Each month we nominate three rockstars from the aviation industry who’ve led their airlines to dazzling heights on the social web through their innovations and cutting-edge initiatives. As usual, voting will automatically close in exactly 7 days from now (Monday 11.59 pm Pacific Time). The winner gets multiple goodies: an extended profile on SimpliFlying, a Certificate of Appreciation as well as the chance to gain a wildcard entry to this year’s SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence.

Without further ado, we present this month’s nominees:

Aku Varamäki, Finnair

You can’t deny that Finnair has a penchant for the unusual and innovative. Whatever they do makes you sit up and take notice of them. The recent Republic Day dance coupled with the Angry Birds route-launch competition and the Quality Hunters initiative have secured them this month’s nomination. Aku has been personally leading a number of these initiatives and forms a critical part of the Finnair marketing machine.

Jerry Fletcher, Delta Air Lines

By now, Delta is firmly established as one of the Big Daddies of airlines on social media. Their Delta Assist initiative which offers real-time customer service over social media has set the benchmark for other airlines to follow. Not only is it known for its legendarily short response-time, but Delta makes sure to reply to every mention they get, all within 9 minutes!

Jerry has been the one leading the charge to revolutionize customer service at Delta through social media and this nomination proof that his hard work is paying off.

Mohd Hisham Saleh, Malaysia Airlines

After Delta got the buzz going with their Facebook booking engine, Malaysia went one step further and kick of the social seating game. Their MHBuddy Facebook app, launched last year, allows passengers to select seats alongside their Facebook friends if they’re flying the same flight. Hisham has also been leading a number of eCommerce-led social media initiatives at Malaysia Airlines that have almost always driven revenues for the airline. (It’s worth noting that KLM launched the first “pure” social-seating initiative, Meet and Seat, last week in Amsterdam.)

So, what’re you waiting for? Vote for your favourite now!

• A revamped SimpliFlying Heroes initiative – Vote for the Jan 2012 Hero now!
• Airlines on Twitter in May 2011: AirAsia and TAM Brazil hot on the heels of Delta Airlines
• [Infographic] Airlines on Twitter – April 2011 data reveals the need to focus on Customer Service
• Malaysia Airlines takes booking and check-in to Facebook. And now, you can sit next to your friend too!
• Eezeer and SimpliFlying launch airline monthly twitter report – Delta leads Twitter use, and customer service is in!

At the close of the year, it’s worth pausing to consider how quickly the social landscape has evolved over the past year or so. Airlines have not only embraced Twitter but have also realised that there’s great value in using it to drive specific goals such as revenue, engagement and loyalty. Many innovative initiatives on Twitter have been captured in our Top 10 case-packs as well. It’s worth noting that as of November 2011 there were 198 airlines on Twitter with 90 actively tweeting. This, more than anything else, is a sign of changing times and even greater change to come.

A number of facts are immediately clear from this report:

1. Even though most airlines have jumped on to the Twitter bandwagon, the majority of the tweets are produced by a minority of airlines. 30 airlines provide more than 83% of tweets sent out by airlines.
2. Delta Air Lines is still the runaway champion, having been consistently been a Listening and Talking champion (in terms of tweets received and sent). Air Asia and Southwest make a belated, but expected entry to the list. However, American Airlines makes a surprise appearance on the Talking Champions list.
3. Airlines are definitely using Twitter more intensively with each passing day. Over the past 6 months, the number of outgoing tweets increased by around 38%.
4. As the weather begins to turn unpredictable, it’s that time of the year again when people feel hassled while flying. This was quite evident as “baggage handling” was a trending topic as the number of tweets related to it  increased by about 28% in the last month.
5. Over 1.2 million tweets have been exchanged between airlines and their customers on Twitter in the past six months. That’s a heck of a lot!

It’ll certainly be interesting to come back to this report at the end of the next year and see how things have progressed!

For more insights, check out the infographic below and let us know what you thought about it. Is there something ?that resonates with you? Or maybe it doesn’t? Comment or tweet us @simpliflying and let us know. You can view more airline infographics here.

(Click here to download a larger image)

Note: The airlines on Twitter report is produced by eezeerdatalab.

