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 »

United Business Visa with No Fee First Year

by Gary Leff on October 24, 2006

Oct 24 2006

Maybe I’ve been under a rock for awhile, but this is the first time I’ve seen the United Business Visa with fee waived first year — hence in the past I’ve never churned these. They’re offering 21,000 bonus miles after $250 in purchases, and since there’s finally no fee to get those miles I’ll give an application a whirl.(Hat tip to Don.)Update: a helpful reader points out the business visa also comes with 25,000 points after $250 in purchases, fee waived the first year. I knew about this offer on the personal card, didn’t realize it applied to the business card…

Avis iTunes Promo is Back

by Gary Leff on October 24, 2006

The Avis iTunes promo is back — through September 30, 2007. Registration is required, but when I tried to register it told me I already was — presumably because I registered for the last iTunes promo. Haven’t had a chance to verify that’s the reason yet.

A Much-Needed Renovation at the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach

by Gary Leff on October 22, 2006

HotelChatter reports that the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach’s $45 million renovation will complete on December 21. (This hotel needed it!) Among the cooler innovations invisible televisions in the master bathroom – cleverly hidden behind the mirror and only visible when turned on–seven-jet oversized showers and free-standing soaking tubs with views of the ocean. I especially dig the televisions — LCD screens inside a mirror, the screen appears only when turned on and vanishes when turned off.

Up to 7000 Miles for New Northwest Worldperks Members

by Gary Leff on October 22, 2006

Oct 22 2006

Through December 31, Northwest is offering new members enrolling in Worldperks up to 7000 miles: Earn 1,000 Bonus Miles: complete your first flight (one-way or roundtrip) Earn 5,000 Bonus Miles: complete a second flight (roundtrip only) Earn 1,000 Bonus Miles: subscribe to NWA E-mail for two consecutive months. Flights must be completed within six months of enrolling to earn the bonuses, and the offer is available to accounts with North American addresses only. (Hat tip to Flyertalk’s slippahs.)

1000 Free BA Miles and Paris Airport Transit

by Gary Leff on October 22, 2006

Through December 29th you can get a free ride on a scotter to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and 1000 British Airways miles.

Reasons to Avoid Northwest DC-9s

by Gary Leff on October 21, 2006

Oct 21 2006

The Upgrade Travel Blog says you should avoid Northwest DC-9s because these aging planes are increasingly responsible for delays, with a single plane causing 2564 minutes of delays so far year to date. I say you should avoid Northwest DC-9s because their first class cabins offer a tighter pitch (34 – 35 inches) than United’s economy plus on an Airbus A320 (36 inches). And the United Airbus offers channel 9 air traffic control, rather than no inflight entertainment at all. Who needs unlimited domestic upgrades when that just means first class on a Northwest DC-9?

$219+ tax each way for FULL FARE tickets Minneapolis to London-Gatwick

by Gary Leff on October 21, 2006

Oct 21 2006

This is available on Continental.com, Expedia, etc. The fare basis is Y3E and is a mileage-based fare rather than routing-based. You’re permitted 4813 miles each way without surcharges. Full fare tickets are refundable, upgradable, and earn 150% of flown miles. This has been out for at least 10 hours but still appears to be going strong. Update 11:15am Eastern: Still available. Here’s the Flyertalk discussion. Really great fare. Update 7:05pm Eastern: This fare is still available. Turns out it was filed on October 17th. Didn’t get posted on Flyertalk till the weekend and no one seems to be minding the store. Sure, it prices out around $600 with taxes — but it’s a full fare refundable ticket that’s upgradable and earns bonus miles and bonus qualifying miles. This could give someone Platinum status on a…

Kudos to Expedia’s Government Affairs Shop

by Gary Leff on October 20, 2006

Expedia’s getting its money’s worth out of its government relations folks, who have managed to have their 10th anniversary named a national holiday. [I]n order to encourage Americans to take some time off, Congressman Jon Porter (R-NV) has announced a House Resolution declaring October 23rd “National Plan Your Vacation” Day. The new holiday falls on Expedia.com’s tenth anniversary.

Outstanding Redemption Opportunity for Priority Club Points

by Gary Leff on October 20, 2006

Oct 20 2006

Since the hotel’s opening, the Intercontinental Thalasso on Bora Bora has shown no award availability. As reported on Flyertalk, they’ve finally loaded their award inventory — and apparently accidentally made all room types bookable as awards. Priority Club has a fairly anachronistic award structure. Most hotels of a given brand come at the same cost. Intercontinental hotels cost 30,000 points a night (unless they’re an all-inclusive property, in which case it’s 40,000 points). So the two Intercontinentals in Cleveland, which can sometimes be had for as little as $99, cost the same number of points on an award as the Intercontinentals in French Polynesia. The $900+ a night Overwater Diamond Bungalows are currently redeemable for 30,000 points… 100 SQM OVERWATER VILLA FACING THE MAIN ISLAND OF BORA BORAVIEW OF OTEMANU MOUNTAIN TERRACE SUN DECK GLASS…

Travelocity’s new VIP program

by Gary Leff on October 20, 2006

Travelocity issued a release officially announcing their VIP customer program. The benefits are:Special customer service line with ‘seasoned agents specifically educated in VIP benefits’ Bonus points for Travelocity bookings made with the Travelocity co-branded credit card. Discounts, especially on “GoodBuy” hotels They claim to offer a first of its kind program, though of course Orbitz and Expedia already have VIP programs (and I assume Travelocity did as well — I only know about the Expedia and Orbitz programs from first-hand experience). Those programs offer special dedicated customer service lines which I’ve found to (1) not be outsourced abroad, thus providing well-spoken English (2) to be answered quite quickly (3) to be staffed with agents empowered to solve problems more easily than standard agents. What appears to be different about the Travelocity program is that it’s…

	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)
	Citi® / AAdvantage Business^TM World Elite Mastercard® For a limited time, earn 75,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after spending $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]

About Gary Leff

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About Gary Leff