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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May 28: Southwest Airlines Ends ‘Bags Fly Free’—After Gutting Frequent Flyer Miles—An Unprecedented Identity Crisis

Mar 11 2025

Southwest Airlines has announced the end of Bags Fly Free, the primary benefit separating it from competitors – and idea they have consistently rejected.

Together with cutting points-earning by two-thirds on the fares most customers buy, Southwest now says they will offer basic economy fares – something they said they would never do.

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7 Simple Ways to Meet Minimum Spending on a Credit Card Without Breaking a Sweat

Mar 10 2025

There’s no quicker and easier way to earn a large amount of miles quickly than with a new credit card.

It’s not super complicated and you probably have access to more spending that you can put on a credit card than you think — so it’s far less daunting to meet credit card minimum spending requirements than you think in order to earn an initial card bonus.

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AOC And Luna’s Credit Card Cap Would Crush Rewards Cards—Gutting Airline Miles And Making Flights More Expensive

Mar 10 2025

AOC and Anna Paulina Luna have teamed up to take credit away from poor people. They’ve introduced legislation that would cap credit card interest rates at 10%, below the level they’ve ever been. That might allow card financing to remain in place for customers who are near-certain credit risk. It means extending credit to borrowers less able and certain to pay back would not be viable.

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Why Frequent Flyers Are Quietly Rushing to Grab Citi’s 65,000 Mile AAdvantage Business Offer

Mar 09 2025

Earn this bonus and you’ll have a minimum of 69,000 miles. 70,000 what it costs from the US to the Mideast, India or Maldives on Qatar in business. You can even fly Qatar’s Qsuites, which may be the best business class in the world. Flying business class from the US to Southeast Asia also costs 70,000 miles — and you can fly carriers including Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific.

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They Even Took The Bathroom Books: Passengers Are Stealing Everything Not Bolted Down In Airport Lounges

Mar 09 2025

Travelers are stealing everything from airport lounges that isn’t bolted down. That surprises me, because there’s nowhere with more cameras watching you than inside an airport. There’s nowhere with more law enforcement agencies (DEA, CBP, FBI, TSA, local police to name a few). And every passenger in the lounge has identified themselves when checking in.

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