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 »

Airbnb Trashes Hosts Who Make You Do The Laundry In Announcing Major Changes

by Gary Leff

Nov 07 2022

Airbnb makes sense in towns where there aren’t suitable hotels. It makes sense to rent a full house for a large family or when traveling with a group of friend. But the current homesharing model is very broken, and as a result choosing Airbnb makes no sense for most stays.

The company understands that and wants to change that. It’s updating how prices are shown, and shaming hosts that impose bizarre conditions on guests. In fact, the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb is shaming owners who make guests do laundry before they leave.

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Report: Plaza Premium Lounge, Orlando Airport Terminal 3

by Gary Leff

Nov 06 2022

Orlando International Airport’s new terminal C has only been open for about six weeks. The new Plaza Premium lounge in the terminal is now open, and it looks fantastic.

Plaza Premium lounges can be accessed with American Express Platinum and Centurion cards and Capital One Venture X cards can access the lounge, too. It’s also available as a pay-in.

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Delta Asks Business Class Passengers To Consider Skipping Meals, For The Environment

by Gary Leff

Nov 05 2022

Delta Air Lines has added an option for business class passengers to “Skip First Meal Service” as part of their pre-selections for on board service. Customers fying long haul in the ‘Delta One’ cabin might choose Trout, non-meat Meatballs, chicken breast or to skip the meal. That is described as having an environmental benefit, to “help[..] reduce food waste.”

The airline’s business class passengers, booking the least expensive business class ‘Z’ fare roundtrips on a route like Detroit to Seoul, are currently spending over $8000 roundtrip. And the airline is asking them to help save money on catering bills.

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Passengers Suffer Miserable Airport Food While Politicians Take Cash From Vendors

by Gary Leff

Nov 05 2022

Airport concessions companies suck. Most of the restaurants you think you’re eating at aren’t actually run by the people you think they are. The brands are licensed by airport concessions companies like OTG, Delaware North, and HMSHost. When a brand wants to do something that’s actually good they even advise against it.

Yet St. Louis is about to demand another decade of mediocrity in a long-term no-bid deal with major political donors.

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Woke United Airlines Suspends Twitter Ads

by Gary Leff

Nov 05 2022

I have no idea what the future holds for Twitter. It was a bloated laggard under CEO Parag Agrawal and before. Musk is blowing things up, and that will either go very well or very badly. But it will be more interesting and more focal for awhile in either case. It seems like a mistake to walk away rather than to be a part of it, at least a little bit even if you’re hedging your bets elsewhere int he meantime.

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