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 »

A Former American Airlines Plane is Still Missing After 20 Years

by Gary Leff

Big American Plane
May 25 2023

Disappearing planes, and no clear answers, just isn’t something that happens in aviation. There hadn’t been a single commercial aircraft go missing in the prior 13 years. Nearly all the aircraft that have disappeared have been probable crashes. Perhaps surprisingly commercial planes simply aren’t ever stolen. At least they almost never are.

Yet a Boeing 727 disappeared on May 25, 2003 from the international airport in Luanda, Angola. The plane used to belong to American Airlines. It was never found.

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Here’s The Latest Southwest Airlines Strategy To Avoid Another Meltdown This Summer

by Gary Leff

May 24 2023

It’s been five months since Southwest Airlines experienced an unprecedented meltdown. They initially blamed weather, but they were cancelling over 60% of their flights a day even while other airlines throughout the country were operating normally. They found themselves short-staffed, and without the systems to recover. Their phone system broke. And they had to rebuild schedules manually, getting in touch with crews one at a time. And this went on for a week.

Now the airline is headed into summer – peak travel – so observers both inside and outside the company are asking whether they’re ready.

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How Airlines Collude To Raise Prices, Right In Front Of Regulators

by Gary Leff

May 24 2023

The Department of Justice successfully sued in District Court to block American Airlines and JetBlue from continuing to cooperate in their ‘Northeast Alliance’ where they divvied up which carrier flew to which city, and shared revenue.

The judge’s decision cites some pretty interesting coordination over pricing that happens in the airline industry prior to and outside of this alliance. Competitors talking about pricing, and in particular how to raise prices, is forbidden, and yet they seem to do it in plain sight without actually saying “let’s do the crime” so that they can get away with it.

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Fake Reviews Battle On TripAdvisor After St. Regis Chicago Mistreats Marriott Elite Members

by Gary Leff

May 24 2023

The brand new St. Regis Chicago wasn’t offering Marriott Bonvoy Platinum members breakfast as they’re required to. They claimed that their restaurant was operated by a third party, and this got them out of the obligation. This all was addressed quickly, in just a couple of days.

In the meantime, however, there were a flood of consumer reviews of the property on TripAdvisor – most of which were very bad (and likely fake).

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Payments Company Plastiq Files For Bankruptcy

by Gary Leff

check
May 24 2023

Many frequent flyers use Plastiq to pay bills with a credit card, they charge the card (and you earn miles) and they pay electronically or via check. Their fees have increased in recent years and are now up to 2.9%, but some find it worthwhile for paying things like mortgages and car payments that can’t otherwise be charged – especially when earning an initial bonus for a new credit card, or earning high spend bonuses and credit towards elite status.

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Chase Becoming 3rd Largest Online Travel Agency To Rival Expedia, Booking.com

by Gary Leff

chasebank
May 23 2023

Chase has been planning ‘the new Chase Travel’ for some time. They even promised it would launch last year. The idea is to bring together all of the disparate assets, from booking to dining to advice, in order to become a force in lifestyle that competes with the biggest players in the space. This is supposed to appeal to affluent customers who will be stickier with Chase’s banking services, and help them grab a greater share of investable assets and card spend.

They provided some data on where they are and where they’re going as part of the bank’s investor day.

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