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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First Class Passengers Get First Dibs on Overhead Bins

Aug 09 2015

American Airlines frequently begins boarding prior to posted boarding time, so when I am going to need overhead space I’m not just boarding 30 minutes prior to departure… I’m showing up at the gate several minutes before that.

Last Tuesday, though, my flight was nearly completely boarded when it was more then 35 minutes prior to departure. I got on and found all of the first class overhead bins closed. A flight attendant opened one for me, directly above my seat. It was empty.

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