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 »

With Airline In Meltdown, Spirit Tells Employees To Hide From Passengers For Safety

by Gary Leff

Aug 02 2021

Spirit Airlines cancelled over a third of its flights on Monday, after having cancelled a similar (though slightly larger) number on Sunday. All day I’ve been hearing about passenger revolts, especially in San Juan, Puerto Rico but also in places like Philadelphia.

In some cases employees… just left. What we’re finding out now is that they may have done this for their safety, to protect them from rioting passengers. And it even appears the airline may have advised them to get out of uniform so they couldn’t be attacked by stranded customers.

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Fight Breaks Out After American Airlines Flight Over Seat Stuck In Recline Position

by Gary Leff

Aug 02 2021

Reclining seats has been a flashpoint between passengers for years. Spirit Airlines seats don’t recline at all – imagine the conflict on a Spirit flight if they did. Spirit has claimed their seats are ‘pre-reclined’.

But what happens when an American Airlines regional jet flight has a seat that’s pre-reclined, possibly due to poor maintenance?

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Why Hotel Covid-19 Tests In Mexico Almost Always Come Back Negative

by Gary Leff

Aug 01 2021

f you manage a resort hotel in Mexico, most of your guests may be coming from the United States. They need a negative Covid-19 test to fly home. Making testing convenient has been key to attracting guest. Hotels in Mexico – whose business depended on it – made testing easy and often included with a room booking. As a result business has boomed.

But if you’re running a hotel, what test do you get for your guests? Hotels want tests that come back negative.

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Congressman Brings Gun Through Airport Security, Police Stores It For Him So He Doesn’t Miss Flight

by Gary Leff

Aug 01 2021

Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) is one of the youngest members of Congress ever, and the first one to be born in the 1990s.

He brought a gun through a TSA checkpoint. He wasn’t arrested, didn’t have the gun confiscated, and wasn’t even asked to take it out of the airport. Instead the gun was stored for him while he left on his trip, to avoid causing him any delay.

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