now boarding

Warning - this is a solicitation, but its a good one. I have often preached about the value of belonging to any and every airline frequent flier program. Chances are you don't fly just one or two airlines, and you never know when you will fly a particular one if you shop for fares and schedules to meet whatever your trip calls for. Belonging to a frequent flier program costs nothing. And it doesn't take much to keep from losing miles you earn even if you rarely fly. So even if you are a rare flier, eventually you will probably earn enough to redeem either for a flight or for something else (my Europe travel always is by redeeming miles.) And even if you don't, you really haven't lost anything. So now you have a chance to join a frequent flier program, earn some bonus points for yourself, as well as some for me. Here's the deal: I can register 15 friends' email addresses for a special invite if they aren't already members of Virgin America's "Elevate" program. If those addresses accept my invite and register for Elevate, they get 250 elevate points, and I get 250. So - if you aren't already a member of Virgin America's Elevate - you should be. If you're willing to join, send me an email and let me know what email address to use. I will register that email and send an invite for you to join. Its that simple. As for Virgin America, they are a really great airline. And you probably know I travel a lot and have some definite opinions about airlines. I consider Virgin America my 3rd favorite - but that 3rd ranking is only because of bag fees - which puts JetBlue and Southwest above Virgin in my rankings. For every other part of the fying experience, Virgin America is unmatched. Flying them is a treat and enjoyable - really. When was the last time you said that about an airline? It feels to me what I imagine flying must have felt like 40 years ago when it was still special. Their routes are still limited, but they are constantly adding new cities. And you don't have to fly them to join Elevate - if you join now, you'll already be set once you finally do fly them. You can check a couple old blog posts about them below. And if you're ready to join, send me an email. See you aboard.

jbd blog 02/24/09: traveltip: think small

jbd blog 11/09/07: like a virgin

jbd blog 08/16/07: better air