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Dear Julia: I’m a young professional who flies upward of eight times a month — what the oldsters used to call a “road warrior”. Unsurprisingly, I’m addicted to my “CrackBerry”, my laptop and iPad are practically fused to my fingers, and I obsessively scroll through Twitter during the inevitable downtime from waiting in TSA security lines to being stuck on the tarmac. I used to fly whichever airline was cheapest, but now I’m actively searching for one that relates to people like me through social media. I know you fly a lot, too. Who owns the next-gen fliers? — Up in the Air
Dear Air: Having literally just stepped off a redeye from California to New York, I hear you. In fact, I’ve both frust-tweeted United about their lack of Wi-Fi (“Dear @United, Why don’t you have in-air Wi-Fi yet? @VirginAmerica does. I demand answers! Love, Julia”) and congra-tweeted them about my unexpected upgrade (“Fist bumps in the boarding area! HELL YEAH @United!”)
Social media as an avenue to resolve grievances or reward good behaviour is nothing new. Most airlines recognise Twitter and Facebook as cheap, effective and easy methods of both informing customers and mitigating public relations disasters. The question really is: How comfortable are they in their social media skin?
In an attempt to learn who has the best grasp on this new medium, I interviewed representatives of Virgin America, Southwest, JetBlue and United. How do they view social media — is it a burden, or exciting? How are they using it in unique ways? Have they embarked on any programmes they’re particularly proud of? Do they have a “Chief Tweeter”?
With fleetwide Wi-Fi, electrical outlets near every seat and more than 2,30,000 Twitter followers, Virgin America is a lot like your toddler who instinctively knows how to navigate an iPhone. That is to say, digitally native. “Social media has been part of our DNA since the beginning,” explains spokeswoman Jill Fletcher. How could I tell? She used the social media buzzwords “authenticity”, “two-way dialogues” and “real-time” — and even the term “guest” instead of “customer”.
“We pride ourselves on being a tech-savvy airline,” Fletcher says, pointing to numerous social media campaigns, including trivia, fare sales, polling, contests and video content. “We definitely have fun with it.”
Social media rewards personality, and Southwest Airlines certainly has no shortage of it. With 1.2 million Twitter followers, Chief Tweeter Christi McNeill talks of giving their “fans a voice and a platform.” It’s proactive, not reactive. Their other social media goals? “Maintain the FUN-LUVing personality”, “create outstanding multimedia content” and — oh, yeah — “provide critical information during times of crisis”. Eighty of their 550 planes are Wi-Fi enabled, and McNeill says Southwest hopes to have the entire fleet done by 2012.
JetBlue Airways, with the largest Twitter following (more than 1.6 million), views social media as “a savvy two-way street”. “We love that we can bring a more playful and informal voice to our brand, while also publishing real-time updates on unfolding events,” says spokeswoman Allison Steinberg. As such, they’ve created what they call a “Real Time Recovery Team”, consisting of a dozen employees who monitor Twitter and are empowered to help customers get what — and where — they need. They also plan to launch fleetwide Wi-Fi “in the coming year”. (It’s about time!)
United Airlines, with 25,000 followers on Twitter, uses it to “listen, engage and interact with our customers”, says Lora ’Riordan, manager of social media programmes. While not quite as personality-filled as the other brands (“We want to be professional but approachable,” says United), they’ve launched some interesting programmes, including Twares — the highly popular twitter only fares — and “Tweetchat”, which allowed people to ask questions to pilots and flight attendants in real-time.
Of course, like all airlines, the @United account often used as a 140-character punching bag during high-stress travel. “While weather delays and cancellations aren’t our fault, Mother Nature doesn’t have a Facebook page or Twitter account,” says ’Riordan. “So we take the brunt of the customer frustration.”
Hmm... maybe Mother Nature needs to get herself a Chief Tweeter of her own!
