Category Archives: airlines

Rakesh’s travel secrets for your holiday travels

Posted on December 21, 2019 by Rakesh Agrawal

Having flown more than two million miles, including more than 45,000 in the past month, Over the years, I’ve developed strategies for coping with the hassles of air travel. I hope you don’t need any of them on your holiday … Continue reading →

Posted in airlines, rocky's travel, travel, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Virgin America knows how to make daily deals work

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

I admit it. I am in the bag for Virgin America. I have been since before they took off. (Literally.) I once live tweeted a flight to San Diego using their in-flight WiFi. Savvy travelers will recognize that the picture … Continue reading →

Posted in advertising, airlines, groupon, local search | 4 Comments

United’s mobile check in not ready for takeoff

Posted on July 4, 2010 by Rakesh Agrawal

On my last trip, I had the opportunity to try United’s mobile check-in and mobile boarding passes. The promise is paper-free check in. It sounds really great, but it’s not quite there. Partly it’s due to United’s horrible user interface, … Continue reading →

Posted in advertising, airlines, customer service, mobile, ui, wireless | Tagged export | 6 Comments

Favorite airports from around the world

Posted on August 8, 2009 by Rakesh Agrawal

I’ve been doing a lot of travel the last few years and have gone through a lot of airports. There are huge variations in quality from airport to airport and even within terminals of the same airport. A few stand … Continue reading →

Posted in airlines, travel | 11 Comments

The benefits of starting from scratch

Posted on August 8, 2009 by Rakesh Agrawal

Today marks the second anniversary of the launch of Virgin America, an upstart carrier that has inspired many loyal followers. Virgin America is a clear example of the benefits of starting from scratch. Among Virgin’s features: Brand new planes. Cheerful … Continue reading →

Posted in airlines, customer service, travel | 4 Comments

Online at 36,000 feet: trying Gogo WiFi on board

Posted on May 29, 2009 by Rakesh Agrawal

I tried inflight WiFi last week aboard Virgin America. The day I flew happened to be the same day Virgin became the first U.S. airline to offer Internet access across its entire fleet. I live tweeted and uploaded pictures to … Continue reading →

Posted in airlines, travel, twitter | 2 Comments

A wow experience from United Airlines. Wow.

Posted on May 4, 2009 by Rakesh Agrawal

It’s rare these days that a company impresses with customer service. It’s even rarer when that company is an airline, especially an American airline. That’s the experience I had last week when I was flying home from New Orleans on … Continue reading →

Posted in airlines, customer service, travel | 15 Comments

The ad is a lie

Posted on August 31, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

While watching the Olympics, I was struck by a gorgeous animated ad. A lobster conducts an orchestra of other sea creatures playing Gershwin. As soon as I recognized Rhapsody in Blue, I knew it had to be a United Airlines … Continue reading →

Posted in advertising, airlines, travel | 2 Comments

Occasional reader – Airport security, future of journalism, working with Yahoo!

Posted on May 18, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

Some interesting reads from the past couple of weeks: The Airport Security Follies (New York Times blog) – Pilot Patrick Smith takes a look at the idiocy of our airport screening processes. Smith argues (and I fully agree) that airport … Continue reading →

Posted in airlines, journalism, media, newspapers, reader, social networking, travel, web 2, web 2.0, weekly reader, yahoo | Comments Off

Virgin America takes to the skies; Chron doesn’t

Posted on August 10, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

Wednesday marked the inaugural flights of Virgin America, a new low-cost airline based in San Francisco. Virgin America is currently flying from San Francisco to Los Angeles and New York. This fall it will add flights to Las Vegas and … Continue reading →