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 »

Rumor: American to Admit Defeat, Give Passengers More Space in Coach

by Gary Leff

Mar 02 2019

In late 2017 American Airlines rolled out a new coach product. It featured less space than ever between seats (not just in coach, but less space for extra legroom coach and even for first class). There was less recline, too, and no seat back video. They found space for more seats by squeezing inches out of the lavatories. And they found space by taking padding out of the seats.

Not only was this new interior what’s going into their new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, but they’ve been taking more comfortable Boeing 737-800s and ripping out those interiors to match what I’ve sometimes called “Torquemada configuration.”

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Security State Run Amok: Government Distributes Terror Watch List to 1441 Private Organizations

by Gary Leff

Mar 02 2019

The US government maintains a “No Fly List” and airlines are required to check passengers against it before allowing them to fly. They maintain other lists that trigger increased security screening and potentially harassment.

The lists are pre-crime profiling. Not even based on science. And it’s also done very very poorly. People get on the list by mistake, because they’re related to someone who is on it, or because they visited the wrong country in the wrong year. .

These are secret lists that people haven’t been entitled to know they are on, how they got on, or to confront the evidence relied upon to put them on it. Legally there is very little recourse, and when challenged the government claims ‘state secrets.’

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If You Ask Marriott If Your Data Was Stolen, Plan to Wait a Month to Hear Back

by Gary Leff

robber being caught red handed
Mar 01 2019

I’ve continued pressing Marriott for a timeline, how long it will take customers who have submitted even more information to them to find out if their data was part of the breach? They’ve finally shared Thirty. Days. And that’s a ‘goal’. They want you to know they are not breaking the law (‘consistent with regulatory expectations’) which is apparently their standard for customer service.

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American Airlines Updates Its ‘Flat Tire Rule’ to Help If You’re Late to the Airport

by Gary Leff

Mar 01 2019

For many years there’s something that’s been referred to in airline parlance as the ‘flat tire rule’ — if you show up too late to get on your flight, your airline will put you on the next one without a penalty. After all, you may have had a flat tire on your way to the airport, why punish you further? Little is free in today’s airline world any more. In fact “standby” or wait listed travel is no longer free at most US airlines (and not all international ones offer it to begin with). At American Airlines only full fare passengers and elites can stand by for free, and that’s generally only for US travel — otherwise it costs $75 to stand by for an earlier flight. But what about when you miss your flight?…

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American Airlines Fined $1 Million for 13 Illegal Long Tarmac Delays

by Gary Leff

airplane on tarmac
Mar 01 2019

It used to be that an airline would focus more on getting each flight to its destination as quickly as possible, believing it’s better to get passengers and aircraft where they’re going than cancel flights and let passengers off. That equilibrium was shifted in law, and airlines are now supposed to let passengers off of planes rather than holding them on the aircraft — even though it may mean more flight cancellations and mean people don’t get where they’re going as quickly.

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