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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Canada: Up To 150,000 Aeroplan Miles For New Credit Card, Bonuses For Current Cardmembers

by Gary Leff

Jun 23 2021

Aeroplan launched its new suite of credit cards in Canada back in November, and now through August 3, 2021 they’re running the richest initial bonus offers we’ve ever seen for their American Express co-brands, plus generous spend offers for existing customers.

These aren’t available to most Americans, but Chase will be issuing a U.S. Aeroplan Mastercard this year and the Aeroplan program promises “many additional promotions, partnerships, and feature announcements” this summer as well. So take it as a sign of aggressive cardmember acquisition and promotion, even if you can’t pick up 150,000 Aeroplan miles with a single credit card yourself.

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Luxury Short Haul Travel: Singapore Airlines Starts Offering Flights Within Europe

by Gary Leff

flight attendants posing
Jun 23 2021

By the end of next month Singapore Airlines will have restored service to all of the European destinations it plans to fly to. The Singapore flag carrier will serve 15 destinations, not planning to return to Stockholm or Dusseldorf and cancelling planned service to Brussels.

It’s adding a new flight, though, starting to serve travelers within Europe. The carrier will fly Singapore to Copenhagen, and then Copenhagen to Rome.

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American’s Pilot Scheduling System Seems To Be Making Flight Cancellations Worse

by Gary Leff

cockpit with pilot
Jun 22 2021

American Airlines has been cancelling hundreds of flights a day for several days. They don’t have enough pilots, especially Boeing 737 pilots, to operate the schedule they published.

However it appears that the system American Airlines uses to try to find pilots to pick up overtime and crew open trips may be standing in the way of getting some of its pilots to cover trips.

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The Reason Hyatt Became The Only Hotel Points Transfer Partner For New Program Bilt Rewards

by Gary Leff

Jun 22 2021

The new Bilt Rewards program lets members earn points through their rental apartment, and even earn points for paying rent to any landlord. It has a credit card, and points transfer 1:1 into a variety of loyalty currencies.

At first blush it seemed surprising to see Hyatt as the only hotel points transfer partner. It makes sense for Bilt, it’s the only hotel program where a 1:1 points transfer offers value to members. But we haven’t seen Hyatt offer that many partnerships. Why add Bilt?

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Woman Gave Birth At The Miami Airport On Fathers Day, Named The Girl MIA

by Gary Leff

Jun 21 2021

On Sunday – Fathers Days – a woman gave birth to a baby girl inside a restroom near Miami airport’s gate D43 after getting off of an American Airlines flight from Chicago.

The mother, traveling with her aunt, gave birth to the baby at 10:30 a.m. The Miami airport carries the 3 letter code MIA, and uses it in its branding. The mother decided to name the girl Mia, which the airport says they’re “honored” by.

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