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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City National Bank Crystal Visa Infinite Intermittently Allowing Online Applications

Jul 27 2019

A little over four years ago I first covered the City National Bank Crystal Visa Infinite Credit Card.

At the time it was the only Visa Infinite card you could apply for in the United States. It was interesting because the card offered a $250 airline fee credit, not just to primary cardholders but also to no annual fee authorized users, and also because it offered a Priority Pass for lounge access without guest limits. It’s not a great card for spending but there are other rich benefits as well.

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United Airlines Forgot to Remove the 737 MAX From Their Schedule

united-planes-runway
Jul 27 2019

Southwest, American, and United have all announced that they’re cancelling Boeing 737 MAX flights into early November although the truth is they don’t know when it will fly again. Each previous cancellation has been followed by another one.

Except… while United announced that they were pulling the 737 MAX from their schedule, they apparently forgot to actually do it.

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Why American’s Operational Problems are About More than a Mechanics Slowdown

american airlines hangar
Jul 26 2019

I’ve certainly written the most about the mechanics slowdown component of this issue. It’s what employees and the company have been most vocal about. But even without that the operation would still be suffering. And the reason to get a joint contract done isn’t just to end the animosity (an odd place to be for a company claiming its culture is its competitive advantage), it will also reduce the friction in getting legitimate maintenance work accomplished — on ex-US Airways aircraft by legacy American Airlines employees and vice versa.

Even so, the airline will have to invest in clearing deferred maintenance items. It will have to stock the parts needed to keep the fleet flying. In the meantime they’re still planning to re-start their domestic narrowbody densification program next year, so they’ll be taking additional aircraft out of service. It may be awhile for the airline’s operation to recover even after they get a deal done with mechanics and there’s little indication at this point that a deal is close.

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American Airlines Passenger Dragged Off Flight for Refusing to Change Seats

man being dragged out of airport
Jul 26 2019

An American Airlines passenger on board a flight from Dallas Fort Worth to Los Angeles on Monday wound up “forcibly restrained and dragged off..while cuffed to a wheelchair” after he refused to move to a different seat.

He didn’t like the seat in row 36 so he assigned himself a window seat at the front of the cabin. The passenger actually assigned to that seat showed up, but the man wouldn’t move.

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No, the Trophy for World’s Largest Airline Didn’t Just Pass from American to Delta

american airlines plane
Jul 25 2019

This morning Edward Russell noted at the Points Guy that Delta earned more revenue than American in the last quarter, and United has more seat capacity than both. The title of his post, “American Airlines Loses World’s Largest Airline Title to Delta and United.”

Lucky at One Mile at a Time picks this up, while noting American has a larger fleet and more employees. He suggests American’s personnel count “is just to say that they aren’t very efficient.”

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