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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Marriott Test Site Leaks, New Name for Marriott’s Loyalty Program Revealed?

bonvoy marriott promo
Nov 24 2018

Marriott combined their Starwood Preferred Guest, Marriott Rewards, and Ritz-Carlton Rewards programs into a new unified program with the same currency and benefits on August 18th. All accounts were merged onto Marriott’s IT platform. However they retained separate program branding for legal reasons, I’m told related to their timeshare contracts.

In 2019 two major things are happening with Marriott Rewards: devaluing points and renaming the program.

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That’s Not What Your Seat’s Coat Hook is For

blac chyna wig
Nov 23 2018

First class seats may have their own closets. Business class seats may have coat hooks. Those are, naturally, for hanging a jacket though of course flight attendants are often willing to hang your jacket up in the closet.

When space is limited, though, and your needs aren’t like most of the passengers that seats were designed for you’re going to have to improvise. And that brings us to the Thanksgiving travels of one Blac Chyna.

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Best Deal Ever on Perhaps the Most Valuable Miles in the World (First Class Award to Europe $855)

airport pick up
Nov 22 2018

The best Star Alliance frequent flyer program in the world is hidden in plain site. What if I told you that you could book first class to Europe for 60,000 miles, or first class to Africa for just 75,000 miles? That’s what Aegean Miles & Bonus offers.

They are a Marriott transfer partner but do not partner with any of the credit card points programs. And they’re now selling miles at a great discount.

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