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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American’s New Airbus A321neo Will Load Into Their Schedule Tonight – And Cram In 15 More Seats

by Gary Leff

american plane
Dec 15 2018

American Airlines has 100 A321 ‘neo’ or ‘new engine option’ planes on order (22 of these deliveries have been deferred). Back in August we learned that American would take delivery of its first neo in January. It would be a new ‘dense’ configuration with more seats than the airline has ever put into an A321 before. And that it would become the template for going back and adding seats to existing Airbus A321s as well.

This new Airbus A321neo aircraft is going to be loaded into American’s schedule overnight tonight and the first flights will be bookable starting Sunday.

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A Boeing 737 MAX Went Mechanical in Iran Yesterday – And U.S. Sanctions May Make it Tough to Fly Home

by Gary Leff

Dec 15 2018

Norwegian Air Shuttle flight DY1933 from Dubai to Oslo was flying over Shiraz, Iran at 32,000 feet on Friday when the crew received indication of low oil pressure on the number one engine, shut down the engine and burned off fuel, and diverted to Shiraz.

Norwegian sent a replacement Boeing 737-800 from Oslo to Shiraz to pick up passengers. Mechanics were also flown to Shiraz to deal with the grounded 737 MAX. However sanctions on Iran complicate the airline’s ability to source parts for the aircraft.

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Marriott’s Big Devaluation Postponed Until March

by Gary Leff

hotel pool
Dec 14 2018

Marriott told us from the get go that their new top awards price of 60,000 points per night would last only until 2019 and that next year they’d start charging up to 100,000 points for their best redemptions with the introduction of a new category 8 along with low season and high season prices.

Marriott now says that category 8 will start in March and that the date for launching high and low season pricing is not yet known.

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Southwest Flight Diverts When a Human Heart Was Discovered On the Aircraft

by Gary Leff

southwest plane
Dec 13 2018

The symbol of Southwest Airlines is a heart. This has been a theme of the airline’s since the beginning. They launched at Dallas Love field. Their flight attendants wore pink hot pants (designed by founding airline President Lamar Muse’s first wife). Automated ticket machines were called “Quickies.” Peanuts at Southwest were once known as ‘Love Bites.’ Their New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol remains LUV.

On Sunday, though, it took on a whole new meaning because one of their planes had to turn around because a human heart was left on board.

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United Introducing New ‘Pick Up Pan’ Drink Service for Short Flights

by Gary Leff

united-plane
Dec 13 2018

There’s a change in policy coming to short United effective January 1. Instead of trying to offer a full drink service to economy passengers, flights attendants will pre-pour a selection of beverages and place those onto a “pick up pan” for customers.

It’s a quicker drink service that is easier to complete and also means less choice for customers. Flight attendants will choose what to pour, though they’re encouraged to offer coffee on morning flights.

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American Announces Several New Domestic and International Routes From 7 Hubs, Some Surprising

by Gary Leff

airplane first class
Dec 13 2018

Yesterday United Airlines made a big announcement of new flying from San Francisco. Today American Airlines is out with their own announcement of new flying as well.

American is expected to grow at both Dallas Fort-Worth (in 2019 with new gates coming online) and Charlotte (in 2020 with new gates coming online) and at Washington National (by operating larger regional jets at the dreaded gate 35X is replaced with a new regional concourse). The airline says these are their most profitable hubs.

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