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 »

Hotel Cancels Award Stay Because They Found Someone Better To Rent Rooms To

by Gary Leff

Jul 03 2021

Your travel reservations are never guaranteed, if the travel provider can sell your trip to someone else for (enough) more money. I wrote recently about Hilton cancelling all summer reservations at a Hawaiian hotel property, leaving guests with few options when the hotel had a chance to sell out to a single group booking. Now a similar situation has happened with Hyatt, though unsurprisingly Hyatt did more for the guests that were bumped.

A customer booked at Alila Ventana Big Sur in September on points for their 25th anniversary found that their reservation was being cancelled by the hotel because the property got a better deal from a group booking.

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Austin-Area Congressman Stands Up On Southwest Flight, Flouts Mask Mandate

by Gary Leff

Jul 02 2021

Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX), who represents 10 counties in Texas including parts of Austin and areas North of San Antonio, frustrates me. He was Senator Ted Cruz’s Chief of Staff. He was a critic of Donald Trump until he ran for Congress when he became a supporter. He opposed the President’s calls to overturn the 2020 Presidential election, declared the President to have committed impeachable offenses, but voted against impeachment.

He calls for ‘law and order’ but doesn’t seem to think those rules apply to him.

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Australia’s Covid Plan Could Keep Borders Closed To Visitors Until 2024

by Gary Leff

Jul 02 2021

Australia, like several island nations, won the first phase of the pandemic. They managed to contain the virus through strict lockdowns and border restrictions, and for much of the last year and a half life has been relatively normal. Now they’re losing the long phase, and the nation’s Prime Minister laid out a re-opening plan that could stretch years. I do not expect it to take nearly as long.

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United Airlines Just Re-Opened Several Clubs, Has A Schedule For Re-Opening More

by Gary Leff

Jul 02 2021

With a big aircraft order and a new commitment to seat back video screens, including retrofitting existing aircraft, United Airlines is trying to capture the mantle of a premium carrier that customers will choose to fly.

However they’ve been slow to re-open their club lounges. Fortunately the airline is feeling the pressure, has started to re-open more of its clubs outside of hubs, and has a plan to re-open more over the summer.

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Passenger Can’t Take American Airlines Delay Anymore, Opens Exit Door And Pops The Slide

by Gary Leff

Jul 02 2021

An American Airlines passenger performed his best Hoard Beale from the 1978 film Network on Thursday when the carrier cancelled flight 2398 from Charlotte to Baltimore – after a two hour delay, boarding, and push back from the gate. However there was no one to attach the jet bridge and let everyone off. So the flight full of customers waited. And waited. And waited.

They waited, that is, until our hero decided to open an emergency exit on the full Oasis’d Boeing 737 with 172 passengers, climb out onto the wing, and jump down onto the tarmac.

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