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 Airlines CEO Says More Passengers Are Bringing Their Own Alcohol On Planes

by Gary Leff

Jun 26 2021

At an American Airlines employee question and answer session mid-month, a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing, a flight attendant asked CEO Doug Parker about unruly passengers and blamed alcohol – not the alcohol on planes, because American hasn’t been serving alcohol in coach, but the alcohol that passengers have been bringing onto the aircraft themselves.

And the crewmember suggested that American’s move to have just a single agent at each gate to board aircraft makes it tougher to notice and do something about these passengers who are breaking the law and causing incidents inflight before they get onto the plane.

Continue Reading »

American Airlines CEO: Why Passenger Mask Incidents May Rise This Summer

by Gary Leff

Jun 26 2021

At a recent American Airlines employee question and answer event, a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing, a flight attendant asked CEO Doug Parker about frequent inflight incidents with passengers. Parker acknowledged, “much of it is due to the masks, I know.” Parker predicts that the conflicts over masks “may get even harder between now and September 13th.”

Continue Reading »

Hotel Chain CEO Wants People To Tip More Instead Of Raising Wages

by Gary Leff

Jun 26 2021

The plan is to be “encouraging customers to authorize tips at check-in to ensure staff were recognized for their hard work” and having these charged to credit cards, since customers are carrying less cash. They’re also “considering adding a minimum gratuity to restaurant checks.”

This is a tipping point, according to the chain’s CEO, for consumers deciding whether to retain the elevated tipping levels of the pandemic, when consumers felt bad for hotel workers serving customers or whether they’ll revert to pre-pandemic tipping practices. The chain’s task, he believes, is “to educate customers about how hard staff had been working,” and make sure they continue elevated tipping. Hard work shouldn’t be recognized by higher wages.

Continue Reading »

United Passenger Tries To Break Into Cockpit, Opens Aircraft Door And Jumps Onto The Slide At LAX

by Gary Leff

Jun 26 2021

United Airlines flight UA5365 from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City was delayed 3 hours and 40 minutes Friday night, not arriving until 1:25 a.m. on Saturday, after a passenger tried to enter the cockpit of the SkyWest regional jet prior to departure from LAX. When that didn’t work, he opened the door of the aircraft, popping the slide, and slid down onto the tarmac.

Continue Reading »

New York Legislature Has Passed Credit Card Rewards Consumer Protection

by Gary Leff

Jun 25 2021

At the start of 2020 a New York state Senator introduced a consumer protection bill to protect bank points. It prohibits bank points expiration and requires banks to give consumers 90 days to use their credit card rewards points if their account is closed either by the consumer or the bank.

I noted last summer that the legislation had passed the state’s Senate. Now the bill has passed both the Senate and state Assembly, and awaits the Governor’s signature.

Continue Reading »

From Santorini To South Africa, Hyatt Adds 12 New Partner Properties For Earning And Redemption

by Gary Leff

Jun 25 2021

Hyatt has a partnership with SLH Hotels that lets you earn points and status at those properties (when booking paid rates through Hyatt) and redeem points at these same properties, though not all of the hotels are part of this arrangement.

Shortly before the pandemic the partnership had grown to include about half of the SLH hotels. We hadn’t seen any additions since then, which isn’t surprising since many hotels would have wanted to pause investment in integration during the pandemic.

Continue Reading »

Miami Passenger Attacks American Airlines Agent Who Demands She Gate Check Her Bag

by Gary Leff

Jun 25 2021

The situation begins as the agent and passenger have a confrontation over her bag at the bottom of the jet bridge, in front of the aircraft’s boarding door. The woman has words with him, not wanting to give up the bag. They both have their hands on the bag, wrestling for it as the woman tries to board even as she’s told she can’t bring it on. And the words escalate to violence, as she lunges at the employee.

Finally the employee grabs the bag and starts taking it up the jet bridge. The passenger latches onto it, and starts to get dragged with it.

Continue Reading »