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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Airline Wanted to Charge Passenger $117 for Urinating in a Bottle When All Lavatories Broke

May 22 2017

Ryanair used to say they were thinking about charging to use the lavatory. It turns out their flight attendants threaten to charge passengers for not using the lavatory.

So if you thought United’s and American’s ‘Basic Economy’ fares where you’re not permitted to bring a full-sized carry on onboard are bad, there are certainly worse fees out there!

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LEAKED: New Emirates First Class Configuration on Boeing 777s

first class seats
May 22 2017

Emirates has one of the world’s best first class products on their Airbus A380 — suites with doors, good food and drink program, onboard showers and a bar behind business class.

Their Boeing 777s, the other mainstay of their fleet, has basically the same first class suite but no showers or bar. It’s a good product, but certainly a notch below first on the Airbus A380.

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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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