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 »

Fly Korean Air Business Class Seats Long Haul for Just 25,610 Miles!

by Gary Leff

Feb 03 2017

Etihad Guest offers 500 miles for joining. Their miles are valuable because you can redeem for one of the world’s best first class products but also for some outstanding value partner awards. And you can transfer points to Etihad Guest several ways.

Here’s the Etihad Guest redemption chart for travel on Czech Airlines. One way short haul awards start at 3500 points in coach and 7000 points in business class. The vast majority of the airline’s routes can be had for fewer than 10,000 points each way in business.

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How to Put Absolutely No Thought into a Hotel Renovation

by Gary Leff

Feb 03 2017

I’ve stayed at the Hyatt Arlington in Rosslyn, across the river from DC, several times. The property has finally been converted at a Hyatt Centric. The public space in the lobby, which is somewhat small, has been redone. The front desk has been made a bit more interesting.

I had an expiring Diamond Suite Upgrade. Those can no longer be used prior to end of February expiration to confirm travel in the future. Stays must be complete by end of February. So once I confirmed that all the rooms in the hotel had been renovated as part of the rebrand, including the suites, I decided to burn one on this three night stay.

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How to Spot a Fake Emotional Support Animal on a Plane

by Gary Leff

turkey in airline cabin
Feb 03 2017

This is the golden age of flying for geese thanks to the ability of anyone to bring their emotional support turkey on a plane. For free.

There’s currently no firm rules or safe harbors for airlines to dispute a claim that an animal is necessary as a reasonable disability accommodation, but that’s under review at the Department of Transportation. One technique though may be a bit more straightforward:

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SECRET ROUTE: American AAdvantage Business Class Award Space to Europe for 4 Passengers With No Fuel Surcharges!!

by Gary Leff

Feb 03 2017

American is tight-fisted with award availability on its own flights. Getting to Europe with American miles is tough without coming out of pocket big money paying British Airways extortionate fuel surcharges. The other usual options are Iberia (pretty good business class availability for 2 passengers booked a year out most of the time) and air berlin (with the hope that the airline is still around by the time you travel).

However there’s another route that almost no one thinks about, because it’s flying an airline that’s a partner but not a member of oneworld and availability isn’t shown on the AA.com website.

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Can Hyatt Platinums Give Themselves a Status Upgrade in March?

by Gary Leff

pier on beach
Feb 02 2017

Earlier today I wrote about the Hyatt-MGM status match. Since MGM lets you give your status to someone you live with at the same address, you should be able to match your status to MGM, give MGM status to a spouse, and then have them match their MGM status to Hyatt.

But what if everyone that’s a Platinum today could use this to give themselves Explorist status in March?

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