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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Korean Air Announces Huge Award Devaluation and Other Program Changes

by Gary Leff

korean air
Dec 13 2019

Korean Air says they’re making significant changes to their frequent flyer program, but only giving us the briefest sketches of what that might be. A new distance-based award chart is available in Korean and pricing for premium cabin awards, especially long distance premium cabin awards, because much more expensive.

Korean says they’ll be testing cash and miles awards, shifting to more revenue-based mileage-earning and distance-based redemptions, and revamping the elite program. That distance-based redemption chart is what I’m disappointed in.

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Don’t Fall For The Hype: Qantas Hasn’t Pulled The Trigger On “Project Sunrise”

by Gary Leff

Dec 12 2019

Qantas announced today that they have selected the Airbus A350-1000 for ‘Project Sunrise’ ultra long haul flights such as Sydney – New York JFK and Sydney – London.

The news here is that they’ve deferred a decision, not that they are doing anything. And their aircraft selection just means they’ve tentatively decided not to order the Boeing 777X. It doesn’t mean they’ve ordered ultra long haul planes. And it doesn’t mean they’re going to fly these routes.

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Drip, Drip, Drip: American Pushes Out the Return of the 737 MAX to Service Again

by Gary Leff

plane tv
Dec 12 2019

The return of the 737 MAX is like every other delay on American Airlines. You show up at the gate before scheduled departure time, because the flight board says you’re leaving on time. But there’s no aircraft at the gate, so that’s impossible.

The plane pulls up, passengers flood out into the terminal, and you stand there waiting. American updates your new departure time, but it isn’t until after that time passes that the departure time gets updated again. You have a mechanical delay and American keeps pushing your scheduled departure out 10 minutes at a time, updating with a new time only after the last one passes.

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No New Crackdown on American Airlines Inflight Credit Card Marketing After All

by Gary Leff

steward on plane
Dec 12 2019

Earlier today I noted Lewis Lazare‘s Chicago Business Journal story that a new American Airlines memo to flight attendants was aiming to rein in their inflight credit card marketing.

The piece said American was telling flight attendants not to market the card when passengers are trying to sleep, or during emergencies, and to read the card announcement script verbatim. However an American Airlines spokesperson tells me that Lazare got it wrong, he didn’t have a new memo to flight attendants, just their standard training.

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Emirates Will Introduce a New Cocktail Bar In Business Class

by Gary Leff

private airplane bar
Dec 11 2019

Dubai-based Emirates Airlines was the first airline in the world to put showers in international first class. Even though Etihad, whose home airport is a mere 72 miles away in Abu Dhabi, added showers to their Airbus A380s the Emirates shower suite remains the gold standard.

They also installed a bar at the back of business class. They’re hardly the first airline to do this, but they dedicated significant real estate to the bar. It’s tended throughout the flight, there are snacks and good libations on offer.

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