In my MasterClasses, I often ask, “How long is your brand engagement with a can of Coke? How about with Starbucks?” The answer is about 5 mins for Coke and about 90 mins for Starbucks.

Now, if I were to ask you how long is your brand engagement with an airport? How about an airline? The answer can range from at least two hours to over 24hrs! So why is it that our time spent in an airport (especially after security) is the most boring? How is it that airlines have 24 hrs with their customers captive, and yet service recovery is an issue if something goes wrong? It’s because the old rules of branding that would apply to Coke and Starbucks don’t necessarily apply to airlines and airports!

When we released our white paper on airline branding and introduced the 6X model, the premise was that branding for airlines and airports is different due to the length of brand engagement. What would Coke pay to have a brand engagement of two hours? How much more profit do you think Starbucks would make if the customer sat there for 24 hours, rather than in a plane?

Think about it!

Now, think about what you can do to leverage the captive audience at your airport, or in your airplane. There are already good examples. Changi Airport has a butterfly garden and a huge slide! KLM surprises people while they’re waiting. Cebu Pacific has flight attendants that dance and perform magic tricks on-board.

So, what can you do differently in 2012 to drive more revenue from the captive customer? How can you engage them better? How can you make them happier?

Food for thought…

P.S: Some interesting thoughts on this have recently been shared by Ogilvy’s Rohit Bhargava and Oracle’s Adarsh Pete. Sumit Roy wrote a highly acclaimed guest post here last year as well.

• What lessons can airlines learn from Starbucks about branding?
• Asiana Airlines perks up the brand by adding summer fun in the air
• Top 10 Airports on Social Media – case studies of the airports best at driving engagement
• Why the in-flight wi-fi business model needs a re-think (Hint: airlines can learn from airports)
• Best Airports in Social Media: Top 5 Airports nominated for the SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011

While I focused on key business goals like driving customer service and non-aeronautical revenue, I shared case studies from this year’s SimpliFlying Award winner London Gatwick and nominee Changi, among others. During the half-day MasterClass, I shared in-depth case studies and gave the participants a feel of how using free tools like socialmention.com and Geochirp.com can make their job easy when trying to engage customers.

I share with you here my Prezi presentation from the conference. A video recording will be posted up soon as well. Would love your comments on this.

 

ACI on Prezi

@simpliflying presentation was grand. #smartairports #Airportx

November 30, 2011 3:42 am via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@msjolund

Mattias Sjölund

#airportX interesting session on how social would revolutionize airport and airline revenue

November 30, 2011 3:09 am via Twitter for BlackBerry®ReplyRetweetFavorite

@Simillonpat

Patricia Simillon

Big crowd for @simpliflying Presentation @ #AirportX -a repeat of his stellar performance @ ACI EUROPE event in Lisbon! http://t.co/BhifmQzB

November 30, 2011 7:31 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@ACI_EUROPE

ACI EUROPE

• Driving revenues and engaging customers in-flight – presentation from Airline Retail Conference #arc2012
• Airlines 2.0: Using technology for branding through the recession – webinar slides
• Thai Airways get hands on social media training to drive brand strategy for the airline
• Results oriented social media strategy for airlines and airports – keynote from Navitaire Customer Summit
• Keynote presentation from Sydney: How airlines can have conversations with customers on social media

And the results have been announced. Some usual suspects taking home the prizes while some smaller players claim an emphatic victory. Click on each category name to see the campaigns that were so keenly contested for these awards.

Best Airport in Social Media

Best Hotel in Social Media

Best Airline driving revenue via social media

Best Airline driving customer service and crisis management via social media

…And finally the big one!

Best Airline in Social Media

Moments from the Awards ceremony

The wait is over!

Live from Amsterdam, we’re bringing you the 2nd Annual SimpliFlying Awards for Excellence in social media – honoring the best airlines, airports and hotels in the world.

It has been a riveting contest. After 134 nominations and over 31,000 votes, we’re in Amsterdam for the final reckoning. The final shortlisted nominees are geared up to deliver their final pitches. Our three esteemed judges are ready with their marksheets and pencils. You can follow all the live action from the event via our streaming Twitter feed below.

If all the live tweeting action is too fast for you, check out the slide-deck below. Yes, these are the slides being presented live right NOW!

