SimpliTravel - Top 10 Airline Initiatives to Engage Travelers during the Travel Stage

SimpliTravel: Top 10 Initiatives to Engage
Customers during the Travel Stage

Helping airlines & airports engage travelers profitably

http://www.SimpliFlying.com
http://www.SimpliFlying.com

Case-study 1
KLM: Meet and Seat

Social Seating
KLM’s meet and seat has been one of the most talked about and
controversial social media initiatives of the year. Based on a social-
seating system similar to the one pioneered by Satisfly, it allowed users
to choose their seatmate based on information from social media
profiles.

www.SimpliFlying.com

Simple idea
Once the booking is completed, the program asks users to opt-in by
connecting their LinkedIn or Facebook profiles and allows them to see
the information other users on the same flight have shared.


Choose how to meet
By looking at the information shared by others, users can choose to
meet up with them before the fight or even sit next to each other.


Not the only ones
A similar initiative has also been developed by AirBaltic using the Satisfly
platform mentioned earlier.


Case-study 2
Lufthansa: Member Scout

On-the-go networking
In December 2009, long before the introduction of Meet and Seat,
Lufthansa created one of the earliest forms of on-the-go networking for
its Miles and More frequent fliers: the member scout app.


Location based
This app leveraged on data provide by the members of Lufthansa’s
frequent flyers club Miles and More. It then merged the data with the
location provided by the smartphone’s GPS system to inform users of
any members who were available nearby.


Latest version
Today the functionality has been
updated and includes a larger Miles and
More app that features many other
SimpliTravel-oriented services like the
shop and lounge finder tools.


Early Innovator
Delta Air Line’s famous customer service handle is one of the most
interesting long-term engagement initiatives aimed at the SimpliTravel
phase.


Demanding replies

The airline was one of the first
to realize that, especially on
Twitter, customers demand
immediate, personal replies to
their problems and that the
reply (or lack thereof) has an
impact on customer
satisfaction and, through
social sharing, on the brand’s
image.


Facebook development

Since early 2011 the airline
also offers its Delta Assist
services on Facebook. Today
the @deltaassist handle is
still one of the most active
airline accounts on Twitter
and averages around 16
tweets per hour and
answers almost 4000
questions per month.


Case-study 4
ANZ: Foursquare Mayors

A frequent deal
Targeting frequent fliers is usually a tricky business, but also a rather
important one. Air New Zealand found a great way to target people who
travelled frequently trough airports where it could offer its Koru
Lounges.


You must be there often…

The airline decided to offer
free lounge access to
whoever “checked-in” most
often at each of its Koru
lounges locations on
FourSquare. For those
visitors who already had
access to the lounges the
airline awarded 100
Airpoint Dollars (frequent
flyer points).


On Target
By doing so the airline was able to specifically engage and reward only
those travelers who were active in social media and travelled frequently
to one of the airports where it had a presence.


Case-study 5
Helsinki Airport: Book Swap

Sharing

Especially on short-
haul and connecting
flights, passengers
spend a significant
part of their travel
time in the airport.
Helsinki Airport seems
to have found a new
way to engage them: a
crowd-sourced book-
swap.


Crowd-Sourced
The idea was developed by a team of “quality hunters”, a group of users
selected by Finnair and Helsinki Airport to help improve quality. To
design this initiative they used a Pinterest board where they
crowdsourced the best designs they could find on the web, and
discussed them.


Case-study 6
Lufthansa: Blue Legends

An extra twist
Just like Air New Zealand, Lufthansa also decided to leverage Foursquare
check-ins to engage its frequent filers. In this case however the airline
could take advantage of the latest developments and was able to create
a more customized experience.


Gamification
The airline was able to gamify the experience by creating a dedicated
Facebook app and allowing users to “check-in” on flights, rather than
just a fixed location on the ground.


Badges

Through its Facebook
app, the airline was able
to create a competitive
environment for its
followers where they can
earn special badges
based on the number of
check-ins and compare
their results with those
of their friends.


Case-study 7
Virgin Atlantic’s apps

One thing will always be there

Surveys tell us that today’s
connected travelers are
flying with an ever
increasing number of
gadgets ranging from
simple mp3 players to
laptops and tablets. But
regardless of their level of
connectivity one of these
gadgets is always there:
The smartphone.


A mobile-oriented company
Back in 2010 Virgin Atlantic started offering its travelers an app that
allowed them to track their flight, manage miles and even featured
games that could be played in-flight.


Evolution
Today the app has evolved to include many more features but has also
been joined by other SimpliTravel-oriented apps and, in particular, by a
“travel journal” app that allows users to create a very interesting record
of their trip and can be connected to Facebook.


Case-study 8
Gatwick Airport + Tesco: Scan to Shop Experiment

An old recipe
As airport managers know very well, stores are one of the best ways of
keeping travelers busy while waiting and, at the same time, drive
revenue.


With a new twist
The British supermarket chain Tesco is experimenting with some new
billboards at Gatwick airport where users can scan and purchase products
trough barcodes and a dedicated mobile app.


Second trial
This idea replicates a similar
experiment carried out by Tesco
in Korea, using billboards
installed in the underground’s
stations and that SimpliFlying
had highlighted in several of its
presentations .
In places like airports where
space is at a premium this
initiative could open the way to
many others aimed at engaging
users by means of bar codes
and other similar devices
located around the airport.

Case-study 9
Cathay Pacific: Klout score access

Controversial but interesting
One of the most controversial initiatives of the past few months has
been Cathay Pacific’s decision to allow Klout users with “high” scores to
access its San Francisco airport lounge for free.


Influencer marketing
The idea behind the initiative is an excellent one. Klout is a measure of
influence and giving free access to those airport users who are most
influential is indeed an excellent strategy (and the reason why it was
included in this Top 10). The controversy however was caused by the
very low score that was required to access the lounges ( just 40).


Case-study 10
Virgin Atlantic: TravelReads

The Big Shift

Airlines have long known that
one of the best ways to improve
customer’s satisfaction is by
keeping them entertained.

Traditionally this has been done
through in-flight entertainment
systems. But with the rise of the
Connected Traveler, the focus is
shifting increasingly towards the
users' own portable devices.


Content is king
Recognizing this shift and the importance of quality content, Virgin
Atlantic partnered with the content curation platform Longreads. The
two companies created the Twitter account @travelreads as well as a
web-page where users can request and share long-form travel related
articles to read while travelling.


Longform and travel-lovers unite!

The result of this initiative is
what appears to be a fairly
active Twitter handle, and
#tag, with a very high level of
interaction with users who
continuously request and
suggest reads. All the content
in this initiative is sourced
directly from the internet and
has to be at least 1500 words
in length.


For more case-studies:

Helping airlines & airports engage travelers profitably

http://www.SimpliFlying.com www.SimpliFlying.com

SimpliTravel - Top 10 Airline Initiatives to Engage Travelers during the Travel Stage

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SimpliTravel - Top 10 Airline Initiatives to Engage Travelers during the Travel Stage