Yesterday’s Loopt Star reward (2-for-1 tickets from LA or SF to Mexico), as part of Virgin’s nationwide Mexico launch fare sale that day, helped make it the fifth highest sales day in Virgin America history. The news of the sale and the Loopt Star reward caused a great big buzz online – from Twitter, to Facebook, to the New York Times.

(A video/photo compilation from the LA and SF taco trucks)

Nearly 1,300 people stormed the San Francisco taco truck (Los Compadres at 100 Folsom St.), and Checked In on Loopt Star during the few short hours of the promotion.

From local officemates to friends across down, groups gathered and made the trek to get the Loopt Star reward… iPhones in hand, and sandy Mexican beaches on their minds.

Thanks to the thousands of people who stopped by the Virgin America taco trucks! Great crowds. Great people. Great fun.

If you checked in and you have not yet received your email with a coupon from Virgin, that means you haven’t completed your redemption process. Here’s how:

1. Launch Loopt Star
2. Click on “Me”

3. Click on “Completed Rewards”
4. Look for the Virgin America reward. Click on it.
5. Click on Redeem, and say “Yes” to the “Are You Sure?” question
6. Enter your email address. Click Send.

7. Go look in your email. Check your Spam folder just in case something got trapped there. The email contains everything you need.

Enjoy!

At the Virgin America and Loopt Star taco truck in LA, bride-to-be Jamie Swartz (far left in the photo below) brought her whole wedding party down to get their two-for-one tickets on Virgin America to Mexico using Loopt Star, for her wedding there in February! How much fun is that?

Crowds are gathering at this taco truck, and the San Francisco Los Compadres truck too. See details on how you can get your two-for-one tickets there too — but only until 3pm (Pacific) today!

The New Music Tuesday fun continues today with a free FABOLOUS song, “Body Ya”

Go to http://www.amplified.com/loopt to see all of today’s selections. We’ll be changing them as we move along, so check back often! All you need to do is Check In at any bar, and you get FIVE free song downloads.

Detailed instructions on how to redeem this offer are here in an earlier blog post: http://blog.loopt.com/2010/08/new-music-tuesdays/

Download Loopt Star from iTunes now so you can start playing!

(photo credit: Virgin America/Ben Eye)

Andale, Andale! You better get going. Your lunch plans just got a bit more interesting.

Virgin America announced today (see the press release for full details) that they will be offering service from California to sunny Mexico (Cancun and Los Cabos).

To spice up the deals for this new service, Virgin and Loopt Star are calling all SF and LA people out to taco trucks in the two cities to take advantage of the deals.

Here are the details:

Check In to either SFO, LAX or one of Virgin America’s mobile taco truck locations between 11:00am and 3:00pm PT today with the free Loopt Star App on the iPhone and score a $1 two-for-one taco deal, and more importantly, a two-for-one ticket offer on Virgin America’s new flights to Mexico.

How to get your two-for-one flight coupon:

1. Check into a qualifying location once with Loopt Star
2. Enter your email address
3. You’ll get an email with details on the two-for-one offer

Here are the four qualifying locations:

• SFO Airport Virgin America Ticketing Counter
• The Los Compadres Taco Truck in San Francisco , at 100 Folsom Street.
• LAX Airport Virgin America Ticketing Counter
• The Border Grill Taco Truck in Los Angeles 7060 Hollywood Boulevard.

A note of caution:

• Do NOT check in too early! Only from 11am to 3pm Pacific time, Tuesday August 31st. And you only get one shot at it!
• There’s a limited number of coupons, so get there quick!

Download Loopt Star now from the App Store
to get some tacos and a flight with Virgin America!

While you’re raking in the deals, check out some of the others available on Loopt Star*:

• Sports Authority – Check In twice at any of its 460 U.S. locations, and get $10 off your purchase of $50 or more

• Burger King – Check In 3 times at Burger King and get a free coffee or soda with the purchase of a regular sandwich or breakfast sandwich (Value Menu items not included). Offer available at 55 locations in New York and New Jersey.
• Paul Frank – Check In to any participating Paul Frank store and get an instant 20 percent discount off your purchase. You can also win the Paul Frank Super Fan Achievement. Participating stores are in Chicago; Costa Mesa, Calif. (South Coast Plaza); Las Vegas (Fashion Show Mall); Los Angeles; New York; and San Francisco.
• Element – Check In to the Element Times Square store in New York and receive an Element Eco-Water Bottle plus a 10 percent discount off any purchase of $75 or more. You can also win the Element Fan Achievement.
• Steve Madden – 20% off a purchase of $50 or more.
• Other rewards can be found on the “News” tab inside the Loopt Star App.

* Exclusions may apply. See store for details.

We asked you to submit videos about Loopt Star — The winning video is below. Congratulations, Josh Atchley. There were a lot of great submissions, so we’ll definitely be sharing more … coming soon.

August 30, 2010 – MOUNTAINVIEW, Calif. – Loopt, the leading location-based services company, announced today that Steve Boom, a seasoned mobile and Internet industry executive, will join the company as president, effective immediately.

Steve Boom’s past experience includes 10 years as senior vice president at Yahoo where he was responsible for all of Yahoo’s global mobile products, partnerships and advertiser offerings. Most recently, Boom led mobile startup, mig33, growing that company’s mobile service to more than 30 million users in more than 200 countries worldwide; mig33 is estimated to be one of the most downloaded apps for mobile phones worldwide. Boom will continue to serve as chairman of Singapore-based mig33.

“Steve is a tremendous addition to the Loopt management team, enabling us to capitalize on the exciting opportunities available in the location-based services market,” said Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO, Loopt. “He’s grown mobile companies from upstarts to established brands, helping them reach new levels of user engagement and monetization. I fully expect him to do the same for Loopt.”

