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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American Just Introduced Online Booking for Japan Airlines Awards

japan airlines plane
Jul 11 2019

The biggest mistake the average member of a frequent flyer program makes when it comes to using their miles for travel is believing that you just go to your airline’s website, enter the city you’re traveling from and where you want to go, and the website will spit out your options.

It’s a perfectly reasonable expectation in 2019, but it’s not how it works. Although with American AAdvantage it’s one step closer today.

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ANA Introduces New First and Business Suites, Will Start Flying Them in Just 3 Weeks

first class ANA
Jul 11 2019

First class currently is a cube, lacking a door. The new seat will be a suite with doors and will be called The Suite. It will offer access to windows for window seat passengers, and a better divider between middle seats offering a choice of privacy or access to a seatmate.

ANA’s business class will be a suite with doors called The Room, and according to the airline will offer twice the width of the current business seat.

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Delta Taking Part Ownership of Alitalia is “Certainty” While Italy’s Government Will Kick in More Subsidies

alitalia plane
Jul 10 2019

The latest from Italy is that the government is driving to close on a restructuring of the airline with the government continuing to pump in money and take a majority stake of the airline (35% of which would be through the state railway) while Delta takes 10% ownership though presumably exercises outsized influence.

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Tokyo Airport Hotel Now Offers a ‘Superior Cockpit Room’ With a Boeing 737 Simulator ($233/Night)

hotel room
Jul 10 2019

Forget the TWA Hotel as an avgeek’s paradise, the Haneda Excel Hotel Tokyu attached to terminal 2 at Tokyo Haneda airport has them beat, hands down.

The property has just introduced a “Superior Cockpit Room” which includes a full sized Boeing 737-800 flight simulator. And they offer one of the best deals anywhere for experiencing a sim.

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