Gary Leff, Author at View from the Wing

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 »

Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental

by Gary Leff on October 23, 2005

Oct 23 2005

I’ve been meaning to go to CityZen, the restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental DC, for awhile. I finally gave it a try Friday evening. The food was excellent, though there were some missteps. Valet parking is complimentary. The restaurant validates. They asked for my ticket when I entered, and they returned it to me as I left. The valet walked us the ten feet from the car to the hotel with an umbrella since it was misting. Service was friendly, knowledgeable, and discrete throughout… with one blaring exception. Little things, like replacing my wife’s napking when she got up to use the restroom, make a big impression. The dining room was beautifully-designed but loud, making conversations difficult. The restaurant has an open kitchen, but it isn’t silent or perfectly orchestrated like you’d see at Maestro.…

Improving on United’s New Boarding Procedure

by Gary Leff on October 23, 2005

Oct 23 2005

Tyler Cowen wonders if, instead of United’s new plan involving boarding passengers assigned to window seats first, airlines would save more time charging for carryons (making passengers internalize the costs of lengthy boarding processes) or awarding prizes based on how quickly passengers get into their seats and buckle up. The latter idea, while novel, would undoubtedly entail pretty substantial technological costs to retrofit aircraft appropriately. How else to know how long each passenger takes from boarding to buckling? And it would probably involve taking aircraft out of service for a time to do the retrofit, not to mention lengthy FAA approvals for the aircraft modificiations. So I’d guess that costs would be way too high relative to any savings from quicker boarding times. Besides, as passengers compete with each other for quicker boarding, aren’t there…

Loyalty Makes You Hungry

by Gary Leff on October 23, 2005

Oct 23 2005

I first mentioned Pizza Hut’s loyalty program a couple of years ago. With some time and members under the crust, they’ve concluded that the program increased “incremental orders by 93% from members over a matched control and raised incremental net sales 65 percent.” They found that, somewhat counterintuitively, charging a fee to their best customers actually worked best. It apparently builds commitment and buy-in to the program and brand.

Up to 60,000 Bonus Points for Priority Club Stays through December 31

by Gary Leff on October 23, 2005

Oct 23 2005

Priority Club — the frequent guest program for Intercontinental Hotels, Crowne Plazas, Holiday Inns, etc. — frequently offers stay bonuses. The intention is to target certain members, generally offering 10,000 bonus points for a specific number of stays. In practice, anyone who signs up for the bonuses gets them, regardless of whether the member is targeted for the bonus or not. Furthermore, historically you could sign up for several of the bonuses and get all of them — even though the intention is that a member only receive one bonus. As always with these sort of things your mileage may vary. But if you have several stays coming up between November 1 and December 31 with hotels that are part of this program, you could pick up as many as 60,000 bonus points. You’ll need…

American’s 36,000 Bonus Miles to the West Coast

by Gary Leff on October 23, 2005

Oct 23 2005

In response to United’s similar offer, American now has a bonus of up to 36,000 miles for flying up to 8 roundtrips to California, Oregon, or Washington through February 15, 2006. Registration is required with promo code AAWCB.

Amtrak Guest Rewards Registration Bonus

by Gary Leff on October 23, 2005

Earn 1000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points for signing up for the program with promo code MIDWS and taking a train trip by April 30. (This is an improvement over the standard 500 point offer.) (Hat tip to Free Frequent Flyer Miles.)

Online Dirty Tricks at American Airlines

by Gary Leff on October 18, 2005

Oct 18 2005

The Wikipedia entry on the Wright Amendment (the law which restricts destinations of flights taking off from Dallas’ Love Field, which serves — and was intended — to protect American Airlines from Southwest) was edited by someone using an American Airlines domain. Someone using an Internet service provider registered to American edited online encyclopedia Wikipedia last week to describe Southwest Airlines as “a notoriously litigious company constantly seeking to change laws to gain an advantage.” For a time, the site also said Dallas-based Southwest is “known for its PR machine and litigious nature.” American dismisses the event as actions by rogue employees that it cannot identify.

Double Elite Qualifying Miles are Back at United

by Gary Leff on October 18, 2005

Oct 18 2005

In what’s becoming an end of year tradition, United is offering Double Elite Qualifying Miles for sale. Register by December 15th, pay $200, and your flight miles from October 25 through December 15th will count double towards 2006 status. No reason to register right away, wait until early December to see whether doubling your flight miles during the qualifying period will bump you up to higher status.

Who gets to issue the USAirways Visa, after all?

by Gary Leff on October 17, 2005

Oct 17 2005

Bank of America, which is being replaced by Juniper Bank as issuer of USAirways’ co-branded credit card, is suing the airline for breach of contract. Bank of America claims it has exclusive rights to offer a co-branded card through December 2008. Juniper Bank has been sold the exclusive right after December 2008… but their deal with USAirways involves a two-year “transition period” in which both banks can issue a card.

	Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® Limited time: Earn 75,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles after $5,000 in purchases within the first 5 months of account opening AAdvantage miles are the currency I've redeemed most.[See rates and fees]
	Bilt Mastercard® Earn Points Paying Rent (up to 100,000 each year) plus earn 3x at restaurants; 2x on travel; as long as you make at least 5 purchases per month. No annual fee.
	Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months (See rates and fees)

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About Gary Leff