• Airlines on Twitter Monthly Report for July 2011 reveals that more airlines have Twitter accounts than loyalty programs
• Airlines on Twitter in June 2011: Delta Airlines is the breakaway “listening and talking champion”
• Airlines on Twitter Monthly Report for August 2011: Cebu Pacific joins the big league and scores high!
• Eezeer and SimpliFlying launch airline monthly twitter report – Delta leads Twitter use, and customer service is in!
• [Infographic] Airlines on Twitter – April 2011 data reveals the need to focus on Customer Service

After all, those were the good old days when, if one passenger had a bad experience he would tell his friends and family who may or may not have told a slightly distorted version of the story to their friends and family members… and the story would pretty much have ended there.

However, in the age of Twitter, Facebook and instant 24/7 global communication, the story doesn’t quite end there anymore. Even one annoyed passenger out of a whole planeload has the power to share his experience not only with his friends and family but also with millions of complete strangers who may in turn share it with a million others.  And this time the story does NOT end there.

Moreover, according to recent research, 25% of social media users expect a response within an hour and 6% expect something within 10 mins!

Time to start thinking about social customer service!

Unfortunately, only a handful of airlines and airport seem to have noticed this change, and even fewer have realized that an annoyed passenger could easily be turned into an happy one, as well as a brand advocate, who rather than venting his anger at a million strangers will praise the airline’s excellent customer service response.

There are a number of reasons why offering customer service through social media is an attractive option for both customers and airlines:

1. Customers no longer have to go through the trouble of waiting on the phone (forget the irritating wait-tune) to reach customer-service executives.
2. Being an “open” forum mostly, complaints and resolutions can be seen publicly. This can help a) reassure customers that the airline is serious about customer service; b) help create brand-advocates who can spread the word among their networks about a great customer service experience.
3. The responsive, interactive and open nature of social media helps customers feel more comfortable with asking more questions and getting all their doubts cleared which might not always be possible through the phone. On the flip side, the airline can also understand better what exactly are the most common issues worrying customers and how their service can be improved.
4. Apart from the benefits social media undeniably provides, customers now expect most brands to respond to them on social media, which is an almost equally compelling reason for airlines to have social media customer service initiatives anyway.
5. The internet and social media are absolutely unmatched in providing speedy and latest information especially in times of crises.

In this Top 10 we have selected ten great examples (as well as 2 bonus ones) of companies that have gone out on a limb to offer customer service through social media, thereby making their customers very happy indeed. We hope you enjoy the case-studies.

• Southwest Airlines, the Most Remarkably Kind Flight Attendant and the Art of Customer Service
• Top 10 Airports on Social Media – case studies of the airports best at driving engagement
• The Best Airlines Driving Customer Service & Crisis Management Through Social Media: Top 5 SimpliFlying Awards nominees
• United Airlines brand may go for a spin as customer feedback line is terminated
• Five steps to Customer Service Excellence for United Airlines (with real-life case study)

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!)

After close to 6 months of reporting monthly on how airlines are using Twitter, we can safely say that apart from Facebook, Twitter is the social media platform of choice for most airlines. The number of tweets sent and received has been rising in general for months in a row. Airlines have also become more forthcoming as well as responsive.

This month, while the usual suspects (Delta and JetBlue) are once again on the list of top engagers, Cebu Pacific absolutely storms into the list. Not only is it placed second on the list of airlines receiving the most number of public tweets, it also scores the highest in the Global Satisfaction Score with a score of 106.7. (For more details, see the infographic.)

A number of facts are immediately clear from this report:

1. As we’ve mentioned, Cebu Pacific is second on the list of airlines receiving the most number of public tweets with more than 11,000 to its name. However, Delta Air Lines is once again literally burning the competition. To put things in perspective, it received almost 28,000 tweets. That is 2.5x of the no. 2 airline and 3.5x of the third on the list: JetBlue.
2. Even though airlines have been, in general, using Twitter more than before there was a slightly surprising drop in the number of public tweets this month. Compared to March 2011, the number of tweets in August were up by 37% compared to 51% for July. All the more surprising since we’ve had a rather busy month on the internet (see below). (This does not change the fact, however, that Twitter is being used more actively in general.)
3. Delta Air Lines still sends and receives the most number of tweets, which has been the trend since the first report. I’m tempted to add in a *yawn* here. Because really, they’ve been quite brilliant in handling social media and have literally pioneered the new media active customer engagement model!
4. Just over 40% of all airlines accounts on Twitter tweet actively. In effect, in August 2011, 105 airlines were not tweeting actively even though they have Twitter accounts.
5. In the UK, British Airways (somewhat expectedly) is the most followed airline, with over 260,000 people following the airline’s tweets.
6. Hurricane Irene and the earthquake on the East Coast let loose a flurry of conversations on Twitter, especially among airlines. More than 5000 tweets about Hurricane Irene were published over 4 days. Interestingly, 21.6% of those tweets involved a mention of Delta Air Lines! To learn more about how airlines responded to the earthquake and hurricane, see our special case-pack here.

