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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United No Longer Sees Travel Recovery Directly Tied To The Course Of Covid-19

by Gary Leff

united plane
Oct 16 2020

This is an exceptionally interesting development, if true, both for the recovery in travel but also beyond that for understanding how the U.S. is responding to the Covid-19 epidemic as it progresses.

During Thursday morning’s United Airlines third quarter earnings call, airline CEO Scott Kirby reiterated his view that we won’t see full recovery of air travel until there’s a widely available vaccine, which he anticipates in the second half of 2021. However the airline also said that there appears to be a decoupling of travel bookings from the course of the virus.

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Huge Win For Boeing, European Regulators Sign Off On 737 MAX Even Before The U.S. Does!

by Gary Leff

airplane flying
Oct 16 2020

While the FAA hasn’t signed off on the plane yet, Europe’s safety regulator has gone ahead and publicly stated it is approving it first. That’s huge.

Given the embarrassment of the FAA over the past year and a half over how the MAX was initially approved, and their resulting decline in international prestige, it’s important for world acceptance that the FAA isn’t the only one approving the plane. It’s an even bigger deal that they aren’t even first to say they’ll do so.

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Small Regional Jets Usually Lack The Most Important Covid Protection, But American Airlines Is Adding It

by Gary Leff

Oct 15 2020

HEPA air filtration seems to be one of the reasons that Covid-19 doesn’t appear to spread very much on planes.

Many smaller planes, including 50 seat regional jets, do not usually have HEPA air filtration. That’s one reason why I’ve suggested staying away from small planes during the pandemic. However Piedmont Airlines, a regional carrier owned by American Airlines, now has FAA permission to change that.

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Pilot Reports “Flying Object…Too Shiny. Too Fast” As Jetpack Man Returns To LAX

by Gary Leff

Oct 15 2020

On August 30 someone in a jetpack was reported by pilots of an American Airlines flight near LAX. Now it’s happened again. China Airlines flight 215 crew inbound from Taipei reported another man in jetpack at LAX Wednesday afternoon.

At first they flagged a “flying object” but wasn’t sure if it was “a UAV or was it a jet pack?” It was a man in a jetpack flying at 6000 feet over Century City.

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WestJet Pulls Out Of An Entire Region Of Canada, Won’t Give Customers Refunds

by Gary Leff

westjet plane taking off
Oct 14 2020

WestJet says customers will get travel credits, and since it may be years before they return to a customer’s city they “will extend the travel credit expiry date” beyond 24 months. WestJet may never return to some cities, may never return with service that works for a customer, and years into the future the name of the game is breakage. Indeed, customers may actually die while waiting to use their WestJet credits.

Yet the airline “notes the Canadian Transportation Agency has deemed acceptable given the realities of COVID-19” to offer flight credits and not refunds. Perhaps this brazen move will challenge that earlier guidance.

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Mask Protests On Planes Are Not Conservative

by Gary Leff

Oct 14 2020

New video circulating on social media appears to show an African American Trump supporter kicked off of a Southwest Airlines flight for taking down his mask ‘while eating’. The suggestion is that he’s really being kicked off for being a Trump supporter while following the rules.

What the video really shows is anti-mask protestors on a plane who don’t understand what it means to be a conservative.

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