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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United’s Classified Restaurant No Longer Very Exclusive

Oct 18 2017

Two months ago OTG opened a new restaurant at Newark that received fanfare like pretty much no airport restaurant ever. It’s called Classified and everyone wanted to go because it was exclusive.

Now even I — a United Silver with no travel plans through Newark and little history of the same — can make a reservation. If you want to check out the secret place, it’s worth trying to log in yourself.

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Dumpster Fire Airline Alitalia to Expire Everyone’s Miles Unless They Take 4 New Flights

alitalia plane
Oct 18 2017

Some programs have expiring miles. For instance, miles earned today will expire in 3 years if unused. Other programs have expiring accounts. You account becomes inactive if there’s no earning or redemption in, say, 18 or 36 months — but any activity in your account extends the life of your miles.

One airline has a policy much more draconian than this: the entire program expires.

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Etihad Testing Hand Baggage Only Fares

Oct 18 2017

Etihad is taking the next step towards becoming a no frills carrier like British Airways. They’re testing Hand Baggage Only fares.

This is all about “diversify[ing] its revenues in line with digital capabilities” and is a part of their overall efforts at “new ancillary products including extra legroom seats, neighbour-free seats and preferred seating.”

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Up to 30,000 Miles Per Night for Hotel Booking Made By November 5

Oct 17 2017

Rocketmiles is offering double Qatar Airways Privilege Club Qmiles on all hotel bookings — and not just for new customers, either.

The promotion for one booking made by November 5. The original terms and conditions said “limited to first time customers” but I pointed this out and Rocketmiles updated the terms to remove this restriction.

What’s really great here is that despite language suggesting the maximum earn is 20,000 miles per night, you can actually earn 30,000 miles per night.

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Pilot of the Final Air Berlin Transatlantic Flight is in Hot Water for His Landing Maneuver

Oct 17 2017

oneworld member air berlin filed for bankruptcy in August after Etihad withdrew its support. The German government extended a loan guarantee (subsidy) to keep the airline flying while a sale of assets was arranged. Key pieces go to Lufthansa, leading to consolidation in the German market.

The airline itself is ceasing all operations October 28th. However the final transatlantic flight landed in Dusseldorf yesterday.

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Kiwis are Birds That Can’t Fly, But This One Discovers It Can Fly… Air New Zealand

Oct 17 2017

New Zealand’s national bird is the kiwi, and it’s Air New Zealand’s symbol as well. After all, New Zealanders are often referred to as Kiwis.

The irony for the airline of course is that kiwis can’t fly. But Air New Zealand has turned that on its head, creating a video showing that in order to fly a kiwi can fly on Air New Zealand.

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