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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Award Space Alert — Fly American Airlines New 787-9 Private Business Class Suites To London This Summer For Just 55K Miles

May 06 2025

Awards for new American Airlines business class suites are wide open between Chicago and London Heathrow this summer as well as between Philadelphia and London. The new American Airlines 787-9s debuts June 5. That’s when the first plane flies Chicago – Los Angeles and back and then on to London. Come July all three of American’s Chicago – London flights transition to this new aircraft (“789P”). It features business class suites with doors, including an enhanced bulkhead row, as well as new premium economy seats. The plane is also equipped with ViaSat wifi which is far more functional than the Panasonic installs that have been featured on all of American’s wifis prior to the ‘block 2’ 787-8s which were delivered after the pandemic. American has these flights available for a variety of points prices, for…

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DOT To Rule On American Airlines Deceptive Time Zone Deadline: Upgrades Expire Two Hours Early—Passenger Stranded In Coach

May 06 2025

A customer tried to use their American Airlines systemwide upgrades 40 minutes to midnight on the day they expired – except the airline doesn’t specify in their terms and conditions what time zone midnight is. The upgrades, which were available for the customer to confirm, could not be used – because they’d already expired 80 minutes earlier.

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They Said First Class Was Dead—Yet 8,000 Seats Still Offer Caviar, Showers, Or Private Cabins Every Day

May 05 2025

First class cabins are shrinking around the world, even as airlines add more premium seats to planes. Business class has gotten better. But the traditional narrative about the end of the first class is wrong, and not just for airlines like Air France that remain committed to the product. In fact, Air France is among the smaller players with first class, dwarfed not just by Emirates but even by Lufthansa and BA.

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