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 »

American’s Chief Commercial Officer Lays Out A New Vision For The Airline

by Gary Leff

Dec 15 2021

American Airlines Chief Commercial Officer Vasu Raja laid out a new vision for the carrier, as part of the announcement of a new senior leadership team that comes with Doug Parker’s stepping down as CEO and Robert Isom taking that position at the end of March.

It’s a customer-focused vision which isn’t something we’ve seen clearly articulated at American Airlines since US Airways took over. (“Caring for people on life’s journey” is too non-specific and milquetoast to count.)

Continue Reading »

American Airlines Names New Senior Leadership Team – But One Spot Is Glaringly Vacant

by Gary Leff

Dec 14 2021

When American Airlines announced that Chairman and CEO Doug Parker would become non-executive Chairman on March 31, 2022 and current President Robert Isom would take over as CEO and join the board, I wrote that Executive Vice President of People and Communications Elise Eberwein would step down as well. That’s now official.

Robert Isom has named his new leadership team and it’s interesting as much for what hasn’t been stated as what has.

Continue Reading »

Spirit Airlines Thinks They Can Win In Memphis With Fares So Low People Will Come From All Over

by Gary Leff

spirit plane
Dec 14 2021

Los Angeles is surprisingly lightly served from Memphis, with Delta offering non-daily service and Allegiant flying the route. There’s no United or American flights. Memphis – Las Vegas has limited service, from Allegiant and Frontier. And Memphis – Orlando has very limited service from Southwest and Frontier. All are routes where Spirit has a shot. And, for their strategy, if the fares are low enough people will come from all over.

Continue Reading »

Hilton Increases Elite Food And Beverage Credit

by Gary Leff

Dec 14 2021

On July 1, 2021 Hilton replaced breakfast as an elite benefit at U.S. hotels with a daily food and beverage credit. This was temporary for 2021.

The concept is amazing (use the credit for a meal other than breakfast, use the credit for room service) but the amount was too low and didn’t cover the least expensive items in major cities. At some hotels it wouldn’t even cover a cup of coffee with tax if you tip (which is expected).

Continue Reading »

Three Routes With Great Business Class Award Space For A Family

by Gary Leff

japan airlines plane
Dec 14 2021

I’ve always known that the key to award travel is flexibility. The best deals are on seats that are going to go unsold. An airline doesn’t always know what seats those are, and may play it conservative not releasing award space until very close to departure. And even then they may be reluctant, worried that someone might redeem miles instead of spending big money on a ticket.

Right now uncertainty is even greater for airlines. How many people will be traveling? Will there be any business travelers, or will it be all leisure? Will there be restrictions on actually flying to a destination? Or perhaps restrictions on the number of flights a week that can be offered?

Continue Reading »