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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Video of American Airlines Supervisor Yelling at a Mechanic Was Leaked with an Agenda

by Gary Leff

american workers are worth it poster
Jun 14 2019

The viral video of an American Airlines employee yelling at one of their mechanics turns out to be from back in November.

This not safe for work video is a snippet of a supervisor yelling at a mechanic over writing up items on an aircraft and then not fixing them, because the mechanic’s shift was apparently over. I didn’t cover the video when it was making the rounds at the beginning of the week because there just wasn’t enough context around it. Now we know the story.

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I’m Going to Rent My House to My Wife and Earn 30,000 British Airways Miles

by Gary Leff

airbnb mobile
Jun 14 2019

What if you want to earn the miles but don’t want someone sleeping in your bed and doing goodness knows what else in your home? Maybe I shouldn’t literally list my home and have my wife rent it, we have the same last name, but her parents have a different last name. 30,000 Avios for the fees associated with a one night rental is a pretty good deal.

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52 Year Old New Jersey Woman Was Supplying Parts to Iran’s Airlines

by Gary Leff

mahan air plane
Jun 14 2019

At the end of the Obama administration significant sanctions on Iran were lifted. We started to see a flurry of economic activity including a deal to buy 80 Boeing aircraft. There was even talk of Iran Air breathing life into the Airbus A380 program. Those hopes were dashed with the re-introduction of sanctions by the current administration.

Yet Iran commercial aviation managed to keep to the skies, in part because of ‘smuggling’ of aircraft parts into the country.

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Delta Destroys Priceless Cultural Artifacts After Forcing Woman to Gate Check Her Bag

by Gary Leff

delta plane
Jun 13 2019

We all know the usual tropes, like ‘there are only two kinds of luggage: carry on and lost’ and that someone who checks a bag for a trip every week is spending at least 2 days a year at baggage claim. Checking bags is something you want to avoid if you possibly can.

Here’s how to avoid being forced to gate check a bag when the contents inside are too important to risk.

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7 Simple Steps Would Make American Airlines Great Again

by Gary Leff

american-airlines-plane
Jun 13 2019

A simple set of recommendations, all within reach and none unprecedented, could make American Airlines not just the largest in the U.S. but also the best: improve the operation, improve the domestic premium product, offer reasonable award availability to sustain the driver of the airline’s profitability and compete in the most important markets.

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