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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British Airways Shows How Cuts to Quality Destroy an Airline Brand

Dec 09 2017

British Airways no longer has a positive net promoter score among its own customers. They obliterated their reputation very quickly. And data shows that customers have become more likely to leave British Airways for a low cost carrier.

So rather than making BA more competitive, they’ve given up their competitive edge. There are lessons here for US airlines as well.

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Won’t Last: Up to 40% Off Tumi Bags

Dec 09 2017

Tumi doesn’t often big sales. It’s expensive luggage, but it’s the archetypal bag for the business traveler. People love their Tumi bags, and they usually pay full price unless they’re just taking whatever’s on clearance. Amazon currently has 3 bags on sale with free Prime shipping and this won’t last, especially at just a smidge over 40% off for this first one: Tumi Vapor Lite Continental Carry-On, Chili, One Size $495 292.83 Tumi Vapor Lite Short Trip Packing Case, Chili, One Size $515 $385 Tumi Tegra-Lite Max International $695 $555 (HT: Pizza in Motion)

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Even Losing Their Trade Dispute With Gulf Carriers, the Big US Airlines Have Won

airplane docked
Dec 09 2017

After two and a half years of intense lobbying by Delta, American, and United they haven’t been able to get the US government to abrogate its Open Skies treaty with the UAE and Qatar and impose limits on flights and on price discounting by Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar. The Obama administration flat refused to do it.

Ultimately at this point it appears not to really matter whether the US airlines officially ‘win’ the battle, getting Congress or the administration to take action against the US airlines. They’ve already won by creating background uncertainty.

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Three New Things to Know About jetBlue

jetblue plane
Dec 08 2017

jetBlue used to offer more legroom than they do today. They also offered a free first checked bag. Their flights still have a touch more room than American, United, and Delta do in coach. They have free wifi.

Their goal is clearly to be just a little bit better than their competitors, while avoiding being substantially better.

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Warning About Booking the Park Hyatt St. Kitts

Dec 08 2017

I want to make sure everyone considering booking this property is aware of their 90 day cancellation policy.

Even using points — versus a prepaid rate — locks you in. In fact it’s worse than that, because when you don’t show up on a points booking Hyatt has you on the hook for an undisclosed amount of cash, rather than merely forfeiting the points.

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