Free Upgrades on United, Free Money from Southwest, and Free Stopovers on Alaska (Bits ‘n Pieces for December 13, 2013)

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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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Comments

  1. Gary, there have been so many. I’m thinking it might be a tie between understanding that a few bad squeaky toys in no way undermine the hard work that thousands of men and women at the TSA do to keep us safe, day in and day out, and how to properly perform a hero shot.

    Best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year.

  2. Ahh, United… So much fail. Although, I recently had an agent refuse to waive the $25 phone booking fee and instead waive the $75 close-in fee. Guess it took fewer keystrokes for him…

  3. I really appreciate all the effort you put into this site, Gary (and that you have for a long, long time). I challenge you when I think it’s warranted, yet remain so grateful with all of your incredibly generous output, including these quick “bites” (and of course, the more in-depth analyses). Thanks again!

  4. Yes James the TSA/Prison Industry/Defense Industry is determined to take all our taxpayer dollars to protect us from “those people”…..looks like they have surpassed the 50% level……perhaps a hero shout in the form a government jobs program……….

  5. Way to promote fraud Gary. The way you describe that Southwest settlement is just inviting false claims. Let’s face it the vast majority of readers of this and other travel hacking blogs are greedy individuals itching to get their hands on as much free stuff as possible. Let’s see how many readers all of a suddenly recover lost memories of purchasing tickets at the southwest counter.

    Tell us Gary, did you file a claim??? Given your standard statement that you haven’t flown southwest in years, I would certainly hope not.

  6. I did not file a claim and I rather thought I was underscoring the silliness of the settlement, if folks do as you describe then they’re rather making my point — but doing so on their own choosing not because I somehow made them do it.

  7. When filing a claim you must do so under penalties of perjury, so there is more to he filing than just having a inkling of buying a ticket at the counter. I admit the language used on the settlement website is poor; they should have simply said no proof is required. Nevertheless, the manner in which you publicize the settlement, especially knowing your audience, is going to encourage a number of false claims.

  8. Thank you for the tip on the Citi Platinum Mastercard with 50,000 point sign up. Through your link, I applied, received immediate approval and the follow up confirming email arrived earlier today. I cannot recall if this was a “Zombie” link or not but it worked. The 50,000 point promotion was not on the Citi Card website and was exactly what I was looking for.
    So Thank you!

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