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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Lufthansa First Class Award Space Available.. But Not When You Look in the Usual Places

lufthands headquarters
Oct 05 2015

Last week I wrote that neither United.com nor the ANA website have been completely reliable for searching Star Alliance awards.

As a result, I’ve found Air Canada’s Aeroplan website to be the most useful tool when searching for award space on Star Alliance partner airlines. But two readers point out some interesting discrepancies.

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Denver Airport Evacuated Because Bath Salts Were Found in a Checked Bag

Oct 05 2015

Denver is a very strange airport for security. PreCheck lines can be super long. The lead singer for Puddle of Mud was arrested there for riding the baggage carousel into the secure area. And it’s where TSA agents manipulated the nude-o-scopes so they could fondle attractive passengers.

It also seems that the airport was evacuated because the TSA found bath salts in a checked bag.

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20% Bonus Converting Marriott Points to American in October

Oct 04 2015

American will give you a 20% bonus when you convert Marriott Rewards points to AAdvantage miles in October. No registration required.

In general converting hotel points to miles is a poor deal — outside of Starwood — although if you need to top off an account it can make sense. The only reasonable use of this promotion is Marriott travel packages.

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How Your Credit Score Determines Your Marriage

Oct 04 2015

A new Federal Reserve working paper finds that people enter long-term relationships with others who have similar credit scores. When people who have divergent credit scores form relationships, they’re more likely to break up. And credit scores even seem to say something about one’s ability to commit in relationships.

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