For more insights, check out the infographic and let us know what you thought about it. Is there something you agree with? Disagree? Are there any figures that you’d like to see in next month’s infographic? Comment or tweet us @simpliflying and let us know. You can also view our previous Monthly Twitter Reports for July here, June here and May here. More airline infographics can be viewed here.

The airlines on Twitter report is produced by eezeerdatalab in association with SimpliFlying.

• Airlines on Twitter Monthly Report for July 2011 reveals that more airlines have Twitter accounts than loyalty programs
• Airlines on Twitter Monthly Report for November 2011: increasing engagement but 30 airlines produce over 80% of tweets
• Airlines on Twitter in June 2011: Delta Airlines is the breakaway “listening and talking champion”
• Eezeer and SimpliFlying launch airline monthly twitter report – Delta leads Twitter use, and customer service is in!
• [Infographic] Airlines on Twitter – April 2011 data reveals the need to focus on Customer Service

Votes, as we mentioned in the previous slide-deck on the Best Airlines Driving Revenue through Social Media, have come from around 2500 cities across the world. We promised recently that we’d regularly post case-packs illustrating the fabulous campaigns that have led the final nominees to be shortlisted. And we’re back this time with another 5 great case-studies on how 5 of the best airlines in the world have used social media to drive Customer Service and Crisis Management.

This would be a good time to remind you that voting is still ongoing so you can vote for your favorite airline until 15th September. Do vote if you care about the airline you love! Meanwhile, you can check out the latest result for the current category below.

Before you jump in to the presentation, however, we’d like to elucidate a few key takeaways that have emerged from these case-studies. If you’re looking to build a great social presence, you’ll find these points handy for developing your strategy:

1. Customers love an airline that talks to them and responds to them. For example, Delta’s Twitter account dedicated to purely customer-service continues to delight passengers.
2. Customers hate slow responses. They really really hate calling in to the Call Centers and keep waiting to talk to someone. If they know that they can get a quick response online, they’ll not only show their appreciation but tell their friends too. SAS Scandinavian’s efforts to provide customer service through Facebook is a stellar example of this.
3. Public, social platforms provide airlines the opportunity to be transparent in their communications and allow their message to be spread to a vast audience that is actively engaged on a particular platform. This is especially important during managing crises.
4. During crises, the rate at which fear and panic spread is inversely proportional to the amount of information that customers have. Using Facebook and Twitter ensures that information is timely spread (in comparison to traditional media) and can reach the maximum number of people.
5. Don’t expect people to look for information. Go where the customers are! They should know where they’ll get answers or information. For example, AirAsia’s new customer service portal AskAirAsia ensures that customers are never far away from immediate answers or assistance.
6. After a significant event/crisis/service disruption, when you get good reviews from customers about your efforts, make sure you leverage the great PR opportunity handed to you and make a name for yourself.

With that said, here’s the case-pack. We hope you enjoy going through it!

• SimpliFlying-Airline Business Awards for Social Media Excellence for Airlines – Vote now!
• The Best Airlines in Social Media: the Top 7 nominees for the SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011
• Simpliflying Hero, May 2010: Aurelie Valtat from Eurocontrol
• How airlines used social media innovatively to battle the ashcloud crisis [from Mashable]
• [LIVE!] How airlines and EuroControl are conquering Icelandinc volcanic ash through social media #ashtag

These are very exciting times in the airline industry. Last month, I shared a number of vital statistics about airlines’ twitter usage at a keynote in San Francisco [view presentation]. While those gave a good overview of how the industry is using the platform, one key aspect was lacking – the social media landscape for is constantly evolving, and a report produced once doesn’t do it justice. While we felt we should produce an ongoing report on that, we didn’t really have a data source for all the latest and greatest statistics.

