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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Flying on Separate Tickets? Here’s When You’re Protected if Flights Go Wrong

Jul 13 2015

It’s usually risky to fly one itinerary on separate tickets. That’s because when you’re on one ticket, if you face a flight delay or cancellation the airline responsible for the irregularity has to get you to your final destination. But if you’re on separate tickets they usually don’t — they just have to get you as far as the end of the ticket you’re flying them on.

Nonetheless, it’s sometimes necessary to book separate tickets:

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Four Basics of Using Your Miles

Jul 12 2015

In a SmarterTravel.com piece Avital Andrews carries a bunch of my basic frequent flyer advice on how to use your miles: awards are better than upgrades, don’t use miles for merchandise (although experiences are ok), try to add stopovers, and don’t give your miles to charity.

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Why I Choose American Airlines — And You Should Consider it Too

Jul 12 2015

In the fall I offered Five Good Reasons to Fly Delta. As I told a reporter yesterday, you fly Delta for a reliable airline operation and because you live in near a Delta hub or the Upper Midwest. You don’t choose Delta because of its frequent flyer program.

Despite United’s “monkey see, monkey do” copy cat approach of Delta, theirs remains a better frequent flyer program but a far worse airline operation. Perhaps their IT problems are the reason they haven’t been able to cram down their mileage program the way Delta has done.

For the past four years I’ve been fairly focused in my domestic flying with American.

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Why I Won’t Fly Spirit Airlines

Jul 12 2015

Yesterday Mommy Points told me that I should fly the new Spirit Airlines Los Angeles – Baltimore redeye flight that I called the most uncomfortable flight in America.

It’s not even the legroom, though, why I won’t fly Spirit — I can buy up to ‘the Big Front Seat’. And I don’t mind paying checked bag fees if the total trip cost is still cheaper.

No, there are two other things about the airline that make me want to steer clear. And they’re not things customers usually think about.

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