Rafat Ali

Our fave is the permanent electronic bag tag that BA is trialing, for the efficiency of speeding up the check-in process and ease of tracking even for the passengers.

United States should feel happy about these numbers, and has a lot of potential to up these numbers even further, considering the brand pull of U.S. within Brazil.

Airlines is such a strategic sector that it will be a big surprise if this NSA security dragnet hasn't already broken into the systems of air carriers, reservation systems and booking sites.

Skyscanner is the underdog few have heard of stateside. To compete with likes of Kayak and others, it needs a lot more muscle and visibility than it currently has, and maybe it is better off focusing on its stronghold in Europe.

Give your Starbucks jokes a pause, this one in New Delhi is worth going to, if only to marvel at the difference between this store and the best of them in NYC. Add to that the hot, humid and crowded Indian surroundings in August, and the refuge that this very well designed Starbucks offers. This is worth a tourist-gawking trip.

Economic growth or lack of it is mirrored in air travel, and the "Asia Rising" story may be turning around, while Europe comes out of recession and U.S. business confidence increases.

Mobile booking is still in its very stages, and lot more education needs to be done on the consumer end to increase adoption at an even faster rate. Expect more startups to come into the sector, even as larger players continue to make big investments in it.

JetBlue is smart to run an open process on feedback from its employees, while also using video well to get the word out.

Sleeping pods will likely become more common as airports try and compete to become better layover options. This one from Abu Dhabi Airport is a good start, though pickup is tiny so far.

The list, even though one-company specific, shows the meetings and conventions industry is coming out of recession as the broader economy improves. Cities with airports near city centers are doing a lot better.