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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Man in Make America Great Again Hat Removed From United Flight for Self-Upgrading

May 22 2017

Dr. David Dao was hardly the first passenger forcibly dragged off a United flight by law enforcement. He wasn’t even the first Asian male dragged off. He wasn’t even the first Asian male whose dragging off of a United flight was caught on video.

We can theorize, of course, whether an older white male in a Make America Great Again hat is less likely to be dragged by law enforcement, or whether United’s post-Dao reaction is primarily the cause of the change since the last Newark – Shanghai self-upgrader removal.

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Uber’s New Pricing Model May Charge You More, Make You Wish for a Return “Surge”

person holding phone near steering wheel
May 21 2017

A year ago Uber started to replace ‘surge pricing’ with ‘total trip pricing’. Instead of telling you a ride would be 2x, 4x, or 10x ‘normal’ they just started telling you the price. It was still a surge but it was hidden. And much of the uproar disappeared.

And now that Uber presents a price, they’re no longer locked into charging for each trip based on time and distance.

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