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 »

Is American Airlines Going To Add A New Australia Route?

by Gary Leff

Feb 28 2020

When the American Airlines-Qantas joint venture was first announced I expected that an early route addition would be Dallas Fort-Worth – Brisbane. The head of the Brisbane airport expected it, too, and the CEO of Qantas International predicted their Boeing 787s made the most sense flying Brisbane to LA or Dallas.

Before Qantas began operating an Airbus A380 on the Sydney – Dallas route the flight was on a Boeing 747 and from Dallas to Sydney had to make a stop in Brisbane (but flew non-stop from Sydney to Dallas). Now JonNYC is writing that Dallas Fort-Worth – Brisbane is a route to look for.

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LA Wants To Give Priority Security To People Who Ride Public Transit. That’s Silly.

by Gary Leff

bradley international
Feb 27 2020

Los Angeles is is considering letting people who take public transit to the airport have priority security. This isn’t PreCheck or CLEAR, just priority line access for the regular security queue, and follows a program at Boston Logan for people who take a shuttle bus or ferry to the airport.

Priority security isn’t actually free, in other words it isn’t costless. “When everybody’s priority, nobody is.” Grant everyone priority and they’re behind everyone else who is also priority that got there first.

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Delta Will Start Offer Mileage Earning And Redemption On LATAM Starting April 1

by Gary Leff

plane on tarmac
Feb 27 2020

LATAM is the largest airline in South America. With Delta’s move to acquire 20% of the airline, LATAM is leaving oneworld and its planned joint venture with American Airlines to align itself with the Atlanta-based carrier.

News of Delta’s plan only came out in the fall, and they’re already launching reciprocal mileage-earning and redemption starting April 1.

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You Can Now Redeem Hilton Points At The Conrad Punta Mita

by Gary Leff

Feb 27 2020

When hotels aren’t making the award space available to members that they should I’ve had good success getting the loyalty program to intervene. I’ve had especially good success with Hilton, such as with the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem and the Waldorf Astoria Grand Wailea on Maui.

Readers reach out to me all the time with award redemption problems and I do my best to get them solved, week after week.

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Delta Air Lines Offers Reason To Be Optimistic About Coronavirus

by Gary Leff

Feb 27 2020

If you’re looking for green shoots in the coronavirus story, here’s one from Delta: even as there’s concerning news this morning about a person in California contracting the virus without having had recent international travel or having been known to come into contact with someone who was infected, there’s some indication that business in China is recovering.

At least Delta Air Lines cargo thinks so.

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