About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

More articles by Gary Leff »

United Shares Member Info With Other Airlines to Combat Status Match Fraud

by Gary Leff

united plane docked
Aug 30 2018

You might want to defect from United to American or from Delta to Alaska, but it’s pretty tough to do that and start from scratch with a new airline. You’re well treated as an elite, and it’s rough out there flying without any status (although bottom tier of status can be approximated in many cases with the airline’s co-branded credit card). It’s hard to move your business when you’re used to getting upgrades!

So airlines came up first with status matches. That can be helpful but – from the perspective of the loyalty program – it can also be abused.

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How Much Money the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program Makes and What That Tells Us About US Airlines

by Gary Leff

planes on runway
Aug 30 2018

Earlier in the month I wrote about how much money US frequent flyer programs have earned so far this year.

There’s no need to do back of the envelope with Qantas, in fact Qantas shares real numbers about its frequent flyer program. It’s not hard to extrapolate to the US market, or to pinpoint devaluation of existing points as well as reduction in points-earn.

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Does Earning Credit Card Rewards Take Advantage of Other Consumers?

by Gary Leff

credit cards
Aug 30 2018

I don’t think interest, or credit card interest is evil. I believe that consumers generally understand the choices they’re making, even if you or I might make different choices. And people do need credit. If you didn’t have credit cards, the need for credit would still be there, and consumers would be left with the next best option.

If you need to fix a car to get to work, or pay a medical bill, credit cards are a better way to do that than payday loans which are better than having your legs broken. You’re paying interest, but you’re also getting something of value in return.

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Will Hyatt Buy the Former Orient-Express Hotel Chain Belmond?

by Gary Leff

cipriani
Aug 30 2018

Four years ago Orient-Express Hotels rebranded as Belmond. They had been licensing the name Orient-Express, and they found that while the name seemed familiar (because of the train) it wasn’t really associated with the chain and didn’t drive bookings. Although it’s not clear that Belmond served them better. Orient-Express is now an Accor brand. And Belmond is putting themselves up for sale. Accor could be a buyer, they’re trying to build the Orient-Express brand and could pick up twice as many hotels as their current 2025 goal and goodness knows they buy everything else. Hyatt is mentioned as a potential buyer, it’s hard to find too many hotel companies that have the resources to acquire a small luxury chain and for whom it would be worthwhile. Big players wouldn’t see three dozen hotels as moving…

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American Airlines Shutting Down 3 Admirals Clubs in October

by Gary Leff

lounge
Aug 29 2018

Effective October 15 American Airlines will be closing its Admirals Clubs at Hartford (BDL), Greensboro (GSO), and Caracas (CCS).

The airline says they’re doing this to control costs, offering in a statement that “These decisions are never easy, and we must always ensure we are striking the right balance of providing the level of service our customers have come to expect while keeping our costs in-check.”

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Hilton’s Fourth Quarter Promo is Exactly What You’d Expect

by Gary Leff

bungalow on canal
Aug 28 2018

Hilton has been running double points since May 1. Hilton usually runs double points, for instance they basically ran it all of 2016.

For some reason they weren’t ready to announce what their next promotion would be so at the end of July they extended double points through September 9.

Hilton has just come out with their end of year promo. They’ve used the extra time from that last extension to come up with something new.

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