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 »

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The U.N. promotes human

The U.N. promotes human rights abroad.: A DAMNING dossier sent by Kathryn Bolkovac to her employers, detailing UN workers’ involvement in the sex trade in Bosnia, cost the American her job with the international police force. She was sacked after disclosing that UN peacekeepers went to nightclubs where girls as young as 15 were forced to dance naked and have sex with customers, and that UN personnel and international aid workers were linked to prostitution rings in the Balkans. .. During her time in Bosnia as an investigator, Ms Bolkovac, 41, uncovered evidence of girls who refused to have sex being beaten and raped in bars by their pimps while peacekeepers stood and watched. She discovered that one UN policeman who was supposed to be investigating the sex trade paid

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El Al sent

El Al sent a letter to inform Leah Rabin that her frequent flyer points are about to expire and they were terminating her membership. The wife of the former Israeli Prime Minister died more than a year ago.

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Airtran offers business class upgrades

Airtran offers business class upgrades to everyone. For $35 you can upgrade on a first-come, first-serve space available basis at check-in. What’s more, very few people seem to know this — coach is often packed with business class nearly empty!

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Free elite status. You may

Free elite status. You may recall from my earlier posts that the way you get treated well up in the air is by becoming one of an airline’s “elite members” — something that most airlines award with 25,000 miles of travel in a year. Continental is actually offering “trial” elite status. Specifically, they are offering “silver elite” status through November 15, 2002. All you have to do is call 1-800-554-5522 and ask for promo code “GG ONE RA2M26”. Plus, this status will be extended through February, 2004 if you fly 3 roundtrips before the end of promo period and they’ll give you “Gold” status if you fly 6 roundtrips. There’s only one hitch — this came as a targeted mailing. That means you may not technically be eligible — but folks are having success signing…

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I’m a bit late with

I’m a bit late with this story, but I still thought it worth mentioning. I’ve always thought that the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II was an abomination. First, because the massive loss of civilian life and ensuing human suffering was incredible, and second because it looked quite clear that the U.S. would have won the war anyway — so it wasn’t justified as a way of saving other lives. Now, there’s new evidence that Japan was close to developing its own atomic bomb. This actually makes me rethink the whole issue a bit. I’m still not comfortable with the U.S. decision to drop the bomb – and to the extent that Americans were unaware of the Japanese progress, their actions may not be any less…

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