That’s when Arnaud from Eezeer got in touch [remember? Eezeer = real-time airline reviews], and mentioned that they’re looking to produce a monthly twitter report from all the data they’ve been gathering from travelers. One thing led to another, and the end result was this first infographic that you see below – full of startling data about how airlines (and travelers) use Twitter. The best part is that this report will be released monthly – so look out for this every month in our infographics section (latest by the 5th of each month).

Airlines on Twitter – Oh…the stories data tells

While you drool over the data in the infographic below, I thought I’d highlight some interesting stories, which may not stand out on first glance:

1. You’ll see that twitter use among airlines is spread out globally – with Top four airlines featuring Delta, TAM Brazil and AirAsia (Malaysia!)
2. While there are 168 airlines on twitter, only 77 are actively tweeting, and 80% of all tweets come from just 30 airlines (17%)!
3. While Delta Airlines replies to the most number of tweets, it’s AirAsia that replies to the largest percentage of tweets to an airline – over 40% of tweets are replied to – that’s some serious effort, and this is way above the industry average of 24%
4. While customer service is the most important function being addressed on Twitter (due to its real-time nature), it’s comfort & security that’s on the rise – remember how @TimF10 was helping American Airlines passengers with security setup at AA terminal at LAX?
5. Long-haul low-cost carrier AirAsia X has come out ahead of legacy carriers like Cathay Pacific and Asiana in the quality of customer service provided on Twitter. And it’s Azul from Brazil that’s leading in the “comfort and security” space.

The conclusion from all this – twitter use is on the rise. Some airlines are adapting quickly to travelers’ increased use of social technologies. But not all have a strategy for this, and we’ll figure out in the upcoming months who are the flukes and who are the real deal.

Exciting times!

• Airlines on Twitter in May 2011: AirAsia and TAM Brazil hot on the heels of Delta Airlines
• Airlines on Twitter Monthly Report for July 2011 reveals that more airlines have Twitter accounts than loyalty programs
• [Infographic] Airlines on Twitter – April 2011 data reveals the need to focus on Customer Service
• Airlines on Twitter in June 2011: Delta Airlines is the breakaway “listening and talking champion”
• Airlines on Twitter Monthly Report for August 2011: Cebu Pacific joins the big league and scores high!

So, if Twitter is already working well, and there’s call center, then why would Delta move this to Facebook – you may wonder? Because that’s where their customers are hanging out, and that’s where their needs are to be addressed. In fact, you can read an interview with Delta Assist manager, Jerry Fletcher, to learn more about this effort.

Overall, a great move, and a big sign of things to come! Good job, Delta

• AirAsia takes customer service to social media with AskAirAsia
• Airlines on Twitter in May 2011: AirAsia and TAM Brazil hot on the heels of Delta Airlines
• [Infographic] Airlines on Twitter – April 2011 data reveals the need to focus on Customer Service
• Eezeer and SimpliFlying launch airline monthly twitter report – Delta leads Twitter use, and customer service is in!
• Five steps to Customer Service Excellence for United Airlines (with real-life case study)

Many other airlines and airports that caught the wave of excitement about social media last year and started Twitter and Facebook accounts didn’t have a strategy behind scaling their efforts. They simply went with the flow, and either ran out of resources, or couldn’t convince senior management of the value in their efforts to the overall brand. Examples include Middle East majors like Emirates (last tweet in Jan, 2010) and Qatar Airways (last Tweet in Feb, 2009). So, what does this reflect?

Don’t let the tail wag the dog!

Airlines and airports that are already into social media should look to build a sustainable engagement strategy, as well a resource strategy. It shouldn’t become a case of the follower numbers exploding due to a viral video or giveaway, and the Marketing team having to double the team’s size all of a sudden.

Rather, by planning ahead and tying social media efforts closely to overall brand goals and setting up KPIs, airlines and airports will not allow the tail to wag the dog – it’s a situation nobody wants to be in.

Some questions to think about scalability…

• Should an airline (or any business) set some boundaries for their involvement in social media, or will their customers continuously expand the scope of the conversation?
• Who manages that scope – the customers or the airline?
• And what happens if the customers want to go beyond the scope that the airline wants? (Scope can mean volume, expectations for responsiveness, content of the conversation, etc.)

