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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OMG The Hertz Story Is Worse Than I Thought, They May Have Filed 20,000 Police Reports

by Gary Leff

Feb 11 2022

You’d think that after Hertz realized they were mistakenly sending customers to jail, and facing a class action lawsuit, they would take steps to ensure they stop doing it if for no other reason that it would look bad in court to continue but also because post-bankruptcy incidents wouldn’t receive shielding by the bankruptcy court.

And yet I heard from a reader this morning about another incident that occurred this month alleging jail time during the Texas ice storm as a result of a false Hertz report.

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Flight Attendants ‘Forced To Work For Free’ During Boarding, And Over 100,000 People Demand Change

by Gary Leff

Feb 11 2022

There’s a big debate going on about whether flight attendants are fairly paid, based on the idea that they are generally paid only for the time flying and not for the time spent boarding an aircraft. A Change.org petition to change this has garnered over 100,000 signatures.

The petition rests on a fairly fundamental misunderstanding of how mostly-union contracts are bargained on behalf of flight attendants.

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Hertz Is Even Sending People To Jail That Never Rented Cars From Them

by Gary Leff

Feb 11 2022

Hertz seems to have a real problem sending customers to jail for no good reason. As best I have been able to tell, it seems that when a customer changes cars, or extends a rental, Hertz sometimes doesn’t record the transaction correctly in their system. They show the original car as overdue and unreturned, report it stolen, and the customer gets arrested.

But this is a rather unique twist on the Hertz saga. Colorado resident Drew Seaser: He was arrested for stealing a car from Hertz that was rented in Georgia – even though he’d never rented from Hertz… or been to Georgia.

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Award Alert: West Coast – Paris Business Class Saver Awards Using AAdvantage Miles

by Gary Leff

Feb 10 2022

Right now there’s really good business class saver award inventory on one of American’s lesser-known partners. And even better it’s for a West Coast departure to Europe, which is even harder to get.

Air Tahiti Nui has good award space for two passengers in business class flying Los Angeles – Paris Charles de Gaulle in March, April, July, August, and December at a cost of 57,500 American AAdvantage miles apiece.

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American And Alaska Miles Soon To Be Able To Upgrade Travel On 14 Different Airlines

by Gary Leff

first class seats
Feb 10 2022

oneworld says it is on track to roll out the platform for members of one airline’s program in the alliance to use their miles to upgrade on a flight operated by another airline in the alliance.

This would mean members of American Airlines AAdvantage and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan could potentially use their miles to upgrade on at least 14 different airlines.

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United Airlines Fired Key Members Of Its Flight Attendants Union

by Gary Leff

Feb 10 2022

United Airlines fired to key members of its flight attendants union this week. The union is blisteringly angry. The union sent out a message saying they’re outraged. The note, under Sara Nelson’s signature and that of the head of the United union executive council, gave absolutely no specifics on the matter – who was let go, what was alleged, or any defense.

Here’s the story as I understand it.

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