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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New Bank Offering Aggressive Cash Back Card Up to 3%

by Gary Leff

Jul 15 2017

The new TD Business Solutions Credit Card offers a $200 signup bonus when you spend $3,000 within the first 90 days of account opening and offers strong cash rebate earning. (HT: Joe Brancatelli) 3% on phone, Internet and cable services 2% on dining and at gas stations 1% on everything else The card has no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees. Now I find this new card interesting for a couple of reasons. It almost exactly mirrors the spending bonus categories of the Chase Ink Cash Card except that Ink Cash gives 5% back on phone, internet and cable rather than 3% and also includes office supplies as a top rebate category. Ink Cash also does 2% on dining and gas. It’s a new issuer that’s getting aggressive in this space. Credit card rewards…

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Maybe I’ve Been Too Hard on American Airlines?

by Gary Leff

Jul 14 2017

There’s no question American has degraded the AAdvantage program in the last couple of years. And there’s no question that AAdvantage was American’s unique selling proposition. They don’t have the airline operation that Delta does, or the route network (and award availability) that United has access to through Star Alliance.

Since I’ve flown American by far the most over the past 6 years I’ve watched the airline change, and mostly (although not exclusively) in ways I haven’t liked.

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The 5 Things American Airlines Did To Kill My Loyalty

by Gary Leff

american plane
Jul 14 2017

Instead of giving American Airlines the vast majority of my wallet share, their schedule and price gives them just enough that I’ll still hit that 100,000 mile status but likely just barely. In the past I’d have connected and paid more to stay on American.

That’s not something I’ll do anymore because of five changes they’ve made over the past couple of years — and they’re probably not the changes that matter to most members.

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Intel from Last Night’s Chase and World of Hyatt Culinary Event at the Park Hyatt New York

by Gary Leff

Jul 14 2017

On Thursday evening I attended a Hyatt event for Chase co-brand cardmembers at the Park Hyatt New York. It was a food event featuring dishes from chefs at 3 Hyatts around the world — the Park Hyatt Vendome Paris, Park Hyatt Vienna, and Hyatt Regency Hangzhou.

I had the chance to speak with Hyatt Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications Debra Goetz as well as members of the Hyatt and Chase co-brand card products team.

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What It’s Like to Carry a Laptop Onboard From an Airport Where Electronics Had Been Banned

by Gary Leff

Jul 13 2017

A couple of weeks ago the US declared that not only wouldn’t they extend the ban on electronics larger than a standard cell phone to European flights, but they’d remove it from flights coming from Mideast airports, provided each airport around the world changed its security procedures to U.S. specifications.

There are new security procedures in place in airports where the ban had previously been in effect.

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