• 2nd Annual SimpliFlying Awards in Social Media Excellence – Nominations now open for airlines, airports and hotels
• The Best Airlines Driving Revenue Through Social Media – Introducing the Top 5 nominees for the 2nd SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence
• The Best Airlines, Airports and Hotels in social media – finalists for SimpliFlying Awards for Excellence in Social Media
• SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011: The Journey, the Experience
• 2nd Annual SimpliFlying Awards in Social Media Excellence – Vote NOW for best airlines, airports, hotels

The innovations begin

When airlines initially began their adventure on the socialscape, it was all about about feeling their way about on the social platforms of their choice. The primary focus at the outset was first, discovering how to drive traffic and building a fan-base, followed by the more important aim of utilizing the platform for customer engagement and provide them a real-time medium of information-dissemination and customer service. Slowly, however, they realized that social platforms could also aid them in driving revenue. Flash sales, deals and contests became popular to attract more customers. However, the real innovations were still some time away.

A changing landscape

That time, it seems, has finally come. Airlines, more than ever before have realised that the social web can be utilized to change and influence the booking behaviour of patrons by incorporating their preferences, habits and social circles into the booking cycle. Slowly, we’re beginning to see the true emergence of the New Traveler Life Cycle which can be split into 5 parts: dreaming, validating, booking, travelling and sharing. Airlines have begun to recognize that the booking portion of the cycle alone might not be sufficient to draw customers to themselves. Hence, they’ve begun to incorporate the other portions, in various combinations, to their travel cycle. Our latest case-pack illustrates how airlines are effectively doing this.

Some key points about Travel Distribution emerging from this case-pack are:

1. Online Travel Agents (OTAs) are slowly losing ground as airlines increasingly attract customers to book through their own portals. eg. Delta’s Facebook booking engine is a neat “push strategy” to get customers to book without moving away from their favourite social network.
2. Immersive apps that aid in the dreaming, planning and booking process will not only be addictive travel planning tools but also great brand-builders by wowing patrons. eg. Virgin America’s chrome app.
3. Mobile (and tablet) apps are set to go huge. Whether it is managing bookings or redeeming frequent flyer miles or even checking in without a paper boarding pass, mobile apps will rule the next wave of social airline strategies. eg. British Airways’ cool iPhone app and Lufthansa’s iPad app.
4. Incorporating customers’ social graphs into the booking cycle could pay rich dividends by unleashing a “social multiplier effect”. Knowing which friends are in cities you could fly to (Alaska Air) and choosing seats alongside friends (Malaysia Airlines) are just some of the ways in which booking behaviour of customers can be influenced.
5. Flyers will always be deal hunters looking for the best (in other words, cheapest) fares. LAN Airlines’ Fall Sale, JetBlue Cheeps and Melbourne Airport’s cheap Twitter fares are prime examples. Also, even though the jury is still out on this one, Groupon type sales will continue to be effective in the short-term at least (ie, until they can be sustained).

Without further ado, here’s our case-pack on the Top 10 Travel Distribution Initiatives by Airlines. Enjoy!

You can find more of our Top 10 case-packs here.

• Mobile 2.0 – The Top 10 Mobile Apps by Airlines
• Socializing the airline booking process – Germanwings follows Alaska Airlines’ lead
• The Best Airlines in Social Media: the Top 7 nominees for the SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011
• Best Airports in Social Media: Top 5 Airports nominated for the SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011
• [Infographic] How mobile is re-shaping travel distribution (gasp!)

Before we jump into the case-pack, here are a few takeaways from these categories:

1. Airports are keen to ensure that passengers who travel through them recognize that the “airport experience” is not the same as “airline experience”.
2. Once again, there is no substitute for being innovative eg. London Gatwick’s super-large realtime screen that serves as a customer service tool.
3. Emotionally connecting with passengers pays rich dividends in terms of getting them to speak to you, listen to you, respond to you, talk about you and even being loyal to you. eg. Changi Airport’s Millionaire Dance video.
4. Offering customers cutting-edge technology to make their airport experience better is a win-win for both sides in terms of driving engagement, buzz and ultimately, revenue. eg. Copenhagen Airport’s virtual reality airport navigation app.

Without further ado, here’s the case-pack. Enjoy!

• The Best Airlines Driving Revenue Through Social Media – Introducing the Top 5 nominees for the 2nd SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence
• 2nd Annual SimpliFlying Awards in Social Media Excellence – Nominations now open for airlines, airports and hotels
• The Best Airlines in Social Media: the Top 7 nominees for the SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011
• 2nd Annual SimpliFlying Awards in Social Media Excellence – Vote NOW for best airlines, airports, hotels
• Best airlines, airports and hotels in social media – SimpliFlying Awards Live from Amsterdam

Let the voting begin!

