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Airline disruptions – lessons from a sandstorm
During a major sandstorm in Dubai earlier this year, the airport operations were severely affected, with thousands of stranded passengers and cancelled flights in the region. During this period of disruption, the number of people registered to receive real-time updates via Twitter grew 20 fold. This meant passengers wanted information at their finger tips.
Additionally, the real-time messages from @DXBUpdates, the airport’s Twitter flight information handle, received 62 times the number of replies and 15 times the number of favorites, which meant the passengers appreciated the content. Dubai Airports essentially managed to turn a negative scenario, the sandstorm, into a positive for both the passenger and the airport, a win-win. While @dxbupdates handled is powered by BizTweet, disruptions are common among airlines around the world, and they need to do a much better job of communicating with passengers when something goes wrong.
15below’s Disruption Communications Workshop
I was invited to share my views on how airlines can build better disruption communication strategies, and future-proof their plan, by the folks at 15below, one of the leading passengers communications firms. At 15below’s first ever disruption communications workshop in Dubai last week, I shared that in the age of the constantly connected traveler, it is critical that airlines reach them on a medium they prefer. The presentation that I delivered had a few good case studies, including the Dubai sandstorms, and one where Brussels Airlines rescued me after a cancelled flight, via Twitter!
I’ve embedded the presentation here for your reference. Would love a discussion on Twitter (@simpliflying) and in the comments below. You can view some more photos from the workshop here (Credit: 15 below).
Airline Disruptions – future-proofing your strategy
At SimpliFlying, we are continuously pushing the boundaries when it comes to airline marketing. And social media has changed two-way passenger communications forever. We’re launching a new solution around disruption communications and management for airlines – one that unites Operations, Customer Service and Corporate Communications like never before. It includes a detailed GAP analysis, determining whether your airline is ready for the connected traveller. There are MasterClasses by experts who hold senior executive positions within airlines, and our team can even help re-write your existing standard operating procedures and training manuals if needed. To find out more please feel free to get in touch.
Some more action from the #DCWDubai workshop on airline disruptions communications
#DCWdubai Tweets