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 »

Diners Club: on the Comeback Trail?

by Gary Leff on April 9, 2005

Apr 09 2005

Colloquy says that the comeback of Diners Club continues, noting that US Diners Club cards will benefit from the global acceptance of Mastercard. They do note the devaluation of Diners Club Club Rewards points vis a vis Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards tickets: Diners Club’s effort to make the card easier to use puts it squarely in the sights of competing card issuers and their airline partners. Southwest Airlines has already raised the number of Diners Club points required for a free ticket: Previously, Diners Club customers had to spend just $16,000 to earn a free Southwest ticket; now they will have to spend $24,000. By contrast, it takes $19,200 in spending on Southwest’s own Bank One credit card to earn a free ticket on the airline. The piece doesn’t mention the devaluation for Priority Club…

Delta to Give Passenger Data to CDC

by Gary Leff on April 9, 2005

Apr 09 2005

Via Tripso Daily, Delta is going to start turning over passenger data to the government. This time it’s not for security. They’re sending the information to the Centers for Disease Control so the government can track the whereabouts of passengers who have been exposed to illnesses. Says one airline representative, “there are privacy concerns.” Gee, ya think?

The End of Airport Club Lounges?

by Gary Leff on April 6, 2005

Apr 06 2005

In yesterday’s Washington Post, Keith Alexander suggests that airline club lounges are becoming less relevant: Those plush airport clubs began to lose their appeal after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Duffy frequently found herself stuck in long security lines and often had to rush through concourses just to catch her flight, leaving little time to relax in the club. And because of heightened security, Duffy could no longer hold meetings with clients in the clubs as she once did. So she began renting meeting rooms or suites at nearby hotels. Though it requires a bit more of a cumbersome process in the past, it’s still generally possible to hold meetings in airline clubs even if you aren’t traveling. Renting a club conference room or attending a meeting in one is usually enough to get a…

United Introduces Hotel and Car Rental Awards for Elite Members

by Gary Leff on April 5, 2005

Apr 05 2005

United elite members can now redeem Mileage Plus points for hotel nights at Marriott and Radisson and car rentals with Avis, National, Alamo, and Hertz. This is good progress, to be sure, although the certificates are paper and take four to six weeks to obtain and it looks like blackout dates and capacity controls will apply. In general the hotel nights represent a fair value for non-airline redemption, in some cases you’ll get a full penny per point. Rental car redemption strikes me as somewhat absurd, with pricing running from 10,000 to 12,500 miles per day. Nothing like the good old days when flight awards came with hotel nights and rental cars, or even when — once that practice ended — award redemption came with complimentary hotel and car rental discount certificates. But it sure…

Free Gold Status

by Gary Leff on April 5, 2005

Apr 05 2005

As discussed at Flyertalk.com, Hilton is offering complimentary Gold status (details of Hilton status here). Just dial 1-800-HHONORS, ask for a customer service representative, and tell them you are calling about promotion code CTCH. This seems to work for most folks, and provides or extends Gold status instantly. The promotion is apparently with Citibank, with elite HHonors membership offered to Citibank members with special Chairmans status of some kind. However, the promotion code is currently mentioned in the main recording on the Hilton 800 number so it really isn’t a secret. This is likely just a mistake on Hilton’s part to publicize it this way. Some folks report problems signing up for the promotion, with representatives saying you need a letter from Citibank or asking whether you have a Citibank credit card, so your mileage…

Overflowing Toilets Require Colonoscopy?

by Gary Leff on April 4, 2005

Apr 04 2005

Via Tripso Daily, passengers are suing the Holland America cruise line because toilets overflowed during their trip and they saw crew members with prostitutes while in Ecuador. The complaint says that it took several hours to clean up the mess from the toilets, and that there was a stench. If accurate, some sort of shipboard credit should have been offered. Still, the compensated demanded seems a little much: The Oltmans said they expected to be compensated by Holland America for pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of earnings, legal fees and medical expenses, including a colonoscopy and hemorrhoid surgery, the lawsuit said. (Emphasis mine.)

Continental Rumors from their Top Brass’ Meeting with Frequent Flyers

by Gary Leff on April 3, 2005

Apr 03 2005

Continental hosted a gathering in Houston for a large group of Flyertalkers over the past weekend. They gave tours, sprung for meals, and offered access to top brass. I’m not much of a Continental flyer, so I didn’t attend, but reports from the event (as posted on Flyertalk.com) are: Larry Kellner’s presentation offered: The number of first class seats in Continental’s fleet is dropping 3% next year. Continental’s 737-500’s are being reconfigured to have eight rather than the current ten first class seats, accounting for this difference. There were 4.4% more coach awards redeemed and 38% more BusinessFirst awards redeemed in 2004 compared to 2003. (This doesn’t speak to Standard versus EasyPass point levels, nor to availability – increased standard redemptions may come out of a stable pool meaning that redemption was in fact more…

EVA Offers Online Meal Selection

by Gary Leff on April 2, 2005

Apr 02 2005

EVA is introducing online meal selection for premium class passengers, and throwing in 500 bonus miles for using the feature by September 30. “The option to pre-select from a menu of delicious main courses adds to the comfort and convenience of an already exceptional inflight experience,” said K.W. Nieh, Executive Vice President, EVA Air. “EVA’s goal is to continually find new ways to upgrade and enhance services, and we believe this new feature is one our passengers will especially appreciate.” EVA is making its online pre-selection process more delicious by posting mouth- watering pictures with descriptions of the tasty entrée choices. Passengers outbound from Taiwan will have a wider selection of menu choices. But airport handling restrictions prevent EVA from offering this service for destinations like Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Hanoi, Phnom Penh, Paris,…

Devaluing the Paypal Debit Card

by Gary Leff on April 2, 2005

Apr 02 2005

New Paypal debit card users will receive 1% cashback, down from 1.5%. Current debit card members will be grandfathered at the 1.5% rate.Eligibility for the PayPal Preferred Rewards Program will become easier, however: Under the previous guidelines, only qualified eBay sellers designating a preference for PayPal in their eBay listings were eligible for the program, but beginning today eligibility will be expanded to include all merchants who promote PayPal as their preferred online payment method, whether operating on eBay or off.

Change to Mailing List Version of View from the Wing

by Gary Leff on April 2, 2005

Apr 02 2005

Well over a thousand people currently receive each day’s postings by email. I can’t tell you how great it makes me feel that so many folks opted for that. This site is a labor of love and I really appreciate all the great feedback that I get. I hope that you like the new format of the website. I really do, and appreciate the work that the tech folks put into it. I find it much more readable, and also easier to work with. One consequence, though, of moving from a home grown system to Movable Type is that I no longer have the ability to send out each day’s content by email. Everyone has still been getting the content because I’ve manually been double-adding the entries into the old system in addition to the…

	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