Virgin America joins Points.com; lets flyers buy, transfer or gift miles

by Melanie Nayer on

It’s always a good day when airlines come up with an easier way to get and give miles. Virgin America is joining the frequent flier-made-easy brigade with its new partnership with Points.com’s Partner Network. Starting today, Virgin America’s Elevate members have the option to buy points for themselves, transfer or gift points to other Elevate members.

Here’s how it works:

Elevate members can purchase or transfer in 500 point increments at $.052 per point, buy up to 20,000 or transfer up to 30,000 points each year. If transferring points, you’ll pay $.020 per point transferred.

I did a quick test run on the Points platform and found it pretty self-explanatory. I opted to gift my points to another member. For 2,500 points (which is the minimum number of points Virgin members can use for a free flight) the cost was $130. The gift comes with a pre-made card for your recipient.

Note to users: You need to be an Elevate member and a Points.com member in order to participate in the points transfers.

Donate and earn miles when you give to Haiti relief

by Grant Martin on

Donating to the earthquake relief effort in Haiti should be a no-brainer, but for those who haven’t given or who would like to give more, the travel industry is offering a few additional mechanisms, some with incentives.

As of Tuesday morning, here’s a comprehensive list of how you can donate your miles via assorted airline or hotel websites.

  • American Airlines will give you 250 miles if you donate $50 to the American Red Cross or 500 miles for $100.
  • Continental OnePass members can donate to the American Red Cross directly, and CEO Jeff Smisek is reported to be matching coworker donations up to $50,000
  • Similar programs are in place at Delta and United.
  • Spirit Airlines, which flies daily flights to Haiti, is returning 5,000 miles to anyone who donates at least $5 to their charities.
  • JetBlue and Southwest won’t let you donate miles, but they do have donation links to the relief effort on their main pages.
  • In addition to matching the donations of their employees, US Airways allows Dividend Members to donate their miles.
  • Hyatt Gold Passport members can donate increments of 5,000 points by calling 1-800-228-3360, Hilton members can convert 10,000 points to a $25 donation at their site and Priority Club and Choice members can also chip in.
  • Starwood hotels are matching all donations, where 4,000 points will equal $50.
  • In addition to the $500,000 that Bill Marriott gave to the relief effort (classy!), you can donate your Marriott points here.

Did we miss anything? Drop off links in the comments below and we’ll update the post.

Got hotel points? Now is the time to use them!

by Scott Carmichael on

Hotel award availability has long been the kind of thing that made actually getting to use your hard earned hotel points nearly impossible.

This Summer is different, and for reasons I’m not entirely sure of. I’m going to guess that hotels are seeing record low bookings, and are perfectly happy to get any guests.

Most of the large hotel chains have a ton of award availability, and a lot of it is available for dates that have historically been impossible to redeem on.

Even the upcoming memorial day weekend shows plenty of availability, and to make things even better, there are plenty of free rooms in cities that are usually filled to capacity for major events (like Indianapolis).

So, if you have any spare hotel points lying around, now is the best time ever to start using them – forget that whole “staycation” thing. Gas is still relatively cheap, and if your only expenses will be food, entertainment and gas, then you’d better have a good reason to stay home.