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 »

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Wide Open Business Class Europe Awards With No Fuel Surcharges for American and Even BA Members!

Nov 11 2015

airberlin is a oneworld airline, partner of American and British Airways, that’s largely controlled by UAE-based Etihad.

They have a great business class product for long haul travel, and they do not add fuel surcharges to their fares. That means when redeeming miles, even British Airways miles for travel across the Atlantic, there are no fuel surcharges.

They’ve just announced new service starting in May to 3 US cities and business class awards are available for 2 passengers on pretty much every flight!

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Man Earns 2 Billion American Express Points. Yes, That’s Billion.

Nov 11 2015

The same Chinese man who bought a ceramic cup at auction last year and paid with his American Express card earning 422 million points is back at it again.

Billionaire art collector Liu Yiqian paid $170.4 million for Amedeo Modigliani’s “Nu Couche” at auction on Monday. With his American Express card. He uses a Hong Kong-based card than earns 1.5 points per Hong Kong dollar spent.

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I Need Your Help: Quick Survey to Have Your Voice Heard in Travel

Nov 11 2015

I’m trying something new and would appreciate your help. I’m working with ExpertFlyer on a travel survey. It’s not meant to be a representative survey of how all people travel. Those surveys aren’t so interesting to me. Instead, the goal is to survey really engaged travelers — the kinds of people who use sophisticated online tools to manage their travel, and read blogs like this one.

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Homeless Man Used Hotel Credit Card Signup Bonuses for Place to Live

Nov 11 2015

A homeless man in New York with a temp job at a law firm used the indentities of 20 of the firm’s clients to sign up for credit cards and use the free night signup bonuses for a place to live.

He also used the cards to charge hotel stays, and purchase items from Walmart. He was eventually caught buying and reselling Amtrak tickets (and presumably pocketing the travel category bonus points).

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The Best Benefit You Can Choose from Starwood Preferred Guest

Nov 10 2015

When I re-qualified this year for American Airlines Executive Platinum (100,000 mile flyer status), it took a couple of weeks to get a note from AAdvantage.

In contrast, within minutes of my 50th Starwood night posting, I had a congratulatory email. That was impressive. I also had another email inviting me to choose my benefit for reaching 50 nights (rather than just 25 stays).

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No, These 3 Simple Ideas Won’t Revolutionize Air Travel

overhead bin
Nov 10 2015

A few weeks ago an article was going around,’3 radical ideas to totally disrupt air travel’. I’ve seen it half a dozen times again today in my Facebook feed and have had three people send it to me as well.

Prohibiting carryon bags, allowing passengers to resell their seats and tickets, and giving out surprise and delight items to passengers stuck in a middle seat aren’t actually that revolutionary or event all that good…

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