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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Two United Pilots Too Drunk to Fly, Passengers Entitled to Over $500 Apiece

united plane docked
Aug 28 2016

The first and second officers on United’s Glasgow – Newark flight yesterday “were too sozzled to fly.” They were arrested. The flight’s captain was not involved.

The flight was delayed over 9 hours, and its 141 passengers “were offered meal vouchers and hotel accommodation if necessary” while United confirms that the pilots in question have been removed from duty (though in fairness it’s tough to perform flight duties from behind bars).

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HOT FARE: Several US Cities to Vienna from $380 Roundtrip!

Aug 28 2016

SkyTeam airlines Delta, Air France and KLM offering fares starting at $380 roundtrip from Boston, Chicago, and Miami to Vienna.

Travel is permitted Sunday through Wednesday from the US to Europe, and Monday through Thursday for the return from Europe to the US. The fare is available for travel which starts between September 12 and December 6. A Saturday night stay is required, and the maximum stay allowed is 3 months.

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AIRFARE ALERT: Several US Cities to Germany From $351 Roundtrip!!

Aug 28 2016

There’s a fare from New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Miami to Dusseldorf from $351 roundtrip. This is a base fare of $24.50 each way.

The fares I’m seeing allow travel Sunday through Wednesday in each direction, require a Saturday night stay, and are available for outbound travel September 12 through December 6 — though The Flight Deal indicates that they should be available through early April.

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HURRY: New York/Philadelphia – Budapest from $338 Roundtrip

Aug 28 2016

Fly4Free is reporting on a fare of $338 roundtrip between New York or Philadelphia and Budapest, Hungary.

Travel is on SkyTeam airlines. I’m seeing mostly itineraries with Air France and KLM but some have Alitalia as well. Trips originating in Philadephia connect to Atlanta or New York JFK on Delta to start the international portion of the trip.

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Man Takes Off Pants, Drives Stolen Truck into Southwest Airlines 737

plane-rewards-card
Aug 27 2016

On Thursday night a man stole a pickup truck and drove it into the landing gear of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 in Omaha.

The 35 year old parked a pickup that actually belonged to him in the airport’s garage. He proceeded to the front of the terminal where he screamed that people were trying to kill him. A police officer approached, and he headed back to the garage. He climbed a fence. And then, he took off his pants.

And that’s when things started to go off the rails.

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Since You Have to Choose, Should You Be a Marriott Rewards or Ritz-Carlton Member?

With especially rich offers for the Ritz-Carlton Rewards® Credit Card readers have been asking whether you can get a Ritz-Carlton card if you’re a Marriott Rewards member, and vice versa. This is a topic I covered back in 2013. Marriott acquired Ritz-Carlton in 1998, but the hotels had limited participation in the Marriott Rewards program: you could spend points for Ritz-Carlton stays, but that was it. Luxury chains have for the most part eschewed points, the belief was that they provide recognition not freebies and compete to offer the best luxury experience. However they launched the Ritz-Carlton program in the fall of 2010. You are only supposed to have one account between the two programs. You are supposed to choose between Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Marriott Rewards. However, The programs are almost identical. I will go…

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New Award Search Tool With Email Alerts — and Hotel Awards, Too!

Aug 27 2016

Pex+ is a new site coming out of Beta that allows you to search for award space across a number of different airlines and data sources all at once, quickly. It offers hotel searches (points and revenue prices, so you can compare). And it even offers to email you when award prices drop (saver space opens).

It doesn’t just tell you whether saver awards are available — it shows you the mileage cost of each award so you can compare up front and it includes taxes and fuel surcharges.

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