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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So I found out how

So I found out how that Puerta Vallarte fare happened… they meant to enter a 10% discount: TC10 (tour code, 10%). Instead they entered 10TC (10% of tour fare). Whoops. They got it backwards.

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You’re darn skippy that I

You’re darn skippy that I picked up a couple of tickets for a weekend getaway to Puerta Vallarta. Turns out that the fare was good from Chicago, Newark, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Not bad, since when you back out tax you’re really getting first class travel to Mexico for less than $50 roundtrip. Coach tickets run > $500. Too bad they wised up to their mistake. The window has closed. Lesson: check this website frequently for the best deals in travel.

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Not free miles… free rib

Not free miles… free rib sauce. Answer five trivia questions and get rib sauce. Apparently the contest is run frequently. This’ll be a rib sauce annuity for those of us with obscure knowledge. Oh, and if you’re having trouble with any of the questions, e-mail me.

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Fare glitch alert. Chicago (ORD)

Fare glitch alert. Chicago (ORD) to Puerta Vallarta (PVR) in business class for $145 roundtrip on Mexicana. I just found the fare on Orbitz. You can earn miles on United airlines via travel with Mexicana. Not in Chicago? Buy the ticket anyway and buy yourself a cheap ticket to Chicago. I plugged in outbound December 6th and return December 8th… haven’t had time to test with other dates.. Nab this one quick — it’s clearly a mistake.

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Savings bonds for miles. Purchases

Savings bonds for miles. Purchases of savings bonds are treated as just that — purchases, and not cash advances. Buy savings bonds directly from the government with your mileage earning credit cards (especially with Double Miles from the Delta Amex or the United Visa). Then cash them back in when they mature. It ties your cash up for a few months — but it also earns a return and miles.

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More on the US Airways

More on the US Airways and United Marketing Agreement. As I mentioned yesterday, US Airways has entered into a marketing agreement with United Airlines. It will allow frequent flyers from both airlines to earn and redeem miles on each airline. In addition to the benefit of earning and redeeming miles on each airline, US Airways and United passengers will also be able to make connections between both airlines on a single reservation and use each airline’s airport lounges if they are already a member of either. This partnership secures the value of USAirways miles, which were certainly in doubt, and opens up reward possibilities to Hawaii and Asia. Dividend Miles and Mileage Plus members will be able to redeem their miles for awards on each airline, but they will not be able to combine miles…

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