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 Airlines Will Now Sell You a Premium Economy Seat on (Some) International Flights

airline seat
Mar 27 2017

American Airlines is the first US airline with a premium economy cabin. Delta plans to offer premium economy in the 3rd quarter onboard their Airbus A350 aircraft which will mostly fly to Asia. United hasn’t made a formal commitment to premium economy yet.

As of yesterday, premium economy is now for sale as a separate cabin (as it was intended to become) for travel starting May 4. Here’s everything you need to know.

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Tipping Your Uber Driver is Illegal in 13 States

Mar 27 2017

Lyft embeds a tipping function in its app, while Uber does not. However Uber no longer advertises that tips are ‘included’ and allows drivers to solicit for tips. I’m not going to add the stress of cash, proper change, and the awkward friction at the end of a ride. Others take a different view.

I don’t like tipping but there’s no reason why it ought to be illegal — except to varying degrees it is in 13 states including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia!

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Why United Owes All Its Customers an Apology for Yoga Pants

Mar 27 2017

Yesterday a social media firestorm broke out when United Airlines refused to allow passengers to board a flight from Denver to Minneapolis wearing yoga pants. It turned out that the passengers were riding on passes and their dress violated United’s policy for non-revenue travel.

However before United knew the facts of the situation, when it could just as easily have been revenue passengers, the airline defended its actions.

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Do You Want the Cancer? Something I Haven’t Been Asked on a Flight in Years

Mar 26 2017

I flew Southwest Airlines Austin – Las Vegas on Wednesday. It strikes me that this isn’t the only Southwest Airlines flight I’ll be taking in March. For someone that hadn’t set foot on a Southwest aircraft from 1994 through 2014, I guess that makes me a Southwest regular.

They are, after all, the largest carrier at my home airport. And they’ve re-timed their Washington National – Austin non-stop to leave after 5 pm so I can work most of a day and still make it.

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My Favorite Way to Travel

bag
Mar 26 2017

I’m not going to lie I love international first class, and especially flying Etihad’s First Apartment. But at most I do that a few times a year, so that’s not what makes the bulk of my travels better.

I slog it out with well north of 100 flights a year, most of that is domestic. And there’s one thing that makes my travel better than anything else: not checking a bag, but more importantly not needing overhead bin space.

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