Flying – Ursula D.

Why pay for adventure when you can get it for free and in first class?

At just 23 years old, Ari Levenson has a whole lifetime worth of experience as both a passenger and a pilot. Since a young age, Ari has been interested in aviation. On family trips, Ari cites looking forward to the flight more than their actual vacation. Ari’s passion led him to getting his private pilot license with an instrument rating right after graduating from high school. Needless to say an enjoyable Friday night for Ari as a nineteen year old was a bit different from the norm, Ari taking a rental plane to visit friends across Los Angeles to beat rush hour traffic.

Although he is looking to pursue film professionally, Ari has taken up travel advising in his free time – a true passion. In high school, Ari worked for a luxury travel concierge and discovered the impact of travel points and racking up miles for future travel. It fascinated Ari that, in strategizing how to maximize your points, you could fly first class for free. Shortly after, Ari had made it his mission to discover the ins and outs in regards to how to accumulate points, getting credit card sign-on bonuses, referring friends for credit cards, and transferring points, to name a few.

After having accumulated enough mileage points, Ari used the points to take his first trip overseas to England, where he flew business class and hasn’t flown anything below business when traveling long distances since. Unlike many travelers, Ari likes to travel for no more than two days to a week, considering himself a homebody. What Ari loves about racking up mileage points is that he can travel the way he likes to, on a whim and for short periods of time. Currently, Ari has over 3 million points and feels best when he has at least 2 million points at a time, so that he is able to take a trip whenever he likes. It isn’t unusual for Ari to fly to Singapore to visit his favorite vegan restaurant or travel to Vietnam for just two days and then hop on a flight back home shortly after. Two of Ari’s favorite flights so far have been his journey from Japan to Singapore, where he had the best vegan meal of his life and his first class trip from Hong Kong to New York flying Cathay Pacific, which he argues has an unparalleled in-flight passenger experience.

In accumulating such vast knowledge of credit card rewards, flying, commercial airlines, planes, and the like, Ari shared this knowledge with friends and family. At one point, however, Ari realized that his passion could be made into a business and started to help others maximize their points in the same way.

Since then, Ari’s business called Miles for Smiles has grown and he has established a process and methodology that he goes through with clients to ensure success. First, Ari has a meeting with his client in order to establish their lifestyle habits and existing credit cards to figure out what program he decides will be best suited for them. From there, Ari advises on which credit cards his client should open and strategizes on maximizing their points. For everyone that Ari works with he guarantees them 500,000 mileage points to use for the future. Ari also has an extensive knowledge of airlines and their product offerings, which will ensure an enjoyable and restful transit experience when he makes the final booking. Singapore Airlines is Ari’s favorite, but he can walk clients through every airline and airplane offered, a credit to his incredible in-depth knowledge of the industry. To date, Ari is responsible for earning 20 million miles for his clients who have flown in premium cabins across the world and is only just getting started.

Right now, Ari says that now is the best time to plan for the future and maximize airline points, given that credit card companies are offering some of the best deals he has ever seen, with major sign on bonuses. But what excites Ari about the future? In terms of commercial aviation, Ari mentions

“the advancements that I’ve seen in a short period of time, like the new products and services coming out are incredible, Air New Zealand, for example is rolling out beds in economy class. New things that are really exciting.” As a vegan himself, Ari also notes that airlines are offering more options than ever for the plant based community, a token to commercial airlines continuing to strive towards greater inclusivity in so many different ways. Personally, Ari tells me that one day he wants to get an aircraft of his own that he can fly around with friends and family. While he works towards accomplishing this dream, he also is excited for the day he works with film director Taika Waititi.

What makes me so certain Ari will reach these goals? His incredible ability to become hyper focused on his passions and find success in whatever he does. Whether it be learning to fly, juggling numerous credit cards and their respective points, or directing a film, I trust Ari to get the job done- and not just well- first class.