Somewhere else on Twitterland, Christi Day of Southwest Airlines was dealing with an outburst from @TheKevinSmith, on Valentine’s Day eve, which finally involved Southwest’s VP calling Smith personally.

Though these may seem like normal twitter conversations, to me they reflect a paradigm shift in the way airlines have started to deal with their customers. It wasn’t too long ago, where I had to print out and post a letter to an airline for a missed-connection claim, because their email inbox was full! And the matter took over 5mths to get resolved (in the end, I didn’t get my $$).

JetBlue and Southwest have both been beacons of change in the industry, and they’ve shown a more human side of airlines – generally considered faceless corporations. Kudos to their efforts to connect with the customer directly, and truly listen. I think it shows where the future of customer service is heading.

What do you think? Has your favorite airline been listening to you lately?

• JetBlue says “sorry”. And we love them even more, for being a human brand
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• United Airlines brand may go for a spin as customer feedback line is terminated

This got me thinking…the marginal cost providing an exceptional service nothing compared to that of providing a superior product in a plane. And if such a service could be offered to the masses (in Economy class) for a charge, then it might be a win-win!

What a VIP service on Economy class could be like?

Great service on-board SIA is something even other airlines talk about (Aeroflot sent their staff to be trained by SIA last year!). But not everything that’s offered on First Class can be duplicated on Economy. So, here’s a quick list of what can and cannot be done:

1. Being addressed by name, all the time – this happens even on Indian budget airlines!
2. Genuine smiles all over. Everytime I looked at the SIA Girls, it only made me feel happier – Probably the easiest thing to duplicate and the most lacking in the Economy cabin. Just
   
3. Speed through security and immigration. Singapore Airlines offers speed-passes to their First Class passengers so that they can skip the lines/queues. Easy to duplicate for passengers willing to pay for the service too
4. Limousine pick-up and drop-off. Virgin Atlantic does this for the Upper Class, so do a lot of the Middle Eastern airlines. How about charging standard fee for hassle-free drop offs? airBaltic does this in Riga, Latvia.
5. Premium check-in and porters at the airport. Wouldn’t you like to just skip all the check-in lines, especially with all the increased security? How about checking in bags at the hotel itself? Or even in the parking lot? Guests at Disney resorts can do both! And I’m sure airlines can tie up with hotels on this bit, and they both make some bucks.
6. For food, choose your own Chef – this is already being done by a couple of airlines in Economy Class, like Etihad Airways. So, why can’t the rest of the airlines provide this, at a fee?
   
7. How about an exit-first fee? We all know how irritating it is to stand in the aisle for over 15 mins trying to get out, even after the door has opened. How about charging a fee for priority exit for passengers who’re in a hurry? This is something I wish I had mentioned in my “Back to the future” video as well.

Why treating Economy Class passengers would work for an airline brand?

It’s not just the passengers who’d feel good about being pampered, but even the airlines can benefit from this. Here’s how:

1. Airlines are charging for a value-added service, not something that was meant to be included (like free checked bags!)
2. Economy Class passengers need not be treated like cattle – each one can customize his or her own experience a little
3. It’s the masses who create the most buzz – so treat them well and the airline would leverage on the Word of Mouth
4. Passengers should be able to use their miles for such VIP experiences as well – which works in the favor of the airline. Since miles required for such experiences be much lesser than that for a full flight, more people are likely to burn miles
5. LCCs can offer services only they excel in, like satay on AirAsia and fresh-baked cookies on Midwest – and competition will find it difficult to replicate
6. An ala-carte system like Air Canada’s can be created to upsell offerings while the booking is being made

These are not such outlandish ideas after all, and I say this because of something Chris Brogan wrote over a year ago:

Is there any way we can fix that “get off the plane” part of my trip? The amount of time between that bell ding and actually walking by the pilots to thank them for a non-bumpy landing seems to last forever. Isn’t there any kind of Disney people-in-line engineering that would fix this process? Tazers for slow people? At this point, I’d pay an extra 10 bucks for you to restrain people so I can just leave efficiently.

So, what do you think? Will any airlines jump on this? Would you pay to be treated like a VIP and not cattle? Let’s hear it in the comments section and over on Twitter (@simpliflying)

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It gives me tremendous honor to announce that one of the biggest names in the social media world – Chris Brogan – is  the latest stalwart to join SimpliFlying’s star-studded Board of Advisors. He joins Patrick Murphy, the former Chairman of RyanAir and Donald Schenk, Managing Director of Airline Capital Associates, Inc who’ve already been offering tremendous mentorship to the SimpliFlying team.

As we partner in the social media and branding success of airlines, airports, and even hotels globally, the stellar team of advisors asks us the tough questions, helps keep our feet on the ground and constantly inspire us to keep going. It is our good fortune to have them by our side.

Who is Chris Brogan?

In my humble opinion, Chris Brogan has done to the social media world what Steve Jobs did to the music industry in the last decade. Having met him personally a few times, I can attest to the fact that he’s constantly pushing the boundaries of the latest technology trends. I risk sounding cryptic, but Chris is at the cutting edge of cutting edge social media technologies. But some of you may be wondering why SimpliFlying…

What’s Chris Brogan got to do with airlines?

