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 »

Is 20 Month Expiration of Miles Even Legal?

by Gary Leff

Nov 14 2016

A new legal challenge to mileage expiration in Europe raises interesting arguments about fairness and frequent flyer programs.

Expiring miles remove liabilities from a balance sheet, letting an airline recognize revenue while confiscating what is often seen morally (if not legally) as an asset.

Program policies have varied tremendously over time — sometimes a loyalty program doesn’t want to lose a customer, other times they value revenue recognition, and we’ve seen a see-saw across programs over time and different approaches around the world.

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British Airways First Class Passenger Takes Photo Up Flight Attendant’s Skirt: Invokes the Shaggy Defense, Gets Off With $16 Fine

by Gary Leff

airline cabin first class
Nov 14 2016

A British businessman was reportedly flying to South Africa in BA first class on October 14, when “after a few drinks” he placed his phone under a flight attendant’s uniform “uniform as she leaned over to serve another passenger” and took photos.

He apparently wasn’t particularly sneaky about it, being noticed by the flight attendant and by other passengers in the cabin (British Airways first class also isn’t especially private).

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Chase Retiring the JP Morgan Select Card

by Gary Leff

Nov 13 2016

Customers with the J.P. Morgan Select card are going to be transitioned to the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. They won’t get the Sapphire Preferred’s signup bonus of 50,000 points after spending $4000 on the card within 3 months of their new account, so will probably be wishing they had simply signed up for the card themselves directly.

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Diamond Members: Hilton Offering Roll Over Elite Nights Through End of Year

by Gary Leff

Nov 13 2016

Hilton is reportedly letting Diamond members who have requalified for their elite status already use stays through the end of the year towards 2018 status.

If you do qualify for Diamond based on hotel activity, and have already done so, if you have the option for rollover nights along with current promotions you have a reason to continue staying.

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Starting Next Year Companions of American Airlines Elites Will Inherit Elite Status for Upgrades and Waitlists

by Gary Leff

american planes
Nov 12 2016

There’s another change to American AAdvantage (in addition to Next Flight Guarantee for ConciergeKey members and rumored reduction in confirmed upgrade availability) that’s been shared by JonNYC on Twitter but not yet announced by American: elite companions will have the same status as the elite member for airport upgrade and standby lists starting January 1.

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RUMOR: American Airlines Confirmed Upgrade Availability About to Get Much Worse

by Gary Leff

Nov 12 2016

American is doing an update to its booking classes in order to accommodate the sale of their new international premium economy product (which needs its own classes).

Changing booking classes does not in itself mean that confirmed upgrade availability has to change, but it also is an opportunity to start fresh with how the booking class is being managed.

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