Category Archives: airlines

Round and round the carousel goes; where your bag isn’t, the airline knows

Posted on September 27, 2006 by Rakesh Agrawal

I hate to check bags. I hate the wait to see if the airline has lost my bag. And the wait to talk to the overworked agents who have to deal with grumpy customers. Because of the idiotic new “security” … Continue reading →

Posted in airlines, terrorism, travel | Comments Off on Round and round the carousel goes; where your bag isn’t, the airline knows

The TSA’s big show moves to the next act

Posted on September 26, 2006 by Rakesh Agrawal

Today brought stories such as “Authorities say easing ban on liquids won’t endanger fliers”. I fully agree, but only because the ban didn’t do anything to make fliers safer in the first place. Another USA Today story talks about airport … Continue reading →

Posted in airlines, terrorism | 3 Comments

The TSA’s big show – breeding insecurity

Posted on September 17, 2006 by Rakesh Agrawal

I went through security at the airport in Dublin behind someone with a bottle of water. I didn’t even have to take off my shoes. On board the flight to Frankfurt, a Lufthansa flight attendant armed me with a metal … Continue reading →

Posted in airlines, travel | 4 Comments

Using the Web to tell a better story

Posted on August 27, 2006 by Rakesh Agrawal

Today’s crash of ComAir Flight 5191 reminds me how poor a job online news sites (especially those from the mainstream media) do in using the Web. Instead of the plain graphic on the USA Today article referenced above, how about … Continue reading →

Posted in airlines, email, media, newspapers | 2 Comments

Using Caller ID to improve customer service

Posted on August 15, 2006 by Rakesh Agrawal

Whenever my cell phone rings, I know who’s calling. And I usually know what they’re calling about as soon as their picture (or name) appears on the display. I’d like to see companies do this for customer service. I ranted … Continue reading →

Posted in airlines, customer service, travel | 1 Comment

Can you understand me now?

Posted on August 15, 2006 by Rakesh Agrawal

I was traveling a lot last week and ended up calling United frequently for flight information. They use a voice recognition system to provide that data. Horrible idea. In a previous job, I worked on speech recognition systems and know … Continue reading →

Posted in airlines, customer service, travel | 5 Comments

Delta answering questions before they’re asked

Posted on August 2, 2006 by Rakesh Agrawal

I was stuck at Laguardia yesterday and had the opportunity to stare at the flight information display at the Delta gate. The monitors show a rotating array of information, including: Arrival time and origin of the next flight to that … Continue reading →

Posted in airlines, travel | Comments Off on Delta answering questions before they’re asked