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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Singapore Airlines Will Restart the World’s Longest Flights – And Why That Matters

Oct 13 2015

Qantas currently operates the longest flight in the world, Sydney – Dallas, with an Airbus A380.

Emirates is launching Dubai – Panama City as the new longest flight in the world operated by a Boeing 777-200LR.

But Singapore Airlines is poised to take the title when it re-launches non-stop service to the US, most likely in 2018, with new Airbus A350-900ULR aircraft.

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Hyatt Regency’s New Branding Campaign: It’s Good Not to Be Home! (When All I Want Sometimes is to be… Home)

Oct 12 2015

Hyatt Regency has rolled out a new branding campaign “It’s good not to be home” when road warriors often want nothing more than the opposite — to finally spend some time at home.

And if you’re not going to be home, the new Hyatt Regency campaign doesn’t tell us much about why we’d want to be away from home at a Hyatt Regency over any other hotel.

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Air Marshal Sues Because He Was Denied Onboard Meal Choice, Predeparture Beverage Spilled on Him

Oct 12 2015

We have air marshals flying around the skies. They are on a very small percentage of flights, and it’s obvious who they are when they board (even though their dress not instructs them to blend in, they board first and conspicuously identify themselves to gate agents).

They more or less fly around uselessly. And with the exception of a few assigned routes, they can arrange their schedules to fly more or less where they wish. So they go on vacation for work, and they meet up with each other for sexual liasons.

An air marshal was served a predeparture beverage but the flight attendant spilled the drink on him (i.e. he was wasting a premium cabin seat). He is suing because:

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One Day Left to Pay Any Bill With a Credit Card for Just 1.5% Fee and Earn Miles, Meet Minimum Spend

Oct 12 2015

I’ve written about the different offers from Plastiq to pay bills with your credit card (they charge your card, mail a check to your payee).

Their offer of just a 1.5% fee (their usual fee is 2.5%) when making any payment of $500 or more with a MasterCard ends tomorrow (Tuesday October 13). You can schedule as many future payments as you wish, however, and receive that 1.5% fee — as long as you do it by tomorrow. Plastiq says this is their last currently-planned promotion.

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Delta Flight Lost a Wheel and Brake Parts on Takeoff From Tel Aviv, Landed Safely

Oct 12 2015

A Delta flight apparently lost a back wheel and part of the braking system on takeoff at Tel Aviv last week. The flight in question is apparently Delta 469 on October 3 from Tel Aviv to New York JFK.

The control tower received a warning about debris on the runway and attributed it to a system malfunction, only discovering the parts on the runway visually come daylight.

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New Ritz-Carlton Signup Offer of 2 Free Nights

Oct 11 2015

The Ritz-Carlton credit card has a new offer of two free nights at your choice of most Ritz properties after $3000 spend in 3 months.

Here are the benefits of the card – including concierge, lounge access, and hotel stay credits – and how that plays into the positioning of the Ritz-Carlton brand overall.

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