Even if you don’t have answers to these questions right now, it’s important to think about them and prepare ahead of time. Look at how Jetblue has a 12-person team dealing with customer service and marketing issues on Twitter (surely a well thought-out plan). Look at how Delta Airlines has set up a social media lab to slowly but surely scale up their efforts.

You don’t want to start digging the well when you’re thirsty right?

What do you think? How should airlines tackle scalability? Any good examples you can share?

P.S: I will be answering these questions and more in my upcoming webinar on social media ROI for airlines. Register now! http://bit.ly/airlineroi

• How airlines can drive and measure ROI from social media (Plus: Free passes for webinar)
• Southwest Airlines’ success secrets on social media revealed by Paula Berg
• For leading KLM into social media, Lonneke Verbiezen is the SimpliFlying Hero for Feb 2011
• Is Alaska Airlines’ Social Media Execution heading South of Expected?
• 52 Airline Marketing Strategies to engage today’s traveler: A walkthrough of our free iPhone app!

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The latest study from Ideaworks, sponsored by Amadeus; shows that airline ancillary revenue is on the increase, up 45% on last year to €11 billion ($13bn), and that in order to be in the top 10 ancillary revenue generators an airline must drive €300 million in ancillary sales. Airlines cannot afford to ignore the rapid development of this trend but strategies to take advantage of ancillary revenue will need to vary according to each airline’s brand positioning, and this involves careful decision-making.

Unbundling translates into cash

As can be seen from the graphic above, LCCs have moved full steam ahead with unbundling, selling exit-rows, extra legroom and priority boarding. However, the story of the last couple of years has been the entry of the U.S. majors – United and American now generate around €1.5 billion each. Even Singapore Airlines has started charging up to $100 for exit-row seating on their long haul flights.

There are compelling reasons for an unbundled market position:

1. Unbundling enables completely new revenue streams as customers select services ‘a la carte’
2. In the world of price-centric internet searching, airlines are under pressure to advertise a low base fare
3. An unbundled approach enables greater customer choice, although airlines need to ensure transparency to avoid confusing and misleading their customers.

To unbundle, or to preserve the brand?

For airlines that have built brands on premium service the decision to impose charges is a big one. Emirates, for example, is resisting the trend and even Southwest airlines has bucked the LCC tendency by not charging for baggage fees. If an airline opts for this approach, it is essential that customers are informed at every point of sale because consumers are beginning to expect baggage fees and additional charges.

What’s certain is that brand consistency is a must. If an airline’s offer is unbundled in one channel but not another, the resulting customer confusion will hurt sales and defeats the object of brand differentiation. This requires careful thought and the integration of ancillary services within the selling process, including the travel agent booking flow in order to drive adoption.

Another potential brand and revenue pitfall is delivery –it is one thing to sell a service, quite another to ensure it is delivered, on time, every time. Imagine if there is a disruption and customers are moved to a smaller plane with less exit-row seats, but the airline has already sold too many! Issues such as this require planning upfront.

Integration with an airline’s CRM and revenue management system also help to track and operate ancillary services according to customer value, whilst ensuring maximum revenue capture.

At Amadeus we are working with airlines of all shapes and sizes to deliver ancillary revenue strategies across multiple channels and in line with industry standards.

Editor’s Note: Horses for courses

While the dilemma for choosing between unbundling to drive ancillary revenues or to preserve the brand is a very real one, the best solutions would be customized to individual airline’s specific needs.

For example, while almost every airline in the US is charging a bag fee domestically, Southwest has made it a competitive advantage by not charging one. Similarly, Delta Airlines charges a bag fee for domestic sectors, but none on cross-Pacific flights. Because no other competitors do. It’s horses for courses.

So, what do you think? How far can airlines push the un-bundling argument before seriously compromising the brand, hence loyalty? Let’s hear it in the comments, or over on Twitter (@simpliflying)

• Ancillary revenue: A boon or a bane for the airline brand?
• Ancillary revenues and airline branding Special in March at SimpliFlying
• Low cost airline brands get creative with ancillary revenues – lounges, shops and cargo!
• King of ancillary revenues, RyanAir offers €1,000 for best idea on making money!
• Ancillary revenues and airline branding webinar slides (with video!)