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 »

JetBlue Makes Basic Economy Better, Drops Carry-On Bag Restrictions

by Gary Leff

Jun 18 2024

Basic economy matters as a way to differentiate corporate travelers (who generally pay more) from leisure customers (who are price sensitive). The old methods of Saturday night stay and 14-day advance purchase no longer hold.

But customers aren’t as stupid as airlines assume, or maybe even used to be. They compare the offerings of airlines – at the same price, nearly everyone offered better value than JetBlue. Certainly Delta – which has free wifi, too – offered better value in both New York and Boston than JetBlue’s basic fares. That hurts JetBlue, which wins only when customers go out of their way to choose them over competitors.

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Why First Class Falls Short: The Shocking Truth About U.S. Airline Meals Versus The Rest Of The World

by Gary Leff

Jun 18 2024

Increasingly, airline customers have been willing to spend more money for a better experience. It used to be that people booked on schedule and price and were willing to take whatever they had to in order to get where they’re going as long as things operated reasonably on time. That’s no longer the case, yet even premium airline products haven’t adapted, at least domestically.

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Air New Zealand CEO Diverts Flight So It Can Pick Him Up, Then Serves Drinks

by Gary Leff

Jun 17 2024

Air New Zealand’s CEO Greg Foran may have violated his flight attendant union contract scope clause by taking over cabin crew duties to serve drinks to passengers on a flight from Auckland to Tokyo. (I kid, I kid.)

He was trying to make up for having the flight diverted – to pick him up, along with a New Zealand trade delegation of 30 business leaders, government officials, and media.

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Big Airline Lobbyists Win? FAA Will Move Forward With Crackdown On Comfortable Scheduled Charters Like JSX

by Gary Leff

Jun 17 2024

Last summer, the FAA outlined an intention to ban JSX and other scheduled public charter operators, largely because they offer a popular, quality product that competitors do not like.

Now the FAA says that it will move forward with a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would – at least in some cases – prevent public charter operators from selling scheduled flights from private terminals, using co-pilots with fewer than 1,500 flying hours.

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