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 »

American Miles for Movie Theatre Sodas

by Gary Leff on July 6, 2006

Jul 06 2006

Cinemark Theatres are again offering American Airlines miles for the purchase of a large soda. Back in 2004 the offer was just 100 miles per soda. Now it appears that not all codes are winners, but at least 1 in 5 are and those receive a minimum of 500 miles and a long-shot chance for 100,000 miles. Sounds great, right? Just go to a Cinemark theatre and dumpster dive for these codes off sodas and get some award tickets. Alas there’s a limit of 10 Instant Win 500 AAdvantage miles Game Piece codes and two 5,000 AAdvantage miles Game Piece codes per account. Of course, each member of your family can have a separate account and I’m willing to bet that excess codes wind up on eBay… Since there aren’t any Cinemark theatres near me…

Sometimes Banner Ads Show You Something Useful

by Gary Leff on July 4, 2006

Amtrak is advertising over at Flyertalk.com, and a banner brings you to a signup bonus promotion — enter promotion code NEC06 while opening an Amtrak Guest Rewards account and receive 3000 bonus points for your first train trip taken within 90 days of signing up instead of the usual 500 points. That’s enough for a one-way Northeast corridor ticket, and almost enough to transfer points to Continental or Hilton.

GroceryMiles 10 Million Mile Giveaway

by Gary Leff on July 2, 2006

Jul 02 2006

United’s GroceryMiles has a sweepstakes to give away miles:First prize: 340 people will win 25,000 miles Grand prize: 10 people will win 150,000 miles Register by July 31.

Amazon Groceries Discount

by Gary Leff on July 2, 2006

I realize I’ve been well outside the real of frequent flying with the last few posts, but for folks who travel so much it seems like there’s never any time to go to the grocery store I just thought I’d note that Amazon.com now sells groceries, and through August 31 is offering $10 off a $49 order with coupon code GROCERY2 in addition to free super saver shipping on orders of $25 or more. Details here. Update: If you’re hitting $25 for free shipping anyway, why not add a 79 cent PDA case?

Free $5 Starbucks Gift Card

by Gary Leff on July 2, 2006

Jul 02 2006

A builder is offering $5 Starbucks gift cards for filling out a survey. As with most promises of Starbucks gift cards, it’s an open question whether it’ll come to fruition.

Cheap bags

by Gary Leff on July 1, 2006

Brylane Home has a clutch reduced to $1.99 and a tote and clutch reduced to $7.99. You can use discount code BKSHIP3 for free shipping or code BHSAVE15 for $15 off a $30 order if purchasing multiples of these items.

USAirways Really is That Bad With Baggage

by Gary Leff on July 1, 2006

USAirways misplaces dirty bomb in lost luggage snafu, so says The Onion. Terrorist Yousef waits in vain for his dirty bomb.

Same Travel Site, Same Flights or Hotel, Different Prices

by Gary Leff on June 30, 2006

Alex Tabarrok points to a discussion of a travel website that appears to price the same hotel differently depending on how results are sorted — offering lower prices for the same room if a person search the site chooses to sort by price (presumably indicating that price is their key criteria for choosing a hotel). I’m not sure I’ve ever seen results precisely the same, but I do understand that Hotwire has been known to offer slightly different pricing to users of different web browsers (perhaps the theory being that more obscure browsers indicate net-savvy individuals who would be more price sensitive?). And there’s a current Flyertalk discussion on whether the ever-problematic USAirways website prices flights higher for Dividend Miles members that are logged into their accounts (although I suspect that it’s a preferences issue…

Mmmm… cookie.

by Gary Leff on June 30, 2006

Jun 30 2006

Hotel Chatter reports that Doubletree hotel properties are giving away their chocolate chip cookies to anyone who walks in and asks for 24 hours on the Fourth of July.

You, too, can honeymoon like Nicole Kidman

by Gary Leff on June 29, 2006

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban are honeymooning at the new St. Regis Bora Bora. According to Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, the newlyweds are staying in the luxury $15,000 a night U.S. Royal Estate at the new St. Regis resort. … Kidman and Urban are among the first guests of the Royal Estate over-water bungalow in the resort, which just opened a few weeks ago. The massive over-water villa boasts a 24-hour butler service, an in-room Jacuzzi and a room with a private swimming pool. And to think, part of my own honeymoon was just at the nearby Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa. But then that was the most posh property on the island at the time, the St. Regis only just opened this month. And I had the room next to where Christina Applegate honeymooned,…

	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]

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About Gary Leff