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 »

More articles by Gary Leff »

Should Southwest Airlines Comp Drinks During Delays?

by Gary Leff

southwest plane
May 25 2019

Prior to deregulation the Civil Aeronautics Board ‘experimented’ with the idea of price competition and allowed airlines to undercut Southwest Airlines prices. Southwest, flying only inside Texas at the time, wasn’t subject to CAB price regulation.

Texas International Airlines (which would later acquire Continental, Eastern, People Express, and Frontier) along with Braniff started offering $13 fares between Houston and Dellas. Not to be undercut, Southwest introduced a two-tiered fare structure, rebating each customer paying full fare with a bottle of liquor. Southwest became the largest liquor distributor in the state of Texas.

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Your Credit Cards are Dirtier than the Bathrooms at New York’s Penn Station

by Gary Leff

phone in case that cleans germs
May 25 2019

A new study looked at germs on different forms of payment mechanisms and how they compare to some of the more disgusting things we can think of. And while little compared to a door handle of a McDonald’s in New York, or to a city parking meter, the credit cards, bills, and coins we use may be more germ-laden even than the bathrooms at New York Penn Station or a New York subway pole.

Testing “40 debit and credit cards, 27 different bill denominations, and 10 coins for germs” each surface “was swabbed with a handheld germ testing device and assigned a ‘germ score’ to rank the item on the disgusting scale.”

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Great New Zealand Business Class Award Availability, Just 49,000 Points Each Way

by Gary Leff

skyline
May 25 2019

Historically awards between the US and New Zealand have been one of the toughest things to book. Years ago Air New Zealand used to open up business class awards 60 days prior to flight. Then they stopped. With a couple of brief exceptions there really hasn’t been meaningful Air New Zealand business class award space in years.

Up until today, this was a unicorn. Or snuffaluffagus. There were rumors of Air New Zealand business class award space, but no one knew if it actually existed.

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Austin Airport Now Has a New Outdoor Deck Open to All Passengers

by Gary Leff

outdoor lounge
May 24 2019

At the very end of the terminal by gates 1 and 2, the new wing of the airport that just opened, is a Delta SkyClub. It’s a fantastic space. But maybe the best secret of the airport is that if you head up the elevator or walk up the stairs to the SkyClub there’s also a public space that any passenger can use.

There’s indoor seating, sort of a public use lounge, that’s outside of the club entrance. And just like the new SkyClub has an outdoor deck, the airport has a public use deck as well that’s even larger. Facing the east runway, it’s a Central Texas aviation geek’s dream.

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The 737 MAX Could Be Re-Certified in June, Fly Again This Summer

by Gary Leff

plane tv
May 24 2019

The US government is ready to see the 737 MAX re-certified by the end of June — mere weeks from now, as American Airlines CEO Doug Parker predicted. Whether or not that happens may depend on getting some other world agencies to go along. They won’t likely have unanimity, and won’t hold themselves to that standard. But I imagine they’ll hold off until they get Europe and Canada, though not China, to sign off with them.

Once that happens it will take time for airlines to go through steps to bring the plane back into their schedule, which makes cancellations through mid-August taken weeks ago by US carriers seem wise — and suggests that the process to bring the MAX back to the skies is proceeding as expected.

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