After 10 days and 69 nominations (!!) for the best airlines, airports and hotels in social media, the SimpliFlying team and Hotel Marketing Strategies blog has shortlisted the top five finalists for each category for the 2nd Annual SimpliFlying Awards in Social Media Excellence. The “Best Airline in Social Media” had so many high-quality submissions that we just couldn’t bring it down to five.

Anyone on the web is free to vote once in each category and give their favorite airline a shot at glory! Airlines, airports and hotels are free to request for votes through their social media sites, by emailing their frequent fliers and staff or through any other means.

One representative from the Top 3 most voted in each category will also get a free pass to attend the EyeforTravel Online Marketing and Social Media Summit on Oct 10 in Amsterdam, and a 20% discount for their colleagues.

The process

1. The voting begins immediately, and polls auto-close on 15 Sept, 2011
2. The top 3 voted in each category will get to make a 10 min presentation in Amsterdam on Oct 10 about their campaigns/strategies
3. A distinguished panel of judges will determine the winner after the presentations and they will be declared on the evening of Oct 10

Vote away!

• 2nd Annual SimpliFlying Awards in Social Media Excellence – Nominations now open for airlines, airports and hotels
• SimpliFlying-Airline Business Awards for Social Media Excellence for Airlines – Vote now!
• The Best Airlines, Airports and Hotels in social media – finalists for SimpliFlying Awards for Excellence in Social Media
• Best Airports in Social Media: Top 5 Airports nominated for the SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011
• SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011: The Journey, the Experience

But as as we have long suspected, the traditional press release is rather dead and buried. Granted, it’s not dead in the truest sense of the word; however, it is undeniable that social technologies have morphed press-releases beyond recognition. Gone are the boring, wordy releases that used to accompany every major announcement in the industry. Welcome to the new age of social engagement!

Social media for route launches

Airlines these days have begun smartly leveraging the power of social media while making new product and route announcements. Forget the one-page release announcing the nature and benefits of the new route. These days, there are dedicated campaigns being run by airlines (as well as airports) to draw attention to their new routes and planes.

Witness the wide-ranging strategies adopted – as illustrated in this new case-pack – there are examples of special discounts to Twitter followers, elaborate “guess the route” contests on Facebook, contests that challenge the artistic abilities of fans and followers, even “name the plane” contests. All these attractive engagement campaigns are managed wholly online. Some airlines have gone as far as spending nothing on traditional advertising for new route launches. The benefits of social engagement campaigns are for all to see:

1. Immediate access to a very specific group of target audience that is responsive to incentives.
2. Online engagement offers the benefit of two-way conversations that enable easy sentiment-tracking and real-time feedback analysis, rather than one-way broadcasts.
3. The ability to attract and engage the audience where they are most likely to be at (eg. Facebook) makes it more easy to make them willing listeners and customers.
4. The ability for engagement programs to become money-spinners (ie, revenue drivers) is plain to see because of the viral nature that such campaigns can don. Your fans will talk to their friends who will talk to their friends and so on.
5. The ability to fill up the seats sooner for a new route – through all of the above.

With these points in mind, we present to you our new case-pack on the Top 10 Route Launches by Airlines & Airports via social media. Special thanks to Mark Scourse from 3Sixty for his inputs on how airports do it. You can hear both Shashank and Mark speak at the World Routes Forum in Berlin in Oct, 2011.

Let us know what you think of the case-pack. Thought we missed someone? Thought we nailed it? Tell us in the comments or tweet us @simpliflying.

• Branding 2.0: Top 10 Facebook Contests by Airlines
• Best Airports in Social Media: Top 5 Airports nominated for the SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011
• The Best Airlines in Social Media: the Top 7 nominees for the SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011
• 2nd Annual SimpliFlying Awards in Social Media Excellence – Nominations now open for airlines, airports and hotels
• The Top 10 Viral Videos by Airlines (plus bonus videos)

This is a very challenging question since, by definition, stranded travelers are in a difficult situation, often far away from home, in a difficult environment where uncertainty is high. Stranded travelers are usually left on their own, airport and airline officials have often no answer to provide because of the inherent uncertain nature of the event and are limited in what they can do to help travelers at a loss for helping the travelers.

