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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Passenger Takes Revenge On The Woman In Front Of Her By Sticking Gum And A Lollipop In Her Hair

by Gary Leff

Dec 11 2020

A video viewed nearly 110 million times, and liked 11 million, shows a woman clipping and destroying the hair of the passenger seated in front of her on a flight when the woman keeps flipping her hair over the seatback and blocking the video screen behind her.

It speaks to something we all feel sitting in the confined space of an economy cabin when another passenger violates norms and invades our limited space, captured by the comment “I fully support their actions.”

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Woman Shows Up At The Airport, Proposes To A Man She Met Online 10 Days Ago

by Gary Leff

Dec 11 2020

Here’s a new twist on the age old marriage proposal in the skies. A woman who met ‘her soulmate’ online 10 days earlier showed up at the Las Vegas airport to propose to him.

Since meeting they had video chatted every night, but they had never met in person. This would be their first time seeing each other in person – and he doesn’t know she’s coming.

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Instead Of Outdoor Dining, Restaurants Are Offering Private Meals In Hotel Suites

by Gary Leff

Dec 11 2020

As the weather has turned colder in much of the country this presents a challenge. It’s no longer viable for many restaurants to attract diners to an outdoor setting. So some restaurants have turned to offering meals inside private hotel suites. Hotels are frequently empty, so there’s an easy unused resource to leverage and private rooms provide guests the comfort and safety of outdoors, without being subject to the elements.

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Etihad Drops Belgrade Flights, Despite Controlling Air Serbia

by Gary Leff

Dec 10 2020

Etihad owns a 49% stake in Air Serbia, and the Serbian government owns the other 51%. This was one of the better airline investments previous Etihad management made in its effort to acquire stakes in airlines and redirect their traffic through its hub in Abu Dhabi. But it’s now falling apart.

Etihad has terminated flights from its Abu Dhabi hub to Belgrade, and will reportedly end its codesharing with the carrier it half owns next year.

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Hilton Allowing All Diamond Members To Gift Elite Status

by Gary Leff

Dec 10 2020

One feature of the Hilton Honors Diamond program is that members can gift someone Gold status when they reach 60 qualifying nights in a year. If they stay 100 nights, the gift becomes Diamond status.

In addition to this standard offer, Hilton will allow all Diamonds to gift someone elite status this year. Diamond members can gift Gold status, lifetime Diamonds can gift Diamond status.

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Alaska Airlines Changes How Elite Status Will Be Earned In 2021

by Gary Leff

alaska airlines plane
Dec 10 2020

Alaska Airlines has changed how elite status will be earned in 2021. Alaska used to require more miles flown if you include miles on partner airlines than if you’re using miles flown exclusively on Alaska. That’s gone.

Starting in 2021, Alaska and partner flights will count the same towards elite status, and the lower “Alaska-only” status requirements apply. But they’ll require a minimum number of Alaska flights for status – to keep low yielding American Airlines flyers from just dumping their American segments into Alaska.

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China Tells Flight Attendant To Wear Diapers Instead Of Using Lavatory On Risky Flights

by Gary Leff

lavatory
Dec 10 2020

The sixth edition of CAAC’s Technical Guidelines for Prevention and Control of Epidemics in Transport Airlines and Airports lays out the country’s plan to avoid spreading infection while managing inbound international traffic. Domestic travel has largely recovered to pre-pandemic levels, but strict limits are placed on international travel to avoid importing SARS-CoV-2 back into the country.

Wearing diapers and avoiding the lavatory are just one of many strategies – including masks, gloves, goggles, hair nets, and hazmat suits – that are recommended for crew on flights bringing people back from places where the virus is spreading. Planes have quarantine sections of the aircraft cordoned off for anyone who shoes symptoms of infection, in order to separate them from other passengers and crew.

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