Randy Petersen of Flyertalk on social media and frequent flyers – Part 2 of 2

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Continuing my conversation with Randy Petersen – probably the world’s best known frequent flyer – we chat about the relevance of social media to airlines, the future of Flyertalk and Randy’s predictions for aviation in 2009.

Frequent Flyers + Web 2.0

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Traditionally, travelers have picked frequent flyer programs for convenience, not always because they are the best program.

But today, they choose a program because of its merits, because the Internet is open and it breaks down boundaries. “Self-selecting… is the biggest testimony of a good program”, Randy claims.

Randy believes that most of the current business travelers are going to retire soon and will be replaced by the next generation that lives and breathes social media. These customers are going to be totally immersed into it, and airlines need to adopt it sooner than later. Exactly the same point I’ve been trying to make in my recent articles on airline branding and social media.

Flyertalk as the next Web 2.0 powerhouse?

Flyertalk, a community for frequent flyers Randy started 11 years ago is one of the most popular of its kind out there. Though Flyertalk wasn’t started as a social media site, it has actually become that, though in a slightly different way. People go to leading social travel websites like Tripadvisor for choosing where to stay for a couple of days. But people go to Flyertalk to decide who to be loyal to. And that is a much more critical business decision in the long term.

Randy goes on to explain how frequent flyer models will evolve in 2009, given the new economic realities.

He also claims that has the best job in the world, and agrees that Mine is the second best (he said it!).

Randy Petersen of Flyertalk on social media and frequent flyer programs

So, do you think Randy have more followers than Aston Kutcher on Twitter? He probably will come close, given how popular he was at the Freddies! Let’s discuss your thoughts in the comments section, or on Twitter.