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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US Airways Buy and Share Miles Bonus Offers are Back

Through May 31, US Airways is offering a 75% bonus on sharing miles (transferring miles from one account to another). They’ll award the bonus on the first 50,000 miles transferred, so a maximum bonus of 37,500 miles, and they’re limiting this to one transaction per member. This allows you to combine miles in two different accounts belong to two different people, and effectively buy miles at about 1.4 cents apiece (for the bonus miles) in the process. The price is 1 cent per point transferred plus 7.5% tax and a $30 transaction fee. Meanwhile, Webflyer also says that through May 14 US Airways is offering a 50% discount on miles purchased by US Airways co-branded credit card holders, up to 50,000 miles. A 50% discount on purchase price equates to a 100% bonus on miles…

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Capital One’s 100,000 Point Signup (“Match”) Offer is Over

I previously wrote about the Capital One 100,000 point matching bonus signup offer and then followed up with more information on eligibility for getting two cards. Capital One was willing to match points that you had in US airline frequent flyer accounts — up to 100,000 — as a signup bonus for getting a new Venture card (or small business Venture card), in addition to their usual 10,000 point signup offer. The catch was that they were ‘capping’ the offer at 1 billion miles. That sounds like a big number, but if each of the first ten thousand card applicants grabbed 100,000 miles apiece that would be it. And they were heavily promoting the card and offer with a television commercial featuring Alec Baldwin. They promised the offer would run through mid-May or when the…

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Possible United/Continental Second Quarter Promotion? Each Roundtrip Earns Bonuses, up to 20,000 Bonus Miles for Three Roundtrips

Update: This does turn out to be targeted, I haven’t heard of any 1Ks that were able to register, perhaps some less-engaged Premier Executives have gotten an alternate offer as noted in the comments. I do like, at least, that folks are getting an error when they aren’t eligible — in the past United promotions would make it appear as though you had registered, you just don’t get the credit. And once you do register, of course, you can now check your pomotions page to see what you’re actually successfully registered for. A reader just forwarded me and email, which doesn’t mention this offer as targeted. The terms and conditions of the offer do say that it’s valid only for recipients of the mailing. But it’s a fairly detailed termss and conditions page, not just…

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5000 Free Spirit Air Miles

Via Deals We Like, Spirit is giving away 5000 free miles to promote their bus tour (at which participants who show up will all get an additional 5000 miles). Though they want a zip code and a city which corresponds to one of their tour stops, the terms and conditions (.pdf) of the offer say it’s open to residents of the 50 U.S. states and Canada (oddly enough, who are 21 years of age or older.. presumably some legal requirements since there’s also a sweepstakes for more miles attached). The terms and conditions also say that you have to provide a valid home address, but they don’t ask for a home address, only a zip code. Most likely just an oversight in the terms and conditions but since this is Spirit I suppose I could…

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Silent Award Devaluation at Priority Club?

Marty reports that several Priority Club hotels have gone up in redemption price over the past few weeks. I booked an award room at HI Rochester Airport, NY a few weeks ago and it was 10K points. Now it is 15K points. Also, I noticed that IC Monterey, CA is now 40K – use to be 30K Other changes that I’ve noticed: Huntsville, Ontario HIX 15K -> 25K Calgary (YYC) Airport HIX (45 HOPEWELL WAY ) 15K -> 25K Grove City, PA HIX 15K -> 25K Salt Lake City Airport East HIX 15K-25K I haven’t seen any communication from Priority Club about increasing the points cost of (some) hotels at all, and don’t have any sort of comprehensive list of changes. I’ve asked Priority Club for clarification, we’ll see if any is forthcoming.

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Ordinary Citizen vs. Criminal, a Role Reversal at the Las Vegas Airport

A man that had been convicted of manslaughter was working at the Las Vegas airport installing and maintaining security cameras. He may have sabotaged a camera, making it easier for him and two others to steal from the baggage claim area. He was charged with theft and released so quickly that police barely executed a search warrant before the man returned to his home. And you and I are treated like criminals at the airport.

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BankDirect’s 22,000 American Airlines Mile Signup Bonus

Back on March 5 I wrote about changes to American Airlines mileage earning checking and money market accounts with BankDirect, they were upping their signup bonus offers and reducing mileage earning for accounts with balances over $200,000. The big bonuses are great, and my checking account has less than $200,000 in it, so from my perspective this was pretty good news. Here are the basics of the account: I’m a big fan of BankDirect, I’ve written about it in the past such as here, they’ve hosted my primary checking account since July 2003. I’ve found the customer service excellent and the value proposition compelling. I get 100 American Airlines miles for every thousand dollars of average balance each month, which in a low interest rate environment is a pretty good rate of return (and unlike…

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American Express Offering Free Global Entry for Platinum and Centurion Cardholders

In addition to adding Priority Pass Select membership that you can register for American Express Platinum and Centurion (Business and Personal) Cards will be getting the $100 application fee for Global Entry credited back to their card accounts. Global Entry is a ‘trusted traveler’ program that requires an interview and fingerprinting and then gets you front of line treatment of immigration (or use of machines) and customs. Here’s the terms of conditions of the offer. Global Entry is a U.S. government program. American Express has no control over the application and/or approval process, and does not have access to any information provided to the government by the Consumer and Business Platinum Card® or Centurion® Card member. American Express has no liability regarding the Global Entry Program. If you need more information regarding the application and/or…

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Huge Frequent Flyer Opportunities in New York the Last Weekend in April with Only a Few Seats Left

For anyone who is going to be in New York on April 29 and 30, or who can get there, two events are an absolute must. On Friday afternoon April 29, the Randy Petersen Executive Travel Summit is an opportunity to meet and hear from Randy, Maya Leibman (President of American AAdvantage), Jeff Foland (President of United Mileage Plus), and Jeff Zidell (Vice President of Hyatt Gold Passport). I’m working on my own list of questions for this group, but you’ll have a chance to ask your own. At the Sheraton La Guardia from 11:30am – 2:30pm, and $49 includes lunch. Registration is available and I’m told there’s not a lot of seats left. Then also at the Sheraton, beginning Friday evening with a cocktail reception and then with programs all day on Saturday, is…

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