The following items may not work for everyone, everywhere. However, they show various directions that will need to be customized and modified according to the specifications of the location, the needs of the travelers and various other parameters.

Let us assume several assumptions to start with:

• We are talking about stranded travelers who need to fly, sleep and eat. Flight is their first priority but other means of transportation may be considered.
• Travelers do not pick up the 20 best airports to be stranded in nor the worse. Stranded travelers can be in any airport that needs to do its best to turn a difficult situation into a successful one.
• The Internet and Twitter are working which is not always the case . It is possible and recommended to work with other social networks such as Facebook or at least to be able to connect to telcos.

Here is a series of 12 items to consider:

1. Free or Freemium wi-fi

It is crucial that the airport provides the best Internet infrastructure as possible. Suddenly, you may have a very large number of travelers trying to connect to the Web through their web devices and laptops. It is essential to add all the required equipment so that everyone can be connected simultaneously. Depending upon the policy of the airport, free access may be provided, special discount or premium service can be offered during the time of the crisis event. (Here’s a very good discussion on whether airports should offer free wifi or not)

2. Ample power outlets to recharge batteries

Batteries of smart phones as well as laptops discharge quickly. Make sure that you provide a series of extensions to the travelers so that every traveler can recharge their batteries. If possible, then set up a desk where travelers can actually buy additional batteries and various other related products such as local SIM cards. These can even be put in vending machines across the airport!

3.  An Airport Twitter account

More and more airports and airlines are using Twitter to inform passengers about the situation. In addition, it is a good idea to set up a list of twitter accounts including all of the major players working in this location, such as airlines, transportation, restaurants and more.
It might be also useful to open a special account for a specific situation e.g. @TLV-stranded.

4. Display airport’s & airlines’ Twitter feeds in public

Gatwick Airport uses LCD screens to display the various twitter mentions of the airport. San Francisco’s new Terminal 2 also does the same. This way, even people without an account or who are not technology savvies can ‘follow the airport in real-time and get updates. They can even help each other out!

5. Find out who are tweeting in and around the airport

Social media networks like Twitter and Facebook record the location of the users if they have not decided to opt out. Applications like Geochirp and Trendsmap allow to search in a specific location based on key words the people who are tweeting. Once you see the identity and the posts of those people, it is then possible to start a dialog, following them and more. This way, it is possible to know who the travelers are and communicate with them. Communication can go beyond the airport especially for stranded travelers who have decided to leave the airport and are waiting for some green light to come back and catch their plane.

6. Provide hard facts not rumors

Stranded travelers often suffer from a lack of information, misinformation and various rumors. Why not take an action one step further and publish along with a local newspaper an electronic & paper edition aimed at stranded travelers?

When you follow accounts of the stranded travelers, you may avoid major crisis like the one that happened with the British trains when stranded travelers in the British trains who decided to walk back on the track and thus causing additional delays. It is then possible to stop rumors from the beginning and convey facts. It is also important to follow accounts like @eurocontrol which is the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation.

7. Providing a shower up to a seat in a concert hall

Mobile showers should be arranged as soon as possible in order to help stranded travelers stay clean. Depending upon policy, it might be possible to charge a fee for those services especially if they are expensive to provide.

Why not go one step further and start selling toilet kits as well as bringing in professionals like chiropractors, masseuses, alternative health doctors, etc. to improve the well being of stranded travelers. As an extension, it can include a whole list of events that will turn the airport into a concert hall, a food market or whatever idea you may have. On June 16, Charles Boem (@cboehm) tweeted: “@LizzSum AUS has got to be the best airport in America to get stuck at. Often has live music too.”

8. Work hard…

Many business travelers usually hold a membership for entering airport lounges. However, in the case of a large number of stranded travelers, those lounges may not be reachable or over crowded. Therefore there is a demand for additional infrastructure. It is then a good idea to provide some paying workspaces where people can work hard (after the concert…),  hold video conferences if needed, bring in guests for meetings and more.

9 … Play hard

On the other hand, some of the stranded travelers are tourists who are going to miss one or several days of vacation. They intended to play hard, relax, have a good time during their vacation. Being stranded is very frustrating for them. It is the right time to offer them some alternatives while they are stuck. In this situation, creative and out-of-the-box solutions need to be found, quickly. As an example, travelers on their way to some ski vacation may enjoy the use of ski simulators or even workouts with a special coach for physical preparations before skiing.

