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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Hawaii Covid Restrictions May Change AGAIN, Driven By The Governor’s Race Not Safety

hawaii
Dec 03 2020

After several months of delay, Hawaii opened to tourism October 15th. They allowed arriving passengers to skip the mandatory 14 day quarantine by getting a Covid-19 test from an approved vendor within 72 hours of travel.

That’s about to change, because starting Wednesday it will no longer be possible to test out of quarantine when arriving on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai. And that’s not the only change we may see, as local politicians vie for positions ahead of the 2022 Governors’ race where the incumbent faces term liimits.

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TSA Has Been Following Ordinary Passengers And Marking Down When They Use The Bathroom

tsa logo with text on top
Dec 03 2020

Two years ago the Boston Globe revealed that the TSA was following ordinary Americans and taking notes on their habits and behaviors for a file, even though they hadn’t been flagged as threats, for a program called “Quiet Skies.” The TSA denied they were doing this. Then they promised to stop.

The program continued anyway, and the DHS Inspector General found that it’s very, very broken.

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US Airlines Are Considering Requiring Covid-19 Vaccination To Fly. This Is Completely Unnecessary.

Dec 02 2020

While Qantas CEO Alan Joyce was the first to voice a plan to permit only passengers who have been vaccinated to fly internationally, U.S. airlines are considering a vaccination requirement as well.

They want to figure out whether this will give customers confidence to travel, and whether requirements can be made uniform across airlines so they don’t have to compete for customers with vaccine policies. A vaccine requirement though will be unnecessary by the time the vaccine is available enough for this to become possible.

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Ouch: The New American Airlines Safety Video Is Full Of People Who No Longer Work At American

Dec 02 2020

The new American Airlines safety video was supposed to debut back in April. It was delayed due to the pandemic. They queued it for December rollout, but decided it wasn’t a good time and tried to pull it back.

Many of the employees featured in the safety video are… no longer employees. They’ve been furloughed since the video was shot.

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