A report has highlighted that major airlines, such as American Airlines (@AmericanAir) and Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir), are now monitoring Twitter almost around the clock.

Published: 21 Apr 2011

A report has highlighted that major airlines, such as American Airlines (@AmericanAir) and Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir), are now monitoring Twitter almost around the clock.

Through such initiative, the airlines are “trying to show customers they’re really listening to everything…,” reported nbcdfw.com.

Focus

Citing an example, the same report filed by nbcdfw.com, referred to the case of a passenger, who was concerned about catching a connecting flight. She turned to Twitter using the on-board Wi-Fi system and sent a tweet straight to company headquarters from 35,000 feet. The airline’s social media team responded and conveyed that the connecting flight was also running late and there won’t be any problem.

“She (the passenger) basically fired up her army of promoters, who were basically tweeting at us to help us resolve her situation,” said Andy Backover, American’s managing director of external communications. The effort resulted in a positive experience for the same passenger.

Airlines have started helping passengers stay connected with each other through the use of social media even while in the air. Falling in the category of 'entreplanement', airlines such as Delta, US Airways, Virgin America, and United Airlines are welcoming free access to Facebook on-board through in-flight Wi-Fi, according to Cheapflights.co.uk, which recently highlighted some of travel’s top tweeting trends and social media opportunities.

Also in addition to customer loyalty, another area of focus is deals. Following airlines on Twitter or liking them on Facebook can often mean being the first to see and access the best deals, maximising on rewards programmes, and enjoying special offers limited to social media..

The last year’s weather disruptions and ash clouds really put airlines to the test when it came to troubleshooting and the use of social media allowed them to `come to the rescue’ in providing consumers with instant updates literally as they were happening. Most recently, when December’s snow storms left thousands of planes grounded, airlines turned to Twitter to communicate with their passengers, ensuring they never felt stranded or abandoned by the airline.

User Base

eMarketer estimates that 20.6 million US adults will access a Twitter account at least monthly this year, up 26.3% from 16.4 million last year. Growth will continue in the double digits through 2013, when nearly 28 million adults will be Twitter users. This estimate is primarily based on a meta-analysis of surveys that polled people on their actual use of Twitter, regardless of platform. A demographic profile of Twitter users from the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 10% of US female Internet users and 7% of US male Internet users used Twitter. The service was decidedly more popular among younger adults, a result supported by other research.