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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Mexican Drug Cartel Shoots At Aeromexico Flight As Government Arrests Son Of El Chapo

by Gary Leff

Jan 05 2023

Aeromexico flight AM165 from Culiacán to Mexico City was cancelled after being shot at while taxiing out for departure. The Embraer E-190 (registration XA-ALW) had bullets penetrating the cabin, as passengers ducked.

El Chapo, leader of the Sinaloa cartel, has been imprisoned in the United States since 2019. His son, Ovidio Guzmán, was arrested in Culiacán, Sinaloa, early on Thursday. The cartel sought to break him out of custody before he could be removed from the province.

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The People Deficit That Contributed To Southwest’s Meltdown – And May Continue To Drag Them Down

by Gary Leff

Jan 05 2023

The explanation of technology for Southwest’s woes, while true, also exposes a gap in people. They didn’t have enough people to rebuild their schedules by hand and were taking volunteers from within the company. There’s also a knowledge deficit.

There’s going to be a lot of IT spending ahead, and also a lot of work on culture ahead, for Southwest. Passengers will forgive them. But capital spending and culture are harder. And around a fifth of employees don’t have a long-term experience with the company against which to judge recent unpleasantness, including being stranded away from home for some time.

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