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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If You Fly Chicago-Los Angeles, the Government Thinks You May Be a Drug Dealer (and Can Take All Your Money)

by Gary Leff

hand holding hundreds of dollars in cash
Oct 31 2015

More of us are at risk than you’d think. According to the Washington Post‘s “Wonkblog” if you fly between Chicago and L.A. you might be a drug dealer according to the DEA

The DEA confiscated $30,000 from a man after waiting at a gate at LAX monitoring passengers getting off an American Airlines flight from Chicago because “Chicago is a known consumer city for narcotics and Los Angeles is a known source city where narcotics can be purchased”. The case is actually called “United States of America v. $30,750 in U.S. Currency.” When you charge the property instead of the person, the property doesn’t have rights.

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American Has Started Renovations on the D15 Club in Miami. Here’s What It’ll Look Like.

by Gary Leff

Oct 31 2015

American has started construction to revamp one of their two Admirals Clubs in Miami. There are clubs at gates D15 and D30. D30 is the larger club, and in my opinion with better food, but neither has had enough space at peak times.

They’re increasing the lounge footprint by about 50%, as well as bringing in a more modern design and more efficient furnishings. Combined with American’s ramped up its investment in food in the lounges this year this will make it a much nicer experience overall. Here’s what the club will look like.

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When You Buy Miles from a US Airline, You Can Get the 7.5% Tax Refunded!

by Gary Leff

Oct 30 2015

The federal government taxes miles purchased from US airline as though they are used to reduce the cost of domestic airfare, and thus the price of those miles is subject to the same 7.5% excise tax that applies to domestic airline tickets.

Did you know that if you buy miles and use them for something other than domestic travel that you can get the tax refunded?

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Leaked Details of the New Citibank-issued Costco Card

by Gary Leff

Oct 30 2015

It was earth-shattering in the payments world when Costco ditched American Express as their co-brand card issuer and signed on with Citibank. Citi offered them an amazing deal that gives Costco nearly free credit card acceptance.

It turns out that we know more than this, even though Citi won’t start issuing the card until April 2016. That’s because the Citibank Costco credit card deal was filed with the SEC and is publicly available online.

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