.
· Using our measure of $500 for each roundtrip, you'll need to fly 20 roundtrips. OR go whole hog and fly in First Class 6 times, for an average $1,700 each cross-country roundtrip. We can imagine celebs will hit Elevate Gold no problem, in that case.

Perks of Elevate Gold

· Check in using the First Class line at the airport
· Use the Priority lanes for both security and boarding
· Check three bags for free
· Earn 100% bonus points on your flights
· Select Main Cabin Express seats for free
· Opt-in for possible free upgrades to Main Cabin Select
· Purchase an upgrade to First Class at 24 hours before the flight
· Get two 25% off codes per year for Non-refundable economy (aka the cheapest seats)
· Access a dedicated phone line
· Be in the running for a free suborbital space flight on Virgin Galactic*

* In order to kick off these new elite levels in a big way, Virgin America announced that the one flyer who racks up the most points in one calendar year (August 8, 2012 - August 7, 2013) flying Virgin America will win one of the roundtrip Virgin Galactic space flights, valued at $200,000. Sweet idea, but the competition is going to be TOUGH.

MORE INFO HERE

[Photo and video: Virgin America]

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