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 »

More articles by Gary Leff »

Alaska Airlines Raising Some Award Prices, Effective March 1

by Gary Leff

airline cabin
Feb 04 2022

Imagine spending 190,000 miles roundtrip just to fly Alaska Airlines!

The cost of first class awards on Alaska Airlines flights may in some cases be 37% higher on March 1 than they are today and throughout the month of February. So if you redeem Alaska Airlines miles for Alaska Airlines travel in first class, potentially paying more than the lowest published mileage price for the flexibility of choosing your day of travel and preferred flight, you’ll want to do so now. Here’s what concerns me most, though —

Continue Reading »

The One Thing Stopping The Biden Administration From Lifting Air Travel Mask Mandate

by Gary Leff

Feb 04 2022

There’s a chance that restrictions get lifted but the Omicron wave turns out not to be the last gasp of the virus. That would make it thinkable that restrictions could make sense again. But the political calculus is that looks like the administration ‘made a mistake.’ And this administration’s fear of appearing to make an error is balancing out its need to declare victory. And that could delay lifting the transportation mask mandate.

Continue Reading »

Southwest Airlines Moves Up Return Of Alcohol, Booze Is Back February 16

by Gary Leff

Feb 03 2022

Southwest Airlines just pushed back the return of alcohol on board to “late in the first quarter maybe early in the second quarter” a week ago blaming virus spread. And now they’ve reversed course. Booze will be back on board February 16th.

Good news Southwest is honoring free drink chits with 2020 and 2021 expiration dates. Here’s how you can still get free drinks on Southwest.

Continue Reading »

U.S. Airlines Ask Biden Administration To End Testing Requirement For International Travel

by Gary Leff

Feb 03 2022

I continue to believe that The transportation mask mandate will end before election day. However restrictions on foreigners are politically stronger, so it takes real lobbying by the industry (it would help to get Sara Nelson on board) to move the needle. And it would be especially awkward to drop a testing requirement right after the Biden administration started mailing tests to everyone. Leave aside that only some of those tests can be used for travel, it creates a bad optic to say testing isn’t important and we’re sending everyone tests.

Continue Reading »