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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A Hotelier’s Perspective on Why Airline Customer Service is So Bad

Starwood CEO Adam Aron had an interesting story to tell when I interviewed him on stage in Atlanta. He began his career at Pan Am, where he eventually launched their first frequent flyer program. When he started at the airline he was taken into a dark room and put in front of a screen where he was shown a two hour documentary on the runway collision of two Boeing 747s at Tenerife in 1977, known as the deadliest accident in aviation history. A KLM flight tried to take off while Pan Am’s 747 was on the runway. Everyone onboard the KLM 747 was killed, and 335 people onboard the Pan Am aircraft lost their lives. As the video ended his colleague walked into the room, and told him that every decision at the airline matters.…

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