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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Major US Airports That are Growing, Those that Aren’t, and Why

Jan 13 2016

Here are the stats on the major US airports that are growing the most — and those that aren’t growing at all.

Growth at Dallas Love Field and Seattle should both come as no surprise. The end of the Wright Amendment in Dallas means airlines can fly to many more destinations. Indeed, airlines have greater demand to fly from the airport than the legal limit on gates there can support. And Seattle is seeing a massive buildup in flights by Delta, growth that is fueling even more flights from Alaska Airlines. My home airport of Austin is building more gates…

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Delta Business Class Award Availability Wide Open: Take the Whole Family to Europe this Summer

Jan 13 2016

Delta has had a well deserved reputation for offering members very little award availability, at least at any reasonable price (the ‘saver’ level). It’s hardly a new phenomenon.

Occasionally though award space at the low saver level on Delta’s flights open wide up. Right now you can use SkyMiles to take the family in business class to Europe for summer travel. You’ll find wide open availability most days for several seats on an assortment of routes this summer.

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Pay Your Rent for Less than a 2% Fee and Earn Credit Card Rewards

Jan 12 2016

I first covered Radpad over a year ago. The site allows you to pay your rent with a credit or debit card (for a fee).

At the time the fee to use a credit card was 2.99%. Generally not worth it, although in a pinch it could make sense if you needed some quick credit card spend.

Now they’ve reduced the fee for using a MasterCard to 1.9%… and that can be useful for earning rewards.

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Homeland Security Trains Hotel Workers to See Something, Say Something About Your In-Room Habits

Jan 12 2016

In the name of stopping sex trafficking, the Department of Homeland Security is “providing law enforcement with cover to convince citizens to spy on each other and report one another to police for perfectly normal activity.”

Here are some of the things that hotel workers may be on the lookout for. Check your own hotel habits.

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Airlines are Even More Profitable Than You Think. And the US Airlines are Taking in the Bulk of World Profit.

Jan 12 2016

The results of airline profitability over the most recent 12 months reported are interesting. American and Delta have brought in over $40 billion each in the last year. And by revenue Lufthansa Group (which includes several airlines) is actually bigger than United.

What’s amazing is that airline profits are located primarily in North America, and yet the US airlines claim to be underdogs. The low cost carriers are surging in both the US and Europe. That’s where the threat to the majors lies (not from the Gulf).

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Under $1000 Roundtrip for Transatlantic Business Class

Jan 12 2016

Ireland is a fantastic place to connect between Europe and the United States. That’s one reason British Airways bought them and is bringing them into oneworld. From anywhere except London it can make good sense for BA to send connecting passengers through Dublin. It’s strategically located, makes for an easy connection and features US immigration preclearance. (BA also gets slots at London Heathrow out of the deal.)

Roundtrip business class flights originating in Dublin are pricing over the holidays for less than $1000.

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