If you’ve watched his interview when Chris posed as an airline CEO, or his blog article where he advises the travel industry on social media, you’ll realize that his ideas make a lot of sense. And if only airlines and others in the travel industry can adopt them, they’ll thank him for it. Since SimpliFlying is now becoming an established player in this vertical, we thought we’d run our ideas by Chris and help implement them at airlines we love, or sometimes love to hate.

Most importantly, the few times I’ve met Chris, I’ve only sensed humility and a willingness to help. I can hardly wait to work much more closely with him.

Thank you Chris!

Successfully yours,
Shashank

For those keen to learn more, here’s Chris’ official bio

Chris Brogan is a ten year veteran of using social media and both web and mobile technologies to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Chris speaks, blogs, writes articles, and makes media of all kinds at [chrisbrogan.com], a blog in the top 10 of the Advertising Age Power150, and in the top 100 on Technorati. He is co-author of the book Trust Agents.

• “Chris Brogan: If I was an airline CEO.” Exclusive video interview with the social media mogul
• SimpliFlying recognized as one of the Top 3 aviation blogs at FlightGlobal Webbies
• SimpliFlying hosts roundtable discussion for airlines in social media, at Inbound Marketing Summit 2009
• Shashank Nigam awarded the Global Brand Leadership Award at World Brand Congress for airline branding
• Announcing the Aviation Geeks Meetup @ Sydney, on Aug 5, 2009 #sydneyfly

Social media practitioners know that the place to see and be seen is the Inbound Marketing Summit. And in Boston this October 7-8, SimpliFlying has partnered with New Media Labs to create a special by invitation-only session for social media practitioners (and wannabes) in aviation and hospitality industry.

Entitled  “25 lessons in social media and travel in less than 100 mins - For practitioners, by practitioners”, the session will bring together the best known practitioners of social media in travel in one room to share best practices, lessons learnt and challenges faced while implementing social media strategy in their respective organizations. It’s learning from your peers at its best. Moreover, hear from Chris Brogan, Justin Levy and me about what the future would look like, and what you can do today to stay on the cutting edge.

This is as exclusive as it gets. If you’ve been invited, you have earned that seat on the table. If you think you or someone else from your airline/airport/hotel deserves a spot on the table, please feel free to email me or send me a Tweet about it. There is no additional cost for attending this special session. And you get to attend all sessions in the Summit too.

To register for the Inbound Marketing Summit in Boston, you may click here.  Specially for SimpliFlying readers, if you register by the end of this week (Oct 3, 2009), you can save $50 on the registration fee, by entering the code ” Travel50″ upon checkout.

See you in Boston!

• 3 speaking engagements on Airlines and social media in October
• Southwest Airlines’ success secrets on social media revealed by Paula Berg
• Join me in Istanbul, for IATA Commercial Strategy Symposium (two passes up for grabs!)
• Marketing guru reveals airline advertising secrets: in conversation with ISM’s Gary Leopold
• The future of airline marketing in 2011: key takeaways from IATA Commercial Strategy Symposium

Heard of Morgan Johnston? On Google, “Morgan Johnston Jetblue” produces over 37,000 results, as compared to “Dave Barger jetblue”, which returns 26,800 results. Dave Barger is the CEO of the airline, and Morgan Johnston leads JetBlue’s social media branding strategy. Morgan was into video production, before he joined JetBlue’s Corporate Communications department in early 2007.

Heard of Christi Day? She was voted the Employee of the Quarter earlier this year at Southwest Airlines, because of her tremendous efforts in leading the airline’s brand on various social networks. It’s not very often that a personin the PR dept. of an airline gets such a prestigious award.

Heard of Elliott Pesut? He was featured as the Geek of the Week, in one of Seattle’s leading daily this summer. Why? Because he is the “Head Twit” for Alaska Airlines. Elliot is a trained pilot, who was earlier at Flight Operations in Alaska Airlines. He volunteered for this new role, when the opportunity arose.

Why should YOU lead social media branding for your airline?

See a common thread in the stories above? All these people have no background in IT or new web technologies, yet have created an in-formidable stature for themselves in their respective companies. They’re crucial to each airline’s success in engaging their customers, and are most likely to keep their jobs, even in these difficult times.

In June, when Elliot was taking me around Alsaka Airlines’ HQ in Seattle (watch his video interview), I was pleasantly surprised to note that almost everyone knew him (even in different buildings!), people were asking him questions about Twitter and Facebook and what they could do to help him, and congratulating him for his Geek award in the newspaper. I personally have not seen such rockstar-status for anyone under thirty in an airline before.

Morgan, Christi and Elliot have positioned themselves as an asset to their airlines; by leading an effort that airlines want to get into, but are often reluctant due to a lack of proven models, and just the “newness” of the practices. So, how can you help your airline (and become a rockstar in the process)?

