Cheapest/easiest way to keep points active
 

My 3k VA points are about to expire. I rarely fly the airline but may need to in the future for work, so it'd be nice to keep the points. What's the easiest/cheapest way to keep them active?

You can get the no fee VX credit card. I believe points dont expire for CC holders.

Do you have a link to a no-fee VX CC? I'm only seeing $49/$149 versions and that the no-fee was retired with the switch from Barclay to Comenity.

So far, the best options I see are a partner credit if you have upcoming travel this month to credit to your Elevate account: https://www.virginamerica.com/cms/el...flyer/partners

Or buy 500 points for $26...

Once their store website is back up, you can buy a $5 gift certificate from giftcertificate.com. Used to be you could spend $1 to plant a tree is Israel or buy a song from Apple to do it. I don't think either of those are there anymore.

The fastest and easiest way for you to keep your points is to buy 500 points for $26.. That takes up to 72 hours to post (According to the terms) which extends points for an additional 18 months. All partner purchases and what not can take up to 8 weeks to post which will pass most likely you expiration date. There is no longer a $0 annual fee credit card. Although the $49 and $149 annual fee credit card doesn't let points expire. Cheapest and fastest way is to just buy the 500 points! Hope this helps :)

Does transferring from Amex MR to Elevate extend point expiration?

Answering my own question, transferring points from Amex MR to Elevate does extend the point expiration date.

actually, just found a free way to extend points.

Currently, if you sign up on Pointshound.com, you can get 50 points added to your Elevate account in 6-8 weeks.

It's free to sign up and use Pointshound.com. There is also e-rewards, but that takes more time and effort.

good luck.

The new Virgin America shopping site (which appears to be a hosted points.com portal) just launched today. 500 points with your first purchase through the portal.

https://flystore.virginamerica.com/

+1

with the 2x bonus offers, it's actually a really good return, even excluding the 500 bonus point first purchase. It comes out to about 5.2% cash back.

I wonder why it takes up to 120 days for the credit to be added? Chance of returns?


We'll validate your purchase with the retailer and update your account to show your Points as "Approved". Most purchase will be approved within 45 days, but some retailers may take up to 120 days to acknowledge and approve a purchase. Your purchases are subject to the retailers’ terms and conditions.
All "Approved" Points will be posted to your Elevate account within 24 hours.

my guess is, probably due to return policies. Most store are 30 - 90 days full refund policies. Anything after that is probably store credit and the likes...so they want to take returns into account.

It's even worse for those reservation based rebate sites like Discover, and Ebates (and probably Virgin Elevate booking portal for Avis and Budget). They will wait after your reservation date + 30 days, even if you paid for a non-refundable reservation.

oh well. Charge on!

I was able to complete my first transaction through this store portal yesterday. I shopped at Target and paid 100% on gift cards.

Virgin Elevate still gave me a pending status for my subtotal, and I expect my $500 bonus for my first purchase as well.


Btw, pointshound.com gave me my 50 point signup bonus within a week of signing up, easiest 50 points of my life!

Affiliate brokers generally don't pay out until after a long waiting period (see Commission Junction). Points.com passes this delay onto you.

I couldn't find this promotion. Do you have a link for this? Thanks.