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 »

Worst Airline Meal on the Planet?

Feb 03 2019

There are plenty of meal attempts that aren’t even trying, or actively trying to be disgusting.

There’s a recent viral story about an Emirates passenger complaining about their cajun chicken sandwich. Doesn’t look great, but not actively ‘grosser than gross’.

Continue Reading »

Is Hyatt Place Breakfast Really Restricted to Members Booking Direct? Not So Fast!

hotel breakfast food
Feb 02 2019

Effective November 1 Hyatt Place hotels were supposed to stop providing all guests with free breakfast and limit breakfast only to members of World of Hyatt who book through Hyatt channels (or corporate booking tools, since that’s good business).

In practice the Hyatt Place “mornings are for members” slogan isn’t as cut and dried as corporate’s rules appear.

Continue Reading »

Dealing With American Airlines as Operations Melt Down in Snow

plane on snowy tarmac
Feb 02 2019

I was supposed to fly home from Washington National to Charlotte to Austin yesterday afternoon. It looked to me like I would misconnect in Charlotte, and the later Charlotte – Austin flight was sold out. I started looking for alternatives.

This is a story of making bets, playing the odds, and leaning on the help from one of the best club agents in the system — whose tools to work with customers haven’t been taken away… yet.

Continue Reading »

USA Today Upgrade Tip: Take Any Open Seat Because Flight Attendants Can’t Police It

airplane seats
Feb 02 2019

Christopher Elliott takes on his role as the world’s worst travel advisor and tells his audience in USA Today that they have his permission to take any empty seat in coach since flight attendants “can’t police every seat.”

By the way that’s one of his “tips for getting an upgrade.” So presumably we’re not even talking about moving between regular coach seats. Just sit in the premium seat and if questioned tell your cabin crew (and anyone they call in for reinforcements that you had Christopher Elliott’s permission.

Continue Reading »

Air Italy Drops Chicago Flight Before it Even Starts. Time For US Airlines to Stop Focusing on Boogeymen

inside qatar plane
Feb 01 2019

American Airlines has seemed to focus more on trying to government to shut down competitors than on improving its own business. They haven’t gotten their operation working well. They’ve been making their domestic product worse – in all cabins.

Unsurprisingly while other airlines make money flying American loses money flying and earns profits only by selling frequent flyer miles.

Continue Reading »