Said Boom, “I’m thrilled to be joining the dynamic team at Loopt, which pioneered mobile location-based services. There’s no question that this is the hottest space in mobile and is heading into the mainstream. The timing is perfect to transform Loopt’s early leadership into a truly remarkable company.”

Boom, with Altman, will be responsible for driving Loopt’s growth and monetization strategies. His role on the team will be key to extend Loopt’s leadership in location-based services. Boom will work out of Loopt’s Mountain View, Calif. headquarters.

About Loopt

Loopt is the leading location-based mobile social mapping company. Loopt produces a suite of mobile applications including Loopt, Loopt Star, Loopt Pulse for iPad and Loopt Mix, to allow users to discover the world around them. Loopt products use location on mobile phones, iPad and iPod touch devices to help their users find and enjoy the friends, places, and events around them right now. Loopt Star is a mobile rewards game that lets consumers check in to compete with friends and win real-world rewards from retailers and organizations. Loopt Star offers businesses a virtual loyalty card, allowing them to connect directly with their customers when they’re out and about. The Loopt services have more than 4 million registered users and partnerships with every major U.S. mobile phone carrier. See loopt.com for details. Loopt was designed with privacy considerations at its core and offers a variety of effective and intuitive privacy controls. Find Loopt on twitter.com/loopt and facebook.com/loopt

Sports Authority is offering a reward through Loopt Star: Check In twice at any of its 460 U.S. locations, and get $10 off your purchase of $50 or more*. It’s just that simple.

Here’s how it works.

1. On your iPhone, fire up the Loopt Star app

2. Find the nearest Sports Authority. Our Rewards Nearby feature lets you discover stores that have Loopt Star rewards.

3. When you click on Sports Authority, you see the special Reward. Click “Check In here”

4. Once you’ve checked in twice, you’ll see you’ve won the Reward. Press OK, and once you are ready to check-out, hit redeem.  You can show the coupon on your iPhone screen to the cashier and they’ll take care of you.

Other rewards available on Loopt Star:

• Burger King — Check In 3 times at Burger King and get a free coffee or soda with the purchase of a regular sandwich or breakfast sandwich (Value Menu items not included). Offer available at 55 locations in New York and New Jersey.
• Paul Frank – Check In to any participating Paul Frank store and get an instant 20 percent discount off your purchase. You can also win the Paul Frank Super Fan Achievement. Participating stores are in Chicago; Costa Mesa, Calif. (South Coast Plaza); Las Vegas (Fashion Show Mall); Los Angeles; New York; and San Francisco.
• Element – Check In to the Element Times Square store in New York and receive an Element Eco-Water Bottle plus a 10 percent discount off any purchase of $75 or more. You can also win the Element Fan Achievement.
• Steve Madden – 20% off a purchase of $50 or more.
• Other rewards can be found on the “News” tab inside the Loopt Star App.

* Exclusions may apply. See store for details.

Next up in Loopt Star’s New Music Tuesday line-up, Tamar Kaprelian’s “New Day.” All you need to do is Check In at a bar…and you get 5 free (yes, free) song downloads. Tamar Kaprelian’s crooning is available today, so get going.

We caught up with Tamar, and she’s excited about the opportunity for everyone to grab “New Day” for free. Watch this video:

Go to http://www.amplified.com/loopt to see all of today’s selections. We’ll be changing them as we move along, so check back often!

Here’s a rundown of how it works:

Really, all you need to do is to Check In to any bar in the United States with Loopt Star.

You’ll win the Loopt Star Discover The Music Around You Reward.

What is this Reward?

The Music Reward is five free songs from artists including: Mos Def, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Taio Cruz, La Roux and more every Tuesday…

How do I get it?

1. Find a participating bar.  A participating bar will have the “star” icon alongside its name, and will appear in “Rewards Nearby”:

1. Check In to the bar. You’ll immediately be told you’ve won the Reward!
2. Go to your Me tab.
3. Click on Completed Rewards.
4. Redeem the Reward.
5. Give us your email address. (Don’t worry. We won’t use it for any nefarious purposes.)
6. We’ll send you a link and a special code to choose music.

Other rewards available on Loopt Star:

• Burger King — Check In 3 times at Burger King and get a free coffee or soda with the purchase of a regular sandwich or breakfast sandwich (Value Menu items not included). Offer available at 55 locations in New York and New Jersey.
• Paul Frank – Check In to any participating Paul Frank store and get an instant 20 percent discount off your purchase. You can also win the Paul Frank Super Fan Achievement. Participating stores are in Chicago; Costa Mesa, Calif. (South Coast Plaza); Las Vegas (Fashion Show Mall); Los Angeles; New York; and San Francisco.
• Element – Check In to the Element Times Square store in New York and receive an Element Eco-Water Bottle plus a 10 percent discount off any purchase of $75 or more. You can also win the Element Fan Achievement.
• Steve Madden – 20% off a purchase of $50 or more.
• Other rewards can be found on the “News” tab inside the Loopt Star App.

Download Loopt Star from iTunes now so you can start playing!

Get ready to chat it up with even more nearby people. We just saw 35,000 new downloads of Loopt Mix yesterday. With the Loopt Mix app, we introduce you to the people nearby that you wish you knew so you can make new friends. With the new rush of people, you may want to log on, and see who’s new.

Loopt Mix is a simple and fun way to connect with others nearby in the real world who share your interests. It’s ideal for those who are looking for new friends to go to events with, getting to know someone over coffee, or new to town—almost anything you can imagine.

Download it now to play!