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 »

Fare Alert: Business Class to Australia Wide Open, West Coast – Sydney $2602 Roundtrip

by Gary Leff

Oct 07 2017

There’s been a rush of Chinese airlines squatting on routes to the U.S., because historically China has only allowed one of the country’s airlines to fly a given international route. That may change, but in the meantime we have service like Xiamen Airlines Los Angeles – Xiamen.

And as you can imagine these flights don’t sell out. So there are occasionally fantastic fares, to see China or to connect beyond China. In this case you can fly most any time between the US and Australia for $2600 roundtrip in business class. Or $1300 to China!

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A New US Airways Interior I’ve Never Seen Before – Refreshed Seat Covers, Still Decrepit Seats

by Gary Leff

Oct 07 2017

Four years into the American Airlines – US Airways merger they are only now talking about aligning their fleet. For the most part US Airways narrowbody planes don’t have extra legroom seats at the front of the aircraft or even seat power. (First class also has less legroom and many still have decrepit seats.)

I flew a legacy US Airways plane this morning though and I boarded with a bit of excitement — a new interior.

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Does Travel Promote Real Understanding? How?

by Gary Leff

Oct 06 2017

I’m under no illusion that walking the streets of Bangkok means that I understand the divisions in Thai society. Drinking with someone in Spain doesn’t mean I know what ‘real people are like’ in Southern Europe.

It’s easy to say that ‘travel promotes understanding’ but travel can also promote a false sense of understanding.

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Here’s Chicago O’Hare’s Major Overhaul Plan

by Gary Leff

Oct 06 2017

Chicago’s O’Hare airport isn’t the most modern or beautiful airport. But the biggest problems they face are weather, distance from the city, and insufficient gates to grow. They’re planning to do something about gates while in the process rebuilding terminals.

I’m ultimately happy with O’Hare today since so far it’s the only place with a United Polaris lounge, American’s second Flagship lounge just opened there, and they’ve got Tortas Frontera.

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The Saudi King’s Plane Uses a Golden Escalator. Watch It Break.

by Gary Leff

The King of Saudi Arabia made his first-ever visit to Moscow on Wednesday. On arrival the king’s team rolled up a golden escalator to the plane instead of stairs. Hijinks ensued. After Salman’s plane landed, the Saudis rolled out a golden escalator — instead of stairs — to the plane’s exit door for the king to use as he deplaned.With his head held high, Salman stepped onto the majestic escalator, but a few seconds into his graceful descent, the escalator froze, as if it had been turned off suddenly.Salman stood in place for nearly 30 seconds unsure what to do before finally deciding to walk the rest of the way down. Saudi Arabia king uses golden escalator as a airplane stairs. When he arrived to Moscow yesterday, his golden stairs got stuck. pic.twitter.com/h3o1UD8s8p — English…

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