Eleven steps to becoming a rockstar by bringing your airline brand on social media

1. Familiarize yourself of what businesses (not just airlines) are doing on social media. A good place to start is Chris Brogan’s article on 50 ideas on Twitter for Business, and the 360i social media playbook.
2. Learn how airlines around the world are using social media to engage their customers. My recent keynote presentation on the topic at the Aviation Outlook Summit in Sydney features over 25 airline examples. You can view it online here.
3. Gather a couple of your colleagues in the airline, who’re interested in doing something in this area. Generally, these people would either be young, forward thinking or open to exploring new ideas. Tell them it’s just a personal effort, with no official backing as yet. They may even not be from your department, and may be people who’re already active on social networks personally.
4. Listen. Get onto a few key social networks and start listening what’s being said about your airline. For a start, use Twitter search, Google blog search and search YouTube. Do this for at least a week.
5. Plan to Engage. Together with your colleague, come up with a mini-plan to engage these people talking about your airline brand online, and list the benefits and risks of doing so. Also include what will engaging them help the airline do.
6. Email the bosses. Depending on how open the communication channels are in your airline, write an email to the highest-ranking executive you feel comfortable writing to, and CC it to the Marketing and Corp. Communications Heads. In the email, seek an appointment with them, and tell them that you’d to share your findings listening to conversations about your airline online, and propose a plan to engage these people.
7. In the presentation tell them you’d like to lead the effort by allocating just an hour a day to this activity, which can be increased over time. Remember to outline the risks + mitigation of this initiative, and key milestones. Make this plan reviewable every 30 days.
8. Establish a presence. Start with the medium where most of your customers are talking about you. If it’s Twitter, start a Twitter account. If it’s on Facebook, start a Fan page for your airline, or start participating on the official one.
9. Get Cracking on the plan. Start engaging the people who’re talking about your brand, by responding to their queries and talking personally about the airline.
10. Announce and track. Work with Corp. Communications to figure out what can you announce first to your online fan-base, before announcing to the traditional media. Make this announcement, and track who re-tweets or forwards your message to their friends. Then, pamper these people with more love in your subsequent conversations.
11. Review the plan every 30 days, see what are the lessons learnt and discuss with the management where to take this next, ultimately as a full-fledged marketing strategy.

There you go! Those are the steps to becoming one of the most valued assets for your airline, and have fun while at it. Airlines like people who take initiative, and take part of the risk the company doesn’t want to take on its own. And this is where you can help. This list is especially useful if your airline is not yet on social media, or doesn’t have a very strong presence.

If you have questions about the process, or would like to seek personal help in making this work, feel free to reach out to me by email: shashank[at]simpliflying[dot]com. Meanwhile, I’d love to hear your thoughts on your efforts in social media in the comments or over on Twitter (@simpliflying)

P.S: Morgan, Elliot, Christy are teaming up at South by Southwest festival early next year, for a panel discussing their stories about being on social media. And I’m moderating! We need your vote: http://bit.ly/OqF9g

• Alaska Airlines’ brand strategy on Twitter, revealed by Elliot Pesut in exclusive interview
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• “Chris Brogan: If I was an airline CEO.” Exclusive video interview with the social media mogul
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In this exclusive interview, Chris Brogan, the social media mogul (yeah, not just any guru, but a mogul) is put in the hotseat of an airline CEO. He shares with us what he’d do to run the airline, how he’d implement Web 2.0 strategies at the airline to build the brand and how he’d make them work for the airline and for the customer.

As the CEO of an airline, Chris Brogan would…

Optimize customer service - by providing virtual concierge service

In the past, operational optimization has been the name of the game. But Chris has a different take on the running of an airline – focus on providing customer service.

“Now, there’s a need to understand that customer service is an opportunity house, not a cost center. Use social media to reach people where they are, to give them what they’re asking for, to forge a new relationship that goes beyond my gates, my dates and my planes.”

Tap on social media for short term and long term…

Though relationship building can be a long-drawn affair, it’s the “status updates” on various social networks that Chris sees as an opportunity. When someone Tweets that he “feels like going to Thailand for a holiday” or updates a Facebook or LinkedIn status about an upcoming business trip to New York, that’s an opportunity for an airline to reach out and engage this person. And engagement here means more than just selling.

Start by listening, acting fast, then engaging…

Chris believes that if he was an airline CEO, he’d start listening to what his potential customers are saying and where they’re saying it. He’ll then act fast to engage them, and experiment different ways to provide value to them. And that’s the benefit of using social media – its flexibility of use.

Chris Brogan dishes out very practical and implementable advice on how airlines can build stronger brands, provide customer service and drive sales using social media. Watch the full un-cut video below, for this very intriguing, yet entertaining interview on airline branding and social media. My favorite part of the interview is at 8:31 mins, where Chris tells us what he’d do tomorrow, to get started.

Let’s discuss if what Chris is talking about is do-able or not for an airline today. And if it is indeed practical, then why aren’t airlines doing it? Let’s discuss in the comments or over on Twitter (@simpliflying)

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