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 »

An Easy Credit for Completing a Freepay Electronics Offer

by Gary Leff on December 3, 2005

Dec 03 2005

Freepay (the freeipods folks) require you to complete one of their marketing offers in addition to referring friends who do the same. I recently completed an easy one that still showing available on all of the electronics offers I’ve checked, so I thought I’d pass it along. The 30 day free trial of RealArcade GamePass works like a charm. The credit posts in a couple of days, you have a month to cancel, and cancellation is a snap and hassle-free. You can even cancel on the weekends (no waiting for weekday business hours, though admittedly I did have to hold for a few minutes). I’ve been told — though haven’t tried this personally — that the RealArcard trial will work more than once. In other words, you can use it on more than one free…

The End of Diners Club, I No Longer Recommend This Credit Card

by Gary Leff on December 2, 2005

This just in from Diners Club, points will no longer be able to be transferred to USAirways, Northwest, America West, or Continental* effective January 1. United transfers go away April 27. Guess what they call this? Naturally, an enhancement. They’ve added a program where you can pay points for travel directly, at a value of 1.25 cents per point. Don’t do it, it isn’t worthwhile. (Okay, it’s better than the 1 cent per point at Capital One but that’s not saying much!) When Diners Club became a Mastercard, I accepted the end of two billing cycles to pay and higher foreign currency conversion rates. It was worthwhile to me in exchange for broader acceptance. But they’re clearly devaluing the program. One of two things must be happening: either the programs being discontinued have exclusivity provisions…

More kudos!

by Gary Leff on December 2, 2005

I understand that View from the Wing has been named Budget Travel‘s “Blog of the Week” .. thanks!

Priority Club Shopping Bonus

by Gary Leff on December 1, 2005

Dec 01 2005

When I listed holiday shopping promos last week I left out the offer from Priority Club: double points for paying with Visa and threshold bonuses for various spend levels (up to 10,000 bonus points for $1000 in spending). Spending at 23 merchants count towards the bonuses. Thanks to the MilesLink newsletter for the reminder.

End of Year Mileage Runs

by Gary Leff on November 29, 2005

Joe Sharkey writes the obligatory end of year story on mileage runs, bringing the practice of last minute flights to earn airline status to a mainstream audience. Among folks I know this is common — at the end of year when realizing you’re a few miles shy of that coveted top-tier elite card, and in some cases even throughout the year. And it isn’t just airline runs, either, but last minute dummy stays at local hotels to rack up those coveted upgrades to suites. If you’re working on your own end of year strategy and need some assistance just drop me a note and I’m happy to help. Be sure to tell me the number of miles and segments that you have at present, how many more it take to reach your goal, where you’re…

Mexican Getaway

by Gary Leff on November 29, 2005

HotelChatter visits El Tamarindo and comes away impressed. It’s on my list of places to visit for a few nights to get away from the cold and burn a few Starwood points.

Foolproof logic on why you should send me money

by Gary Leff on November 29, 2005

Marginal Revolution offers a compelling reason why you should donate to support a blog: Efficiency says that goods with zero marginal cost should have a zero price but without prices not only is the incentive to produce diminished but so is information about what to produce. (See Coase’s 1946 classic, The Marginal Cost Controversy, JSTOR). Donations allow prices to be set at MC while at the same time providing a (noisy) signal about where true economic value lies. In particular, Tyler and I know that we can appropriate more of our marginal product from professional work than we can from blogging yet it is conceivable that our marginal product is higher in blogging. Thus, to decide how much to invest in this venture we markup donations to get an estimate of our social value and…

Double miles on international and Japanese domestic routes

by Gary Leff on November 28, 2005

ANA is offering double flight miles through March 31. Registration is required. Alas, I’m not planning to fly ANA until April — and even then on an award ticket.

I’m Profiled in Sunday’s Washington Post

by Gary Leff on November 26, 2005

The Washington Post runs a brief profile of me in the November 27th edition of their Sunday Source section. It includes basic advice on earning and burning miles.

	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® Earn 65,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after spending $4,000 in purchases within the first 4 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