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 »

Award Travelers: Don’t Get Too Excited – Yet – About The New IHG One Rewards Program

by Gary Leff

Apr 13 2022

While this new program is much more rewarding for chain loyalists, whether at 20 nights a year or 70, they haven’t applied these improvements consistently to treat reward nights rewardingly, so they aren’t yet treating members who earn benefits as valued when they’re cashing in their hard-earned points. Hopefully IHG will see this as a weakness and address and improve it. Terms and conditions matter when expecting hotels to comply, or addressing non-compliance with customer service. If this isn’t what the program intended, they’ll update the terms and conditions of these benefits accordingly.

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Complete Guide To The New IHG Elite Program: Confirmed Suites, Lounge Access, And Breakfast

by Gary Leff

Apr 13 2022

IHG Rewards is now IHG One Rewards with a whole new set of elite benefits to go with the introduction of a new top elite tier, Diamond. I spoke with IHG’s Senior Vice President of Global Loyalty and Partnerships, Heather Balsley, both about the vision for the changes and the to get into the weeds about how new benefits will work.

In theory new elite benefits are better than Hilton’s, and some guests will prefer them over Marriott’s, but how valuable they are depends on the properties members stay at and how well those hotels deliver on promises.

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Will American Airlines Eliminate Flagship First Class Next Year?

by Gary Leff

Apr 12 2022

It would be a shame to see Flagship First Class disappear from American Airlines. I’d far rather see them invest in a truly first class product. They have Flagship First Class Dining, Five Star service on the ground, and aircraft selling the product already. And it’s a market that few airlines compete against them to service. Modest tweaks would go a long way, but unfortunately signs point in the opposite direction.

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New Status Match Offer From LATAM

by Gary Leff

plane on tarmac
Apr 12 2022

As travel returns, airlines have been looking to juice their elite ranks. One way they do that is by poaching customers from competitors. It’s hard to attract a customer used to elite treatment and asking them to start with your business at the bottom. So giving them an easy path to switch makes sense.

Now another airline has entered the fray. LATAM will match the status of customers with any other frequent flyer program of an airline operating in the region.

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Women In Swimsuits Check In For American Airlines Flight, Agents Are Like ‘No Big Deal’

by Gary Leff

Apr 12 2022

Earlier this year American Airlines told a former Miss Universe that her athleisure wear wouldn’t fly.

Yet at its hub in Miami, dress codes are interpreted differently. The best part of this photo isn’t the women in swimsuits checking in with American Airlines, it’s the ‘no big deal’ expressions on the faces of American’s agents. Click the tweet for full photo.

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Is The Air Travel Mask Mandate About To Get Extended Again?

by Gary Leff

Apr 11 2022

We’re a week away from the expiration of the transportation mask mandate, and masks are generally required only on planes, trains, buses and automobiles (and in certain backward parts of the country, preschools). However Philadelphia just imposed an indoor mask mandate and that potentially makes it more difficult for the Biden administration to take a more permissive (albeit purely symbolic) stance. However we’re no longer in a place where public mandates are needed.

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New American Airlines Business Class Is Coming With Bigger Cabin, Seats With Doors

by Gary Leff

Apr 11 2022

We’re not just looking at a new seat, but also more premium seats. I wrote last fall that American Airlines is planning to put more business class seats on planes. That’s true both for their widebodies and also their Airbus A319s.

We’re getting some sense now just what this means from two separate recent reports that I’ve confirmed.

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