"When planes aren't flying there aren't long lines there and the baggage office can give those out, " Leff said.

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Leff, who has only ever flown first-class, has loyalty card status on all U.S. airline programs and currently has three million miles across all his accounts.

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Like Balkan, and other airmiles millionaires, Leff, makes it his business to know every airline promotion and use smart strategies to gain more miles which they can exchange for perks.

CNN: The fabulous lives of air miles millionaires

According to historian Mark Leff, there was only one person in the United States who paid even a penny of taxes at the new top rate for the next three years: John D.

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"These are special experiences, the kinds of things that I would never in my life be able to afford to pay for, but miles give me the opportunity for that dream redemption, " said Gary Leff, based in Arlington, Virginia.

CNN: The fabulous lives of air miles millionaires

"Now that I've been filled in by friends about how difficult her troubled son (the shooter) was making things for her, I understand that it wasn't that Nancy was overwrought about the trivialities of everyday life, but that she was handling a very difficult situation with uncommon grace, " Mr. Leff wrote on the blog.

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