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 »

More articles by Gary Leff »

What We Know About American Airlines Upgrade Changes For 2025

Oct 29 2024

The day after the American Airlines earnings call, executives held a question and answer session for employees. One question came up about mileage upgrades and how elite members were getting passed over – because waitlisting for an upgrade takes away the option to pay a discounted cash upsell amount – and so non-status members buying cheap upsells are trumping elite customers.

The company’s Vice President of Revenue Engineering took that question, and shared more than he was supposed to because they’re planning an announcement for a couple of months from now. I now have the full detail of his answer.

Continue Reading »