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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Passengers Evacuate Departing Aircraft When Passenger’s Cell Phone Charger Catches Fire

cell phone charger on fire
Aug 01 2018

A Ryanair flight from Barcelona to Ibiza had just pushed back Tuesday late afternoon when a passenger’s cell phone which was being charged by an external battery, caught fire. Everyone was evacuated down emergency slides and onto the tarmac.

The only injuries were incurred on the slide with passengers falling over each other to get out and incurring burns from friction across the slide. Here’s video.

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A Simple Tip for Using My Home Airport: Austin

airport drop off
Jul 31 2018

Avoid pickups at arrivals altogether especially in the evening and get picked up at departures instead. There are few evening departures from Austin, so the upstairs departures level is mostly empty.

And this is permitted, too. Electronic signs beneath the names of airline names in front of the terminal read “DROP OFF PICKUP ONLY.” The airport officially encourages upstairs pickups! I’ve also never had an Uber driver refuse an upstairs pickup. You have to specify a pickup location at arrivals, but I then immediately send a pickup message asking for upstairs pickup. The driver almost always thanks me (and this is probably why my Uber rating has climbed to nearly 4.9).

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New Worst Airline in the Country? Meet Via Air

via air plane
Jul 31 2018

Via Air moved from public charter operations to running commercial Essential Air Service subsidized flights out of Beckley and Parkersburg, West Virginia to Charlotte in 2014. They also ran unsubsidized flights from Beckley and Parkersburg to St. Augustine, Florida.

The Florida-based carrier has since expanded operations and has a fleet of 6 fifty seat Embraer ERJ-145s and 4 thirty seat EMB-120 Brasilia turboprops.

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American Airlines: Department of Transportation is Rethinking Approach to Joint Ventures

qantasplane
Jul 31 2018

oint ventures seek anti-trust immunity to allow airlines to work together on schedules and pricing, and to split up the revenue they earn together on designated routes.

Proponents argue that they’re a second-best workaround to limits on foreign ownership of airlines. However joint ventures remove competitors from the field. Foreign ownership could increase competition, bringing more capital, while these joint ventures reduce competitors.

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With GOP Primaries Over and Fewer People Watching, Governor Suspends Georgia Jet Fuel Tax

delta badge
Jul 31 2018

Delta and United rescinded their group discount offer for NRA members. United is based in Chicago and everyone expects gun violence there. Delta took a lot of heat for their position and tried to walk it back claiming they weren’t really taking a position on the issue.

The state legislature dropped an attempt to repeat the jet fuel tax that would have been a big subsidy for Delta. This was signaling to GOP primary voters.

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An Airport Lounge United, American, Delta and Frontier Elites All Can Access

lounge
Jul 30 2018

Back in April I wrote about hidden lounges: airport clubs your membership gets you into but that your airline doesn’t tell you about.

The perfect example of this is The Club at Bluegrass in the Lexington, Kentucky airport can be accessed by any Admirals Club member, United Club member, or Delta Skyclub member.

It turns out there’s an airport lounge that grants access to pretty much everyone’s elites.

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