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Airlines and social media: dialogue waiting to happen
Social media means that airlines just have another place where they can be raked over the coals. We complain to ticket agents. We complain to gate agents. We complain to customer service reps. And now, we can complain to the world, thanks to the likes of Twitter. I, for example, follow @DeltaSucks, though there hasn't been any action on it in several months. I don't just listen, though. When I'm stuck in an airport, I tweet relentlessly, and I know I'm not alone.
So, what's an airline to do about this? And Facebook? And YouTube?
The attack is coming on all fronts, and an industry that's been beaten up so severely and so often has few options. For now, the response is limited to tweeting fare deals, but obviously, that does little to address the continued stream of negative exposure to which the airlines are subjected.
When in doubt, the philosophy on social media complaints appears to be silence. Continental and American Airlines wouldn't comment on recent tweets from disgruntled fliers, according to a Reuters report. They are monitoring and claim to be responding, but that's about all. Billy Sanez, who manages social media for American's parent, AMR, believes that these platforms make it easier to open a dialogue with passengers ... but where is that dialogue?
When I got pissed off at JetBlue a year ago, I wrote about it on my personal blog and heard nothing from JetBlue. But, I did hear from other passengers ... one of whom was afraid to say too much because he was still in transit and didn't want to risk angering the airline. This level of paranoia may be extreme, but the implication is clear: passengers could find even a small blog, but airlines are squandering a chance to really engage the people who pay their bills.
Christi Day, who takes care of Twitter and Facebook for Southwest Airlines, told Reuters, "The main thing that our customers need to know is that we hear them." But, again, there is no discussion of what the airline is doing about it.
Customers finally have a voice, and as we saw with "United Breaks Guitars," it can get pretty loud. While the airlines may be listening, we're still waiting for the second half of "dialogue" to happen.
Filed under: North America, United States, Airlines
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Christi Day Aug 21st 2009 4:54PM
Tom-
I'm sorry, but I have to completely disagree with the angle of your story and the Reuters story. If you take a look at what people are actually saying about Southwest, in particular, you will see the wonderful comments they are not only sharing with me...but also with each other (looking for seat buddies, chattering about singing Flight Attendants, sending photos of winglets).
If you take a look at www.twitter.com/southwestair you'll see how we respond and engage with all our followers, not just those with issues.
I would even go as far to say that the airline industry (@southwestair @jetblue @alaskaair) is leaps ahead of any other industry.
There have been too many case studies and reports done on the positive nature of Twitter to let this comment go unsaid...please do more research.
-Christi
@southwestair
Drew Aug 21st 2009 8:29PM
The article and this blog post are very inaccurate.
I am most familiar with Southwest Airlines' social media efforts. They have a seven-person team working in this space, and those folks engage in dialogue with customers daily across multiple channels including Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and web communities such as FlyerTalk.com. The majority of this dialogue is in the open. I'm not sure why you didn't find it while researching in preparation for this article.
JetBlue and Alaska Airlines are also very active in social media, often mentioned in the same breath as Southwest. I do not believe their reaches are as deep as Southwest's, but again, the dialogue is in the open and should have been found in the course of performing even cursory research.
Even Continental, who is ramping up their social media efforts, is doing more than tweeting fare deals. Have you checked their Twitter stream lately?
TweetingFlier Aug 21st 2009 6:57PM
As a Twitterer who follows Southwest, jetBlue, American, Virgin America, and Continental, I must say that your report is inaccurate and terribly researched. I have seen people tell the airline's tweeting employees, "Great, so and so airline just lost my bag." And the airline will tweet back, "Here are our policies onv filing a lost bag claim. Hope you find your bag!" And the complaintant is blown away by this generosity and caring. Management is not going to send your request to the front of the line just because you Tweet. They will, however, sympathize and show you some things to help. Your claims are unfounded and off the mark.
Tom Johansmeyer Aug 22nd 2009 3:29PM
Christi, any chance you could post links to those stories?
Nick, rather than a customer name or PNR, all that's needed is a quick reply or direct message: "Hey, what's wrong? Here's my e-mail; let me know how I can help." Customer service dialogue opens with less than 140 characters. I had a gripe about an OGIO bag. Within hours, OGIO reached out to me via Twitter with several options. That's customer service ... via Twitter ... and not hard to do.
Stephen Michaelson Sep 17th 2009 9:57PM
Tom -- great post, thank you for the information. We are aggregating the data (as we find it) and doing some rudimentary scoring of airlines’ use of certain social media (Twitter, Facebook, and blogs) on this page:
http://www.ex-united.com/social-media/clickable-data-airline-social-media-all-stars/
We have, in one clickable table, the data plus links to each airline’s accounts.
Best regards –