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 »

British Airways First Class Upgrades Still a Great Use of Avios

by Gary Leff

Jan 02 2016

British Airways had amazing business class fares that allowed use of stackable discounts this fall. Some people were booking business class tickets between the US and Europe for less than $500 in cash (plus points), for instance.

With British Airways devaluing its points back in April upgrades became more expensive from premium economy to business class for flights 2001 miles or or longer. But for upgrades from business class to first class you’re still paying what a coach award ticket would cost in miles for the flight with no cash co-pay. And even deep discount business class fares are upgradeable.

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These Were the Most Important Things I Wrote in 2015

by Gary Leff

Jan 01 2016

I am terrible at guessing what readers are going to be interested in. Usually I don’t try. I write for myself, whatever seems interesting to me at the time. I am grateful that anyone wants to read it. I’m always surprised, though, by what does get read the most… what’s socially shared… what people keep coming back to over and over.

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Legendary Punk Rock Club Finds Afterlife as Mediocre Newark Airport Restaurant

by Gary Leff

Jan 01 2016

CBGB’s was a legendary punk rock music club in New York’s East Village that opened in the 1970s. It ultimately shut down after a rent dispute and lease renewal in 2005. It was an important stop for the B-52’s, Blondie, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, and the Talking Heads.

Now CB’s is a restaurant in Newark airport’s terminal C where you can have a bacon cheeseburger or turkey club while waiting for your United flight

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Delta Connection Pilot Goes Extra Lengths to Get Family to a Funeral

by Gary Leff

Dec 31 2015

A family was delayed 90 minutes in Phoenix enroute to Minneapolis, giving them a 7-10 minute connection. They arrived at their gate and their flight headed for Memphis — the last flight had pushed back.

One of the family members was screaming, crying, and waving their hands in the window. The pilot saw this, checked with the gate, and learned the man and his family were headed to a funeral. The pilot brought the plane back to the gate.

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Air France KLM Flying Blue Preparing for Huge Revenue-Based Devaluation

by Gary Leff

Dec 31 2015

I find the Air France KLM Flying Blue program incredibly frustrating for booking awards. There are false positives for award space on their website, customer service representatives are often rude and incompetent, and most importantly they have a penchant for shutting down newly opened accounts that members transfer points into (such as from American Express Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards) and immediately redeem awards from.

As a result I’ve limited the coverage I’ve given to the program. I don’t recommend using it for most purposes because I simply find the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.

So I don’t get too worked up over changes that are coming to that program, although those changes are noteworthy because they represent a spread of changes.

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American Making Changes to Small Business ‘Double Dip’ Program Upgrade Awards

by Gary Leff

Dec 30 2015

I really like small business frequent flyer programs. In addition to travelers earning points in their own mileage account, a business earns points for their travel as well. The earning isn’t the same, or necessarily as generous, but it’s a double dip and across several travelers in a company the rewards can really add up.

Spending on just my own travel each year seems to earn enough points for me to give someone AAdvantage Gold status and also redeem for an Admirals Club membership.

The program lets you redeem points for upgrade awards, and It turns out that there are a few more fare types that have been excluded from being upgraded with these certificates.

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