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 »

Is Passenger’s ‘African American Service Charge’ On American Airlines A Hoax?

by Gary Leff

Feb 01 2021

Update: This was caused by a data matching error at Capital One Kyetra Bryant flew American Airlines from Charlotte to Denver over Thanksgiving. She and her companion checked in at a kiosk and paid a checked bag fee. She says the charge appeared on her bank statement as “African American, African service charge.” Hey @AmericanAir What is an African American African service charge??!?!? pic.twitter.com/UmR0sBGLPT — A Simp Named Slickback (@___seeryandavis) January 29, 2021 At first it seemed like perhaps a ‘rogue kiosk’ is at fault (because while American is unable to manage processing confirmed upgrades online, they have rogue AI kiosks) or… American Airlines appears to blame Mastercard, The customer alerted American to the offensively labeled baggage fee on her bank statement in mid-December. We were disturbed by what we saw and immediately launched an…

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No Plans For American Airlines To Reintroduce Real First Class Meal Service Before Covid Ends

by Gary Leff

Jan 31 2021

During American’s “State of the Airline” presentation and question and answer with employees, Managing Director of Flight Service Brady Byrnes explained that they’re working through what’s next for meals and are talking with the flight attendants union “about what is the right timing both from a customer and from a crewmember perspective.”

The purpose of American’s current Charlotte meals test is to “kind of understand when we do reintroduce full service, what products we should be offering, kind of streamlining the service for our flight attendants and really making sure that our customers enjoy it.” The return to service is going to be streamlined.

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$10 Billion Embezzled From Bankrupt Airline Group

by Gary Leff

hongkong airlines plane
Jan 31 2021

China’s HNA Group began with Hainan Airlines and then acquired brands like Radisson Hotels; airline caterer Gate Gourmet; 25% of Hilton; nearly 10% of Deutsche Bank; and 29% of NH Hotels. They acquired stakes in Red Lion Hotels; Virgin Australia; TAP Air Portugal: South Africa’s Comair; Azul Brazil and much more. The company’s corporate structure sometimes makes it difficult to discern what they own, what they’ve sold off, and what they’ve merely sold to themselves.

Before the pandemic they worked to reduce a debt load that exceeded $100 billion by selling off assets, but continued to face problems paying for fuel, problems paying employees, and problems paying investors. HNA even offered investors airline airline tickets in lieu of interest payments.

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American Airlines Is Bringing Pre-Order Meals Back For Transcon And Hawaii Flights

by Gary Leff

Jan 31 2021

American Airlines started letting customers pre-select their meals online when they’re flying in premium cabins back in the fall of 2012. Delta didn’t roll out this feature until early 2019 and going into the pandemic United was still in testing.

The airline offered meals pre-ordered between 30 days and 24 hours before a flight, selecting from items that are offered on board anyway. Most meal service on domestic flights was scrapped, though, early in the pandemic.

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This Airline Tried Securities Fraud Before. Now In The GameStop Era They’re Giving It Another Run

by Gary Leff

Jan 30 2021

Barry Michaels has been trying to start an airline for 30 years. The idea all along has been the same: fly Boeing 747s domestically with cheap fares. He used to call the idea “Family Airlines.” And he even went to prison for tax and securities fraud in connection with raising money for the venture.

It’s now called Avatar Airlines, and they’ve sent out a press release ‘planning’ a billion dollar valuation – without even flying!

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