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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Japan Airlines First Class Awards Wide Open from Sydney, and the Best Availability to/from Australia

by Gary Leff

Aug 05 2015

Japan Airlines has a really fantastic first class product, it’s one of the best with a fantastic mattress pad and excellent (very Japanese) service. I’d suggest they’re in the top seven (in no particular order: Singapore, Emirates, Etihad, Cathay Pacific, ANA, Asiana, JAL).

They’re switching the Tokyo – Sydney route to a Boeing 777-300ER and that means the route will get first class. Award space is widely available on the route, much better flying Sydney – Tokyo than it is flying Tokyo – Sydney.

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Which Hotel Program is Really Best: Would You Agree With These Rankings?

by Gary Leff

Aug 04 2015

In addition to their ranking of best airline frequent flyer programs, US News has taken a stab at coming up with a ranking for the best hotel loyalty programs.

They even almost built a reasonable approach: How much do you have to spend to get a free room? What else can you do with your points and how well do they treat frequent guests? Is the program offering you rooms everywhere you want to be, and at your desired price point?

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