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 Loses Thousands of Passengers While Employees Turn Violent

Feb 06 2016

Pakistan is required to privatize the PIA under terms of an IMF loan. Of course the longer that’s put off, the more loss-making quarters private investors will realize.

Employee protests have turned violent in clashes with police involving rubber bullets, water cannons and tear gas.

With the airline’s operations crippled, they do not even know where stranded passengers are.

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GAME ON: United Adds 3-Cabin Service to Premium New York-West Coast Routes

Feb 06 2016

Los Angeles is a hyper-competitive market. There’s no more high revenue market than New York – Los Angeles, with New York – San Francisco following it.

That’s why the routes are so competitive, not just with so many airlines offering service but also with a better product than what’s offered domestically on other routes.

United is introducing 3-cabin Boeing 777 service between Newark and both Los Angeles and San Francisco and between Washington Dulles and those two cities.

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HURRY: Redeem American Miles West Coast to South America in Business Class for the Whole Family

Feb 06 2016

oneworld member LAN will be flying Los Angeles to Santiago, Chile (where they have a whole route network beyond to elsewhere in the region) 3 times a week between October 16 and March 25 operated by a Boeing 787. The aircraft offers 2-2-2 fully flat seats.

Here’s a look at 4 business class seats and see availability in both directions. Availability is best for November and through mid-December.

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2-for-1 Hawaii Tickets from 110 Cities in North America

Feb 06 2016

Virgin America has a 2-for-1 sale on San Francisco – Honolulu and Maui flights in economy for a limited set of dates, and it’s pretty good.

That’s from San Francisco only, but you can actually get 2-for-1 tickets to Hawaii from 110 different cities and get them any day of the year you wish where flights aren’t sold out. I’ll explain how.

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British Airways Flight Attendants Win the Right to Wear Pants! Is That a Good Thing?

southwest flight attendants taking picture outside plane
Feb 05 2016

Female British Airways flight attendants no longer have to wear skirts.

Legacy flight attendants assigned to British Airways’ “Worldwide” fleet could wear pants already. “Mixed fleet” — flight attendants hired over the past 6 years for lower pay, and as a broad generalization that I find provide far better service — required women to wear skirts.

Clearly the role of the flight attendant has changed over time and societal attitudes have changed too.

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American and Qantas Getting Close to Offering Reciprocal Upgrades

Feb 05 2016

American and Qantas were drumming up excitement for their enhanced joint venture back in the fall, and that included talk of reciprocal upgrades across the two airlines. AAdvantage President Suzanne Rubin told the Sydney Morning Herald that reciprocal upgrades with Qantas “is certainly a topic of conversation.”

Talks about reciprocal upgrades have apparently gotten serious enough that the CEO of Qantas is openly talking about them.

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