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 »

Airlines Expected To Ask Permission To Reduce Service Through Broad Domestic ‘Codesharing’

by Gary Leff

Mar 29 2020

The airline bailout passed last week requires carriers taking the money not to furlough employees through September, and to maintain air service to all of the cities they serve. However that’s going to mean ghost flights, that don’t make cost sense (or environmental sense).

So they’ve already come up with a way around it that will be broached with the Trump administration. It basically calls for waiving anti-trust rules so that airlines could codeshare with each other, and have those codeshares count as retaining service.

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What Should You Do If The COVID-19 Economy Gets In The Way Of Earning A Credit Card Bonus?

by Gary Leff

credit cards
Mar 29 2020

Everything has changed. You may have opened a new small business credit card, and your business is temporarily closed under a ‘shelter in place’ order. Or you’re just pending less in light of uncertainty in the economy.

Maybe you’re stuck at home, buying groceries but you had planned for big expenses you’re putting off (like travel!). I’m sure there are many readers wondering how they’re going to meet the minimum spend requirement for those credit card bonuses.

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It’s Probably Much Safer To Travel Right Now Than You Think (Though Not To New York)

by Gary Leff

Mar 29 2020

We don’t want people to travel from highly infected areas (because they might be infected) to areas where the virus isn’t spreading (because that could bring it in).

Having someone with the virus traveling to an area where there’s already significant spread doesn’t really change anything. If you don’t have COVID-19, you won’t make other people sick. And with so few people on planes, social distancing is easy, the actual travel itself is fairly low risk for passengers – though higher risk for flight attendants.

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Plane Full Of Heroes Flies INTO New York To Help COVID-19 Patients At Great Personal Risk

by Gary Leff

Mar 29 2020

The saying ‘not all heroes wear capes’ has become trite and is frequently used ironically. But how else are you supposed to describe a Southwest Airlines plane full of doctors and nurses flying into the hardest hit region for the novel coronavirus?

Each of these women and men are taking on real personal risk to help the people of New York. There’s not enough personal protective gear. Over 50 doctors have died of COVID-19 in Italy so far. And yet they’re all smiling, even knowing what’s in store.

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How The King Of Thailand Is Self-Quarantining (He Isn’t Even In Thailand)

by Gary Leff

Starwood's Business Card is Better than the Personal American Express Card
Mar 28 2020

Thailand was the first country outside of China with a confirmed COVID-19 patient. It’s generally considered to have done well containing the virus, currently reporting just 1245 total cases, though I’m skeptical of testing and reporting at least outside of Bangkok.

The King of Thailand also must be skeptical, because he’s quarantined himself in Germany where there are over 56,000 cases. King Maha Vajiralongkorn has rented out the entire Grand Hotel Sonnenbichl to isolate himself “with his harem of 20 women and his servants.”

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