10. Tie up with the airlines

Bring airlines into the picture too, and create a win-win strategy. When travelers were stuck in Singapore and Malaysia due to the Icelandinc ashcloud, AirAsia offered them heavily discounted flights to regional destinations like Bali and Phuket for a couple of days. How smart!

11. Turn stranded travelers into a community

Everybody talks about social media. Let’s take the first word of it and become social: start talking, socializing with your neighbor. There are many ways (inviting actors, clowns, artists…) to improve the ambiance.

12. Find a solution for individuals and for groups of people

In the end, there is a need to find a solution for everyone but not everyone is like Monty Python actor John Cleese who spent more than £3000 on a taxi journey last April 2010 during the Icelandic volcano event.

Some travelers really have to find an immediate solution no matter what (e.g. Tweet dated 18 June 2011:.” DanielClemens: Best friends weddings missed, grandparents missing graduations, passengers stranded for too long! Flight 420 @Lufthansa “), some others may be OK to wait until things calm down.

This is where services like SOSTravelers.com come into the picture. An experienced travel agent will find the solution even if it requires sending the traveler to another airport, find a room in a hotel when it is not possible to find one using automated services and more.

At SOSTravelers, we are also looking to provide collective solutions so that a group of travelers who may not know each other at first but share the same aims become an ad-hoc community. This community may then be able to find some cost effective solutions that would not have been found on an individual basis such as renting together a car, hiring a bus or even a plane.

What do you think about these methods? Are there others you’ve tried or experienced? Let’s hear it in comments or over on Twitter (@simpliflying)

• What to do if you are stranded on Thanksgiving?
• Top 12 things to do if you are stuck at an airport when the next Hurricane Irene or earthquake strikes US East Coast
• What if you’re stranded and Twitter doesn’t work? 10 things you can do to your travel plans back on track
• Top 10 Location-Based-Service Initiatives by Airlines (Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt and more..)
• Are location-based services a blessing for the airline brand?

• The Point (or Secret) of Social Media for airlines
• Top 10 Route Launches: How Airlines and Airports engage customers in new destinations through social media
• More good news, and Airline SEO Executives Network
• Are location-based services a blessing for the airline brand?
• Thirty questions airline brands and airports must answer to build a strong social media strategy

Airports have been seeking new ways to communicate with their passengers for decades. From the original implementation of flip-board arrivals/departures boards through websites with live flight status, airports seek to inform and interact with their passengers.

Until very recently the interaction between airports and their passengers has been one-way. The airport supplying the information and the passengers taking the information. Occasionally there have been post card surveys and website surveys, but opportunity to directly interact with passengers has been extremely limited…until the creation of social media.

Throughout the past year multiple airports have began exploring, instituting and exploiting the potential of social media, primarily the use of Twitter. As I continue to follow a growing list of airports using Twitter, some major airports have signed up then fallen to the wayside, while a number of ‘smaller’ airports have fully embraced the potential of services, such as Twitter.

Of the airports I follow on Twitter I have been most impressed by Akron-Canton, Ohio, Airport (CAK) and Richmond, Virginia, International Airport (RIC). These two airports do a fantastic job of not only informing their passengers, but also directly interacting with their passengers.

Both CAK and RIC started up their use of Twitter this past winter, between November and January, and eventually created a policy for a pre-determined use of Twitter. This policy also includes their Twitter account consistently be monitored and the concerns of travellers be addressed.

You’d expect ‘major airports’ to use Twitter, and while some, such as Boston Logan (BOS) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) use Twitter with some success, they don’t use the options to their full potential, as their content is not really intended to interact with their passengers. Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) does multiple updates daily with flight delays for not only BWI but also airports that service BWI, and while this is great, it again does not give BWI the ability to interact with, learn from, and converse with, passengers who are using the airport.

Troy Bell, Richmond International Airport’s Director of Marketing has explained that RIC’s initial use of Twitter was one-way, however it quickly evolved into a two-way conversation with passengers. Ryan Hollingsworth, from Akron-Canton Airport’s public affairs office says that CAK’s use of Twitter has been interactive from the start.

Despite the two airports initial usage being quite different, both airports have built up a following of Twitter followers through their consistent interaction have leveraged their following to promote businesses within the airport by partnering with the shops and restaurants within their respective airports. Through the consistent, and deliberate, use of social media to promote usage of the airports, rather than competing airports, they are able to attract a growing passenger base while many airports are missing this cost-effective marketing opportunity.

