5 Reasons Why an Airline Should Use Social Media
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- Category: Social Media
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- Written by Steven
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Using social media is all about interaction with the passenger. Unfortunately, not every airline uses social media. Below there are 5 appealing reasons for airlines to use social media, I would like to discuss why social media increases customer loyalty. Because airlines can do so much more and better!
1. Special offers and prize contests
Offering special offers and prize contests have always been an effective way to bond with customers. Social media simplifies this, because such offers and contests are instantly received by people who have liked and followed an airline. Expensive advertisements on internet and billboards are now worth an extra consideration.
2. Announcements and flight statuses
When your airline has just announced a new route, a new flight schedule or something else you want to notify your customers; social media helps. Also less positive news can be announced through Facebook and Twitter, like a temporary non-operative route caused by political or meteorological
circumstances or there occurrence of delays at the hub airport,which affects your operation. It’s all possible.
3. Customer services
When your customers have problems with booking a flight, requesting special meals on board or using their frequent flyer miles, your Facebook and Twitter page can be the solution for those customers. Many people are not looking forward to holding the line and eventually speak to a customer service agent. Allocating a few of those agents on your social media network, will give the opportunity to customers to post their problems there. This makes your airline interactive since social media appeals to many people. Additionally, people can post a problem on social media and then relax, without having to wait endlessly with one occupied ear.
4. Entertainment
Regularly posting a nice action photograph of an aircraft in your fleet will make many people’s day. And of course the free version of a prize contest (a contest) is a fun way of bonding with customers. Post an image of a difficult part in an aircraft and ask what this part is called. The person who first posts the name of the part correctly is the winner and deserves all the credit. There are many other ways of course to entertain your followers and likers.
5. It’s FREE!
And the best thing of all: using social media is completely free of charge! Another good reason in these hard economic times.
HEADS UP OR DOWN: THE IPAD AND GENERAL AVIATION
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- Category: Showcase
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- Written by Michelle Bassanesi
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By Michelle Bassanesi
An emerging technology in the aviation industry and the human factors implications of introducing this technology into the general aviation world.
The Apple iPad as an Electronic Flight Bag
For the past year I have been evaluating, for my own personal use, the suitability of the Apple iPad as a tablet computing device to be used as an Electronic Flight Bag (EFB).
This paper is a perfect excuse to put all my thoughts together in one place. I know that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) have published guidelines as suggested best practices to adopt a paperless cockpit and many of them contain Human Factor considerations. One of my major reasons for using an EFB would be weight and the need for less paper reference materials in the cockpit. I have watched the iPad make its way to the airline and business aircraft flight decks. I have interviewed pilots and will share their thoughts in relation to the paperless flight deck. I have also included a personal account of using the iPad whilst flying and as an observer watching other pilots use the iPad.
Share your food & feed a child
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- Category: Social Media
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- Written by iCarms
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Being an active charity supporter, I came across a social media campaign held by Amsterdam Schiphol airport: Share your food and feed a child. This campaign started on the 24th of April and supports UNICEF. With this campaign, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is supporting UNICEF in their work to help children worldwide, and specifically children who are malnourished and are not able to feed themselves due to the conditions they live in.
What Are You Doing Today To Prepare For Your Future?
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- Category: Column
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- Written by Michelle Bassanesi
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By Michelle Bassanesi
I believe my future passes through the future of those around me. By sharing my experiences and mentoring others forward towards their dreams, I get closer to achieving mine: creating opportunities and awareness through Aviation and Women in Europe (www.aweu.org) and Women in Aviation International (www.wai.org), mentoring for the Ninety-Nines Professional Pilot Leadership Initiative Program, mentoring for the EAA Women Soar, You Soar program, mentoring for the Girls Fly Programs in Seattle and South Africa, and flight instructing.
Out of an aviation job, as a single mum working full time as Chief Operations Officer and Resource Broker for one of Italy’s oldest events servicing companies based in Rome, I am working towards my Professional Aeronautics degree with Minors in Aviation Safety and Airport Management as an undergraduate Worldwide student with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. I recently passed my FAA ATP (Airline Transport Pilot) and Flight Engineer knowledge tests, Biennial Flight Review and Instrument Proficiency Check with flying colors!
Read more: What Are You Doing Today To Prepare For Your Future?
We wanted to stay connected, Didn't we?
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- Category: Social Media
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- Written by iCarms
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We wanted to stay connected didn’t we? The headline on a dutch new site (Nu.nl) read: The party of Labour (known as PvdA) wants wifi on European aircraft.
Most of us already know the drill when boarding an aircraft, turn off your MP3 player, PSP, DS, CD player, mobile – basically anything that connects, until further notice. But, I know all of us have forgotten to, at least once, turn off these devices. I did, as a child I thought I had maybe caused the airplane to follow a completely different route than it was supposed to. I was so glad we landed at our destination and remember warning the flight attendant on our way out that I had forgotten to turn it off, she told me not to worry - that should’ve tipped me off then.
So, what’s up FAA? It’s a safety thing. The FAA regulations prohibit most portable electronic devices on an aircraft, allowing voice recorders, hearing aids, heart pacemakers and electronic shavers, because these are proven to not give off signals that would interfere with the aircraft systems. But, four years ago, the FAA cleared in-flight Wi-Fi for take-off on American Airlines.
Well, Wi-Fi, it’s about time. I am not the type of person who keeps track of which party is who or what they do (believe me, after having the subject “The government of – insert country –“quite a few times, each being different for every different school, you just didn’t care, yes I know I should be a bit more updated on the matter, and I am usually never politically correct, but let us talk about aviation now). Dutch politician of the Labour Party Judith Merkies, announced that “Personal electronic devices (PEDs) with an internet connection cannot be ignored in today’s daily life, you do not have to be a trend watcher to see that the use of PEDs will grow at rapid speeds the coming years.” Adding to that, Judith Merkies, who is also part of the European Parliament, asked the European Commission what steps they were going to take to make Wi-Fi possible onboard aircraft.
This all has partly to do with Social Media, remember my last blog, Can passengers live without Social Media? Guess what the most popular site is on Delta Flights? Facebook. Enough said.
