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"Social-media savvy airline Virgin America, which used Twitter to announce its expansion to Toronto, is making use of  location-based rewards network Loopt Star to draw attention to its next international expansion: Mexico.\nVirgin America will be running non-stop flights from San Francisco (SFO) to Cabo (SJD) and from Los Angeles (LAX) to Cancun (CUN) beginning this winter. In addition to special three-day fare sale, Loopt Star members can check in at select locations in San Francisco and Los Angeles to get a free ticket for a friend when they purchase one ticket for  themselves today.\nThis is how it works:\n\nLoopt Star members can check in at LAX, SFO or at one of the special Virgin America taco trucks between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. PT today. \nYou check in using the Loopt Star iPhone app, so download the app if you don't have it already (it's free).\nIn addition to two-for-one fares to Mexico, the taco truck will also be offering two-for-one tacos for $1. All proceeds will go to the San Francisco Animal Care and Control Chihuahua rescue program.\nThe L.A. taco truck will be at the Border Grill at 7060 Hollywood Boulevard.\nIn San Francisco, the taco truck will be at Los Campadres at 100 Folsom Street.\n\n\n\n\n\nReward Space Evolving Fast\nAs competition in the geolocation marketing space heats up, companies are ramping up the value of rewards they offer to users of these location-based services.\nWhat started as free coffee for Starbucks Mayors has evolved into discounts on clothing, discounts on mobile phones and now discounts on airline tickets.\nLoopt is really upping the ante with this Virgin America promotion; we expect this will drive a wave of new signups in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas.\nFighting Hard for Distinction\nAs we said earlier this spring, we think that the ideas behind Loopt Star are solid. By acting as a digital loyalty card program and using Facebook as its social graph, the service was actually a bit ahead of the curve.\nHowever, now that Facebook Places makes it easier for other geolocation services to tap into Facebook, and as the rewards space gets hyper-competitive, Loopt and its sub-brands like Loopt Star need to continue to fight for distinction.\nA great way to do that is by partnering with socially savvy companies like Virgin America and to offer value-driven rewards.\nWhat do you think of this latest promotion? Where do you see geolocation and loyalty programs converging in the future?"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2010/08/31/loopt-star-virgin-americ/>