Airports, unlike airlines, must sustain themselves as well as their ‘tenants.’ While many travellers don’t see an airport as a business, they most certainly are businesses, and their business must support many support businesses…they must retain passengers for their airlines; bring in shoppers for their stores; feed hungry travellers at their restaurants; and through these business provide sustained revenue for fuel service companies; catering suppliers; ramp-handling providers, etc etc etc

Where many airports on Twitter fail is in their approach. Airports tend to view Twitter as an ‘alert network.’ Orlando International Airport (MCO) has more than 900 followers (compared to the 5.3mil passengers who have used MCO already this year), yet virtually all the content they placed on Twitter was always in all capital letters starting with “ALERT!” and ending with “CONTACT YR AIRLINE.”

None of the information on MCO’s Twitter informed users about specials at the hotel in the airport, new tour operators working from the airport and other information that drives traffic and brings business into the airport its self. MCO’s last post on Twitter was on the 6th of April.

A key part to the success of Twitter at RIC and CAK has been instant customer feedback. These two airports consistently search for customer comments regarding their airports and gather information to further the passenger experience within their airports. This proactive use of Twitter allows both airports to stay ahead of problems, control their public image and further strengthen their ‘brand name’ as popular airports in their region

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, International Airport (MDT)…yes they are International, Air Canada flies there… has begun to use Twitter very effectively as has Eugene, Oregon Airport (EUG). These two airports are beginning to fully embrace the potential of two-way communication with passengers. This direct interaction creates a local brand for MDT and EUG that can be leveraged into keeping passengers local, rather than passengers making the 2hr drive to Philadelphia (PHL) and Portland (PDX)

Atlanta, Georgia, Hartsfield-Jackson Airport (ATL) has begun using Twitter again, after having a page set up, then disappearing, however since April 25th they only 10 updates…but 2,000 followers. Clearly they can be using Twitter more effectively to drive traffic and update the 12.6 million passengers who have passed through ATL already this year!

If you’re asking yourself why I am only writing about airports in the US, it is because airports outside of the US have not begun using Twitter. Sure there are a few airports in the UK using Twitter, but they rarely update. Manchester International Airport (MAN) has 288 followers but last updated on the 30th of April.

Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport (AMS) has 304 followers (compared to the 5.6mil passengers that have used AMS already in 2009) but of their 17 updates, the last one was February 16th. Tokyo’s Narita Airport (NRT) has 84 followers (compared to the 9.4mil passengers who have used NRT already in 2009) with one single weather update on the 27th of March 2007!

I’d love to write about non-US airports using Twitter, or even larger major airports and hubs using Twitter, but I can’t, because they are either not on Twitter or they are not using Twitter to the maximum benefit offered by this service to interact with their passengers. Airports need feedback, they need customer insight, and Twitter and other social media outlets are the ideal options for gathering that information.

…case and point that RIC and CAK listen and are maximizing their customer interaction potential? They both completed a 9-question survey I sent them while seeking information to write today’s entry. A few others airports didn’t reply to my enquiry, one sent me a PDF of an airport media kit that didn’t address any of my questions…and another airport I contacted directly on Twitter asking for the contact info for the airports public affairs office sent back this reply “It is our policy to not disclose the contact information for the public relations unit.’ Interesting public relations unit that airport must have!

So…if any airports are reading my Twitter, Flying With Fish, or other links back to this article, keep this in mind. Airports are businesses, airports sustain other businesses, and airports are just as responsible as airlines are for creating a positive passenger experience on the ground! As airports become more competitive, as your marketing team this…”What is our airport doing to act, react and interact with our passengers for a positive experience?”

Happy Flying!

PS: You can follow a few active airports here:
Akron-Canton Airport (CAK) – www.twitter.com/cakairport
Richmond International Airport (RIC) – www.twitter.com/flack4ric
Harrisburg International Airport (MDT) – www.twitter.com/hiaairport
Eugene Airport (EUG) – www.twitter.com/flyeug
Baltimore-Washington Int’l Airport (BWI) – www.twitter.com/BWI_Airport
San Francisco International Airport (SFO) – www.twitter.com/sfogal
Boston Logan Airport (BOS) – www.twitter.com/bostonlogan

• Thirty questions airline brands and airports must answer to build a strong social media strategy
• Getting up, close and personal with the customer – three airline case studies
• Top 10 Airports on Social Media – case studies of the airports best at driving engagement
• Is your Airport Customer Services Delivery Under Pressure?
• Now Reviews: Sharing the airline passenger experience in real-time through Eezeer