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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ABC News reports

american flag
Jun 15 2002

ABC News reports that even members of Congress are feeling the effects of a rule that passengers must remain seated for the first and last half hour of flights into and out of Washington-National airport. Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop, flying from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to Hartsfield Airport on Delta Flight 1717, got up to go to the bathroom after the mandatory half-hour when passengers must stay seated, but found the lavatories on the airplane occupied, his office and aviation sources said. Sanford then asked a flight attendant for a cup, and “may” have said he intended to relieve himself, his office said. He went to a section of the plane between the cockpit and first-class, then urinated into the cup, said Bishop spokesman Selby McCash, who described the congressman as “a very gracious…

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I like email. If

american airlines
Jun 15 2002

I like email. If you need some suggestions on how to get extra miles, what airline program or hotel program to belong to, which credit card to choose, or how to go about getting award reservations, drop me a line.

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Mickey Kaus has

american flag
Jun 14 2002

Mickey Kaus has an excellent piece in Slate in which he does a very good job explaining the problems with the phrase “homeland security.” I highly recommend it.

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Wow. I’ve already had two

amazon
Jun 14 2002

Wow. I’ve already had two contributions through Amazon. THANK YOU. Amazon hasn’t told me who you are, but I appreciate it. By the way, if readers out there decide to contribute, please also drop me an e-mail. It helps lots — I’ll even acknowledge you on the site if it’s alright with you. Thanks!

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This Washington Post

american flag
Jun 14 2002

This Washington Post article speaks for itself. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights usually investigates discrimination complaints outside its offices. But in the case of its former staff solicitor, Emma Monroig, the agency could have stayed indoors. … Monroig was awarded $150,000 for back pay, mental duress and attorneys’ fees. The EEOC also ordered that she be reinstated as solicitor. … Commission employees have filed nine recent complaints with the EEOC, commission officials said. Three were filed by Hispanics, and the rest by black and white workers. Of those nine, at least three have been settled. In light of Monroig’s award, questions about the treatment of staff, performance evaluations and other personnel issues linger, officials said. Monroig’s odyssey with the EEOC began in 1994, when she filed an informal discrimination complaint. Passman said her claim…

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Fly the Concorde for $1258.95

concorde air france
Jun 13 2002

Fly the Concorde for $1258.95 First, buy 21 subscriptions to Inside Flyer magazine for a total cost of $1258.95. If you act by June 30, you’ll get 2500 Starwood points per subscription, or a total of 52500 Starwood points. (If you don’t already have a Starwood account, open one here). Second, transfer the 52500 Starwood points into a Qantas account. For every 20000 points you redeem, you also get a bonus 5000 points. 52500 points becomes 62500 points. Starwood points become Quantas points at a 1:2 ration. Thus, you now have 125,000 Qantas points. (If you don’t already have a Qantas account, open one here). Third, redeem 125,000 Qantas points for a roundtrip ticket with partner British Airways on the Concorde. Availability of Concorde awards seems not to be a problem at all. You can…

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Before taking a trip with

united
Jun 13 2002

Before taking a trip with either United or American, check out SeatGuru. It has aircraft layouts and recommendations on which seats have a bit of extra room, and which seats to avoid because you’ll always get hit by the flight attendants pushing the beverage cart.

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Pick up 500 United miles

united
Jun 13 2002

Pick up 500 United miles by requesting a quote on a new car at Vehiclemiles.com. Grab 500 United miles for requesting information from the E-Loan Move Center. Request an auto insurance quote from GMAC and receive 500 American Airlines miles.

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The Los Angeles

latimes
Jun 13 2002

The Los Angeles Times covers a gaffe by The Beijing Evening News — the Chinese paper picked up and ran a story from The Onion which claimed that Congress was going to pick up and leave Washington, DC unless a new Capitol was built for them. The paper acknowledged their error, but fails to understand the humor: “Some small American newspapers frequently fabricate offbeat news to trick people into noticing them, with the aim of making money,” the paper said. “This is what the Onion does.” It cited a recent Onion article about the U.S. government issuing life jackets to all Americans for some unexplained reason. “According to congressional workers, the Onion is a publication that never ceases making up false reports,” the Evening News said. Thanks to OpinionJournal‘s “Best of the Web” for the…

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