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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$2 for $25 Restaurant Gift Certificates

Frugal Travel Guy reports that Restaurant.com gift certificates are on sale 80% off today (Friday) only: The $25 off coupon is normally $10, but today only 4 AM Central Time to 11:59 Central Time, the coupons will be only $2 each. Good for one year from date of issue. Stock up now for the restaurants of your choice. You must use the coupon code FIRST. This price is good only today 08/08/08 and represents 80% off. Of course, this is only useful for restaurants you’re reasonably likely to eat at anyway while complying with the gift certificate’s restrictions. But a good opportunity to browse the choices for sure.

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Best Rate Guarantee Once PER CHAIN Per Month, Not Once Per Month

Lifted from the comments, , changes to Wyndham’s Best Rate Guarantee aren’t as onerous as they looked at first: I’m happy to announce that you may recieve 9 BRG free nights per month, due to a loophole in the T&C’s that doesn’t specify the chain. Thus, you may recieve one free Ramada BRG, one free Days Inn BRG, one free Wingate by Wyndham BRG and so forth – good news for us frugal travelers! Dave shares the news on his Best Rate Guarantee Blog as well.

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Orbitz Hotel Discount Codes

Grabbed from Flyertalk, where credit is given to SlickDeals.net, the following coupons are available on Orbitz for discounting hotel stays: $50 off 3 nights: 50AFFORB [Exp. 12/31] $60 off 3 nights: VISAVIP [Exp. 8/15] $75 off 4 nights: 4ODWR75 [book by 12/31, travel by 2/15/09] $100 off 5 nights: EQUALITY100 [book by 08/31, travel by 11/15] 20% off:7DAYSALE3 [for travel by 10/31] $200 off 5 Night stay in Hawaii: ORBHI200 [Exp 8/7] Tips on combining codes: These codes are not “stackable”. But if you wanted to do a longer trip such as a 7 day trip, do two separate transactions. For days 1-3 use code VISAVIP for $60 off 3 nights. Then for days 4-7 use code 4ODWR75 for $75 off 4 nights. VISAVIP+4ODWR75 = $135 off 7 nights Say you wanted to a 10…

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The Nickels, Dimes, and $50s just keep on comin’: American Increases Mileage Upgrade Cash Co-Pay

As discussed in advance at Traveling Better.com, and now officially released by the airline, American is increasing mileage upgrade award copays by $50 effective October 1. As part of this change, even domestic non-Hawaii mileage upgrade awards now have a $50 co-pay. The change doesn’t apply to 500-mile upgrades (“stickers”). Just the confirmed mileage awards. This makes the electronic “VIP” upgrades given to Executive Platinum 100,000 mile flyers even more relatively valuable, since those don’t incur and cash co-pay. These VIP upgrades are also awarded to non-US AAdvantage members crossing the 1,000,000 miles earned threshold in their account (US members receive 500 mile upgrades confirmable at the standard upgrade window). And they’re given to all members crossing the 2,000,000 mile threshold. Personally I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop on my program of choice,…

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4 Southwest Rapid Rewards Credits for New Members

Through September 30, Southwest is offering 4 Rapid Rewards credits for new members signing up via a La Quinta hotels promotion. The founer of La Quinta was an original Southwest board member. Reading Lamar Muse’s autobiography years ago, I seem to recall that the chain got its name because the founder went looking for the cheapest furnishings available. Those had a Southwest motif, thus the need for a Spanish name. Just don’t look it up in the Urban Dictionary. (Hat tip to Frugal Travel Guy.)

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Northwest Visa – Get it While You Still Can

The Northwest Visa Signature offers 25,000 miles after $500 in purchases (the Platinum card offers 20,500). The annual fee is hefty — $90.00 for the Visa Signature or $55 for the Visa Platinum. But the miles are easy and it’s nearly your last shot before Northwest Worldperks folds into Delta Skymiles. It’s a 25,000 mile opportunity you won’t have again, a bonus opportunity in addition to the Delta co-branded Amex offerings.

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US Airways Mastercard Now 25,000 Miles for First Use

The US Airways Mastercard offer is currently up to 25,000 miles. The offer changes occasionally, this time no annual fee waiver (or 50% bonus on spend). But it’s as rich a first-use bonus as you get, and there’s no minimum spend requirement to get it. Plus the card comes with a club pass and $99 companion ticket that’s actually usable in my experience. Well worth the $79 annual fee in my view. And there are reports that it’s churnable. This on top of the 25,000 mile offer for the Bank of America Visa and 25,000 mile offer for the Juniper Bank US Airways Business Mastercard. Now, all come with fees, but that’s 75,000 miles for three credit cards none of which have a minimum spend requirement. And since you can churn Bank of America as…

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Double Miles for Delta Mileage Purchases (First-time Buyers Only)

Delta is offering double miles on mileage purchases through August 30th for first-time buyers. So if you buy 10,000 miles, you get 20,000. That brings down the effective cost of purchasing miles from 3 cents apiece to 1.5 cents. I haven’t ever purchased Delta miles before, so I’m eligible for the bonus, but 1.5 cents is still more cash than I’d part with to acquire Skymiles. Still, if you need to top off an account for an award this could be just the ticket. Presumably folks that have purchased miles in the past will be receiving a promo to buy miles again in the near future, since the offer says Already a Buy Miles customer? Then make sure that you have added an email address in your account profile so you don’t miss out on…

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