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 »

More articles by Gary Leff »

Aviation Security and the Failure of Relative Risk

Once again, David Rowell is on a roll with his weekly aviation newsletter. I’m reproducing a larger portion than I normally ever would, because he does an excellent job summing up some recent stories that illustrate the current state of our approach to airline security. A flashlight battery ‘exploded’ on Saturday. The ‘explosion’ was apparently caused by a buildup of gas inside its five year old ‘C’ size battery. The person handling the torch suffered swollen hands, and several people nearby said they had ringing in their ears for a while after. But because this was at LAX airport, the entire International Terminal was evacuated for three hours. To make matters worse, at almost the same time, a passenger entered one of the other terminals through a ‘no entry’ exit, requiring terminals 6, 7 &…

Continue Reading »

Changes to Come at Delta

Delta will be closing its Dallas hub on January 31 and redeploying aircraft to Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Salt Lake City. They’ll also be adding legroom and leather seats to coach.

Continue Reading »

21,000 Bonus Points for Priority Club Visa Signup

This free credit card, which doesn’t offer particularly good earning for your spending, does offer an excellent signup bonus. I previously provided a link that would give 21,000 bonus miles for a new card signup — now the link is official and on the Priority Club website with full details.

Continue Reading »

W Hotel Silicon Valley On Sale

The W – Silicon Valley is having a 12-hour sale: from 9am to 9pm Eastern today, Sunday night rooms through the end of the year are available for $59. W Silicon Valley is celebrating the end of summer with a 12-hour gift, just for you! Book a hotel room at W Silicon Valley beginning at 9:00 AM (EST) on September 9, 2004 and pay only $59 per room for Sunday night only. Rooms must be booked before 9:00 PM (EST) for Sunday stays between September 12 and December 26, 2004. May be booked on September 9, 2004 only. Click on “BOOK NOW” or mention rate plan WSUNDAY when calling 877-WHOTELS.

Continue Reading »

Continental adds ticketing fees

Continental jumps on the fee bandwagon. effective immediately, it will charge service fees when tickets are booked via its reservations centers or airport ticket counters in the United States. Continental will not charge a fee for booking and ticketing on continental.com or at airport self-service kiosks. A $5 USD fee will apply on tickets purchased via Continental’s U.S. reservations centers, and a $10 USD fee will apply on tickets purchased at a U.S. airport ticket counter. The $10 service fee at city ticket offices remains unchanged. The new non-refundable service fees apply for each domestic or international one-way or roundtrip ticket, and also for OnePass(R) reward tickets. The new service fees are waived, however, for all OnePass Platinum Elite members and their traveling companions booked on the same itinerary. While Platinum members can avoid fees…

Continue Reading »