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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The Mysterious Flight That Turned Back to LAX Yesterday – And the Best Source Was a Supermodel

portrait of woman
Dec 27 2017

Last night I wrote that supermodel Chrissy Teigen was live tweeting an aviation incident where ANA flight NH175 from Los Angeles to Tokyo was turning around midflight because there was a passenger onboard who wasn’t supposed to be on the plane.

I find “a passenger boarded the wrong flight” a strange explanation, or rather there’s more to the story about the failures that led this passenger to be onboard and cause the flight to turn around several hours after departure.

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How to Handle American’s New Connecting Flight Award Availability to Get the Ticket You Want

american plane
Dec 26 2017

I’ve written a few times recently that American has seemed to offer better award availability lately. It’s not great, but better than the almost no availability that has reigned for some time. We were promised that in September and goodness knows I hope what we’re seeing now isn’t all there is.

However there’s something important to understand about much of what American has done. They’re offering award space that you can handle to your advantage if you know what you’re doing.

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Should You Assume Your Hotel Upgrade is Free?

Dec 26 2017

This Starwood Platinum member asked for an upgrade and was surprised as check-out to find a $300 per night ‘upgrade fee’ on their bill.

When you’re given an upgrade, with no money discussed, do you assume it’s free? Should you proactively have to ask, or is it the hotel’s responsibility to mention a price if they do want to charge more for an upgrade?

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How Overbooking is (Mis-)Handled in Ghana

Dec 25 2017

When a TAP Air Portugal flight from Accra to Sao Tome (the second leg of a continuing flight from Lisbon) was overbooked by three, the airline didn’t seek volunteers but instead selected 3 passengers at the gate to bump.

Usually passengers without seat assignments are at greatest risk of a bump, but two of the women had had their seats assigned for three months. Often the last passengers to check in might be at risk of being bumped, but they checked in early for the flight.

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Man Stabs Passenger With Smelly Feet

feet plane
Dec 25 2017

Apparently a passenger onboard a Russian domestic flight took off his shoes and then his socks and his feet smelled pretty bad.

A fellow passenger, offended by the smell, started an argument with the man on their flight from Moscow to Kaliningrad and that argument continued even as the plane landed and everyone disembarked.

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Should You Say Something When Passengers Won’t Put Phones in Airplane Mode?

Dec 25 2017

Customers used to sneak a look at their phones during taxi, takeoff and landing. They tried to be as surreptitious about it as possible, to avoid being scolded by flight attendants. Once the ban on small electronics was lifted, and even though those are supposed to be in airplane mode, customers continue to text, browse, and e-mail until they lose their signal in the sky — and re-commence when their aircraft enters final approach.

I don’t remember the last time I saw a flight attendant say something, or ask a customer whether their typing was to queue a message for later or if they were actually connected despite being told to use airplane mode.

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