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 »

Missing Miles for Your Spending at Airports? Check Your Accounts

by Gary Leff

united plane
Sep 14 2018

I’ve gotten value from Thanks Again earning miles for years, just a few at a time. They started out with brick and mortar retailers and I’d earn points when I least expected it. Then they pivoted to focus largely on airports.

When you go through the airport you’re the airline’s customer, and the airport rarely knows who you are. But the airport makes money when you spend money at retailers there. So by rewarding that spend they learn about who their best customers are can provide even greater rewards.

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It’s Been 5 Years Since Hyatt Announced a Devaluation, and Point Value Has Remained Remarkably Steady Since

by Gary Leff

hyatt sign
Sep 13 2018

It’s been five years since Hyatt last devalued, introducing a new category 7 and raising the price of many awards. The best hotels became more expensive, suite redemptions became more expensive, but overall the weighted average of free night award prices went up just 4%.

Since that time there have been remarkably few changes to the earn and burn side of the Hyatt program. Even the total revamp and introduction of ‘World of Hyatt’ nearly two years ago was a change only to the elite program.

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Passenger Takes Down His Pants for Delayed JetBlue Flight

by Gary Leff

man being arrested in airport
Sep 13 2018

JetBlue flight 1151 from Tampa to San Juan was delayed yesterday, and one passenger just wasn’t going to take it. He “took down his pants.”

The passenger, who had a “rottweiler mix service dog” with him, “threatened to kill a gate agent” and assaulted a police officer — all over a 53 minute delay.

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American’s Letter to Employees: Taking the Mechanics to Mediation

by Gary Leff

american airlines hangar
Sep 12 2018

American Airlines gave employees across the board raises without insisting that the pay changes be part of a contract. The airline says that’s made it harder to get mechanics to agree to a contract. American mechanics have already gotten much of the money they’re going to get with a new contract, so there’s less incentive for employees to agree to rules changes the airline wants.

American has asked for a federal mediator to get involved and wrap up a contract with mechanics. Here’s the airline’s letter to employees about the move:

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Most Star Alliance Airlines Again Bookable Using Aeroplan Miles

by Gary Leff

Sep 12 2018

Aeroplan has been unable to book award travel on several Star Alliance airlines since late August. I reached out to them to see what was going on and they assured me that the issue was a technical problem, that they were working on it, and that they wanted to get it fixed quickly.

However Aeroplan seemed confident that wouldn’t be the case here. I wanted to see the proof that this would be fixed quickly, rather than taking them at their word. It turns out that they fixed it quickly (mostly).

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American’s First Boeing 787 is in the Shop to Have Some Business Class Seats Removed

by Gary Leff

small airplane seat
Sep 12 2018

The first Boeing 787-8 that American Airlines received is the first one to be receiving a premium economy retrofit, and will become the first one in the fleet with only 20 seats up front.

On September 4, American’s Boeing 787-8 registration number N800AN arrived at Chicago O’Hare from London Heathrow. Then it flew the next day to Everett, Washington’s Paine Field. And it’s been sitting in the Pacific Northwest ever since.

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