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 »

Spending so much on hotels, you should own the company

by Gary Leff on June 30, 2005

Jun 30 2005

Jameson Inns, which owns 123 economy properties in 13 states, is offering stock as a frequent guest perk. Three million shares have been registered with the SEC for this purpose. Guests who enroll in the program would have 10 percent of their room charges credited toward the purchase of Jameson stock, now trading near $2.50 a share. Shares will be provided through a designated broker or the company, based on the average closing price for the last five trading days of each month. Customers won’t pay commissions on shares they receive, but will pay fees on shares they sell. (Hat tip to the MilesLink newsletter.)

NetBank Offer Improves

by Gary Leff on June 30, 2005

Hat tip to Free Frequent Flyer Miles, NetBank has improved its offer for United, Delta, and America West miles. If I recall correctly, the maximum points earned used to be 7000 and is now 9000. Priority Club points are also still available with no change in offer. NetBank offers a decent free checking account, I actually have one myself, but beware of odd fees triggered by inactivity over 3 months and closing the account within six months. My main checking account remains BankDirect, which has helped me to earn over 70,000 American Airlines miles in the past two years. It has much richer offers than NetBank, but only makes sense for someone who can maintain a minimum checking account balance of $2500. There’s a 1000 mile bonus for being referred by an existing accountholder, I’m…

Goat show infiltration scenario for terror drill

by Gary Leff on June 27, 2005

Jun 27 2005

When distribution of funds for homeland security is done politically, as pork (the system we have now, more or less), you get farces like this one. Kentucky’s large rural population prompted program coordinators to center this exercise around agriculture. Likewise, he said since Kentucky is one of the nation’s top five goat-producing states, setting the attack at a goat show seemed plausible. The goats “have been infected with a bio-agent. … Then, the infected goats are at the show and you have people come and look at the goats and pet the goats and then they go home,” Cline said, summarizing the day’s scenario. “We try to focus on what really matters to Kentucky,” he said, adding, “this is a perfect way to do it.”

Another “No Notice” Frequent Flyer Program Change

by Gary Leff on June 25, 2005

Jun 25 2005

Effective yesterday, Alaska and KLM have discontinued their partnership. This was revealed on Flyertalk. I can’t find any mention of the change on the Alaska Air website, all references to the KLM partnership are just gone — down the memory hole — very Orwell-esque. Award tickets that have already been issued are valid for travel for one year from date of issue or June 6, 2006, whichever comes first. Not only was the change done without warning, but members haven’t been informed.

Miles for Laser Eye Surgery

by Gary Leff on June 25, 2005

Jun 25 2005

The D.O.C. Optics eyecare chain is offering Northwest miles for a variety of services. It’s been 1000 miles for purchases of glasses, and now 20,000 miles for laser eye surgery in suburban Detroit. (Hat tip to Today in the Sky.) This has got to be up there with the 2500 Alaska mile guarantee from the Danny Schurman Home Selling System.

Bonus Miles for Flying US-Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific

by Gary Leff on June 25, 2005

Jun 25 2005

You can earn triple Cathay Pacific AsiaMiles (August 1 – September 30) when flying from LA or San Francisco to Hong Kong on first, business, or qualifying (Y, B, H, K, L, M, V) coach fares. You could also choose to earn double American AAdvantage miles through August 31 on these flights, but only when flying first or business class (“I” business fares are not eligible for the AA offer). Personally I’d opt for the AsiaMiles, both because coach fares are eligible and because AsiaMiles are hugely valuable — they allow upgrade redemption on Cathay, American, and British Airways and 60,000 AsiaMiles gets you a business class award on BA from the US East Coast to most destinations in Europe (it would take 100,000 BA miles).

Spinning off United’s Mileage Plus?

by Gary Leff on June 24, 2005

Jun 24 2005

David Rowell looks at Air Canada’s successful public offering of its Aeroplan program, and wonders why United hasn’t gone public with Mileage Plus? Rowell thinks Mileage Plus could be worth $15 billion. That seems a little high to me, I’m also not sure that imputing similar per-member value makes sense. My hunch is that US consumers participate in more frequent flyer programs than Canadian consumers do, so Mileage Plus while valuable may occupy less mindspace than Aeroplan. I’d personally believe a $5 billion market value estimate rather than $15 billion, but what do I know? Either way, it doesn’t change David’s central point that United has a hugely valuable hiddle asset. Contra David, who believes United should sell a large stake in its frequent flyer program to exit bankruptcy and pay back creditors and the…

Returning Home

by Gary Leff on June 23, 2005

Jun 23 2005

Wednesday, June 15 10:25 am Departure Melbourne (MEL) Qantas Flight 93, MEL-LAX First Class Seats 2E, 2F We arrived without further incident about 8:20am and walked right up to the 2 dedicated Qantas checkin counters for First Class on MEL-LAX. No wait. Bags were tagged to Seattle and boarding passes were issued all the way there – even though LAX-SEA was on a separate e-ticket purchased from Alaska directly. I simply showed my itinerary to the CSR and she didn’t have any difficulties. There was a short line for passport control, and then we walked through duty free. Would they let me bring in Aussie beef jerky into the states? It was on sale at duty free, but when I arrived at SYD there was a sign specifically saying that beef jerky was prohibited. I…

Aeroplan Goes Public

by Gary Leff on June 22, 2005

Jun 22 2005

Air Canada successfully sold a stake in its frequent flyer program today, and based on the price paid for a 12.5% stake Aeroplan has a market value of CAD$2 billion.

On to Melbourne

by Gary Leff on June 21, 2005

Jun 21 2005

Monday, June 13 Westin Sydney Westin is built around an old Post Office (the Intercontinental was built on top of the old Treasury building). We checked in about 1pm and were given a ‘deluxe room’, number 1806. The door has electronically-controlled signs for do not disturb and service room – you flip a switch inside the room by the door, and the appropriate note lights up outside. Our room certainly had a fantastic bathroom. It wasn’t the Nui, I couldn’t feed the fish from my tub, but it had a large glass window between the bathroom and the room (with an electric-controlled screen between the two) and separate toilet and shower rooms housed in frosted glass. Here’s the sink. The shower had two heads – one directly above from the ceiling, and one coming out…

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About Gary Leff

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About Gary Leff