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 »

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People Are Increasingly Scared Of Credit Cards. Here’s When You Should Be.

credit card wallet
Sep 15 2017

If you don’t spend more than you otherwise would and pay off your bill in full on time each month credit cards are better than debit cards, cash and other methods of payment.

If you don’t meet either of those conditions then tools that free you wind up used irresponsibly so for many it’s wise to adopt forms of payment which are binding constraints on the ability to get into financial trouble.

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17% Discount on Some Southwest Award Tickets, Rolls Back Pricing By 3 Devaluations

airline cabin
Sep 14 2017

In theory a revenue-based program shouldn’t need to devalue. More expensive tickets automatically cost more points. As ticket prices rise so do award prices. And the scarcest seats already cost more in Southwest’s system not just because of their higher cash price but because the value per point redeeming for those points is reduced. Yet they’ve devalued multiple times anyway.

Could we be seeing an increase in the value of points?

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So What REALLY Happened When Marriott Left 35 People Behind on St. Thomas?

Sep 13 2017

Marriott had a boat evacuate guests from the Frenchman’s Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort on St. Thomas after Irma had passed and in advance of Hurricane Jose. By all accounts they did a great job for their guests.

Reportedly though the US Coast Guard told other American tourists looking to get off the island to hitch a ride on Marriott’s boat charter. They knew there were plenty of extra seats.

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