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 »

The Unluckiest Flight: American Hong Kong – Los Angeles Diverted Twice Yesterday

by Gary Leff

Aug 03 2017

I don’t remember the last double diversion I noticed, it’s rare and unfortunate for all the passengers on the flight. But when you’ve got a medical emergency that takes precedence, and on ultra long haul flights you can easily face crew limits which are regulations in place for safety. So an airline makes the best decision possible when faced with tough choices, and this one is tough to second guess.

Ultimately an airline-paid hotel room in Hawaii is a better place to spend the night than inside the terminal in Shanghai.

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Earn Up to 45,000 Marriott Rewards Points Per Year Free Via Social Media

by Gary Leff

Aug 02 2017

Marriott has regularly offered points for linking your social media accounts. Three years ago they let you earn up to 2000 points per month via social.

In 2016 they gave out 84,000,000 points to 73,000 members (1150 points per member). Now they’re rebooting social earning, renaming #MRPoints to #RewardsPoints and will allow earning up to 45,000 points per year — which can transfer to 15,000 Starwood Starpoints.

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Qatar Airways Gives Up on Buying a Piece of American Airlines

by Gary Leff

Aug 02 2017

Qatar Airways would love to work more closely with a US partner to feed its flights. They’d love to solve political problems in the US where Delta, American, and United are trying to get the government to shut down their flights. Tensions in the Gulf region mean they cannot even work with the UAE on that effort. Indeed, they’d love the help of the United States to reduce those tensions.

A bid to purchase a stake in American Airlines seemed like a way to move the ball on all of those objectives, much like their major ownership position in British Airways and Iberia parent IAG has benefited them.

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17 Year Old Boy Opens Emergency Exit, Slides Down Wing Onto Tarmac in San Francisco

by Gary Leff

Aug 02 2017

Flight attendants occasionally ‘peace out’ this way. First-time flyers in China sometimes do it too. If you’re frustrated waiting for a gate or evading immigration authorities it may seem like a good idea to make your own exit from a plane.

But as a 17 year old boy learned yesterday, it’s never actually a good idea. They boy was onboard Star Alliance airline Copa’s flight CM208 from Panama City to San Francisco. He opened an aircraft door, slid down the wing, and jumped down onto the tarmac after arrival.

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TSA Testing ID Only, No Boarding Pass Required to Go Through Security at Four Airports

by Gary Leff

scanning machine
Aug 02 2017

The TSA has all of your travel data before you fly. They compare who they think you are against their error-prone No Fly List, which denies people the right to travel without any due process hearing.

So it’s strange in a way that they need your boarding pass when you go through security. Once you’ve identified yourself they can match your ID to their secure flight database and they already know your travel plans.

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