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 »

Wyndham Expected to Double Award Price of Best Properties

by Gary Leff

wydham on beach
Oct 26 2018

Five years ago most Wyndham properties could be booked for a maximum of 16,000 points. They jacked up award prices to as much as 40,000 points (after pricing some properties as high as 45,000 and 50,000 points).

And then they introduced a new flat redemption rate of 15,000 points per night in 2015. This was hailed as a big decrease in pricing for their best properties, when really is was reverting to what pricing had been just two years earlier — and a big increase in prices for lower-end hotels.

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New York JFK Shuts Down Bathrooms, Tells Passengers to ‘Hold it and Go on the Plane’

by Gary Leff

jamaica train pass
Oct 25 2018

I don’t know about you but on a flight less than four hours I may not use the lavatory, especially if I’m in a window seat. I’ll just make a stop in the restroom on the way out of the terminal.

That doesn’t always work if you’re flying into New York JFK, though. This morning in terminal 5 a water main break caused the airports to lose pressure and close down the bathrooms.

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Miami Passengers Under Armed Guard, Had Phone Searched Before Flight Was Cancelled

by Gary Leff

armed police searching mans phone
Oct 25 2018

Yesterday’s 7:05 p.m. American Airlines flight AA257 from Miami to Mexico City was delayed multiple times and then cancelled due to a security threat that was ultimately deemed ‘non-credible’.

When customers were back in the terminal they were guarded by armed officers. Police searched passengers’ phones and swabbed them for explosives residue.

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6 Things I Learned From American Airlines Today

by Gary Leff

airline cabin
Oct 25 2018

American’s stock hit new lows yesterday in advance of today’s earnings call. That left the airline in a tough position, needing to explain how they’d cut costs which are rising at a faster rate than revenues.

I listen to the earnings call with a different perspective than most people covering them. I’m interested in news about the loyalty program, about the product, and about how changes to the business are likely to impact the way customers interact with the airline — as well as what we can expect from the overall direction in the industry.

As a result some of the six things that stuck out for me are likely to be different than key takeaways elsewhere, and are things you may otherwise miss.

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Reports: American Won’t Let Customers Upgrade Credit Cards Due to Elite Status Loophole

by Gary Leff

american aadvantage cards
Oct 25 2018

This week we learned that American Airlines is gutting the ability to earn elite qualifying dollars from credit card spend for next year.

Barclays representatives are saying that they are unable to upgrade customers from Red to Silver at this time and that this is a requirement of American Airlines because of a loophole created by this change.

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