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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Pilot Under Investigation for Allowing Woman to Join Him in Cockpit Alone

May 13 2017

A Chinese woman on Pakistan International Airlines flight PK853 from Tokyo to Beijing spent over two hours in the cockpit including time alone with just the pilot, staying there for landing.

An airline spokesperson said “inviting a single passenger into the cockpit was not a security concern.” However it violates airline rules and an investigation was undertaken two years ago when the former wife of the airline’s chairman was allowed to sit in the cockpit during a Lahore – London flight.

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Hyatt Has a Giant New Hole in its Loyalty Program, and I Don’t Know If They Can Fill It

hyatt hotel
May 12 2017

When I heard that Jeff Zidell was leaving Hyatt, I didn’t jump to post about loyalty program news instead I was just sad to learn news about a friend (whether it’s good or bad news for him, it change, and it’s bad news for us).

Here’s the thing: as someone covering travel companies and frequent flyer schemes, I do not have any friends. And it’s always important for someone doing what I do to remember that.

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TSA Lying to the White House? Behavior Detection Officers Not Redeployed to Front Line Screening

people walking in airport
May 11 2017

The TSA has had employees roaming the airports watching passengers, using their spidey senses to figure out who might be a terrorist. They get a couple of weeks of training — not a graduate degree — and the training isn’t really backed up by any science.

Four years ago the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General concluded that the TSA’s behavior detection efforts didn’t work and racially profiled. The TSA literally has no science in its files to support its efforts.

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