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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The Best Thing About Each Travel Provider

May 02 2017

This is a lightning round, I’m going to give one quick thing that overwhelms everything else and I’m not going to offer a detailed explanation — just a simple statement of the one best thing about an airline, a hotel chain, or a rental car company.

These choices are, of course, influenced by my idiosyncratic preferences — but I think they stand up:

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American Says They Won’t Sell the AAdvantage Program

american airlines plane
May 02 2017

American Airlines first quarter earnings fell year-over-year by about three-fifths, down to $234 million. It’s fair to say that despite disappointing credit card signups impacting revenue forecasts in Q1 the AAdvantage program really did earn the bulk of the airline’s profits.

Indeed, though they do not break out numbers this way, it’s possible that in the first quarter AAdvantage earned all of the airline’s profit and without selling miles the airline itself would have operated at a loss. And that’s even before unilaterally announcing employee raises which financial analysts grilled the airline over.

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American Composer Detained at Border Because of His “Super Common Muslim Name”

outside airport
May 01 2017

American composer Mohammed Fairouz whose work has been performed at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center arrived off a London – New York JFK flight.

Agents “took away [his] luggage and [..] laptop” and told him he could not use his phone. He was told to “sit in a plastic chair without the ability to listen to music or read a book.” He was told this “could take hours.”

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