Air Travel, Socially Speaking with @BLBoitson

Introducing the 5th guest post in this new fly HIA blog mini-series, a discussion on how social media has altered the way we travel. Today's guest blogger is Brenda Boitson a local writer from right in MDT's backyard! Brenda's writing which covers a wide range of topics, including travel, can be located at Associated Content.

A few years ago, I stumbled upon the site http://www.airfarewatchdog.com. I was thrilled to be able to use it to find cheap tickets for a 2 stop, two week trip to San Francisco and Seattle. Now, I can access Airfare Watchdog’s latest and greatest rates just by reading my Twitter stream. While I have not had much time to travel by air in the past year, it has been a great resource to find cheap flights on trips I may want to take in the future.

This is just one of the ways that social media has brought air travel to the forefront of my mind when booking a trip. I have thoroughly enjoyed following two heavy tweeters, @HIAairport and @Runwaygirl to name a few, to see what is happening in the air travel industry, and at my favorite local airport. I can find out about the latest improvements, new non-stop flights, the greatest new planes on which to travel, and better yet, I have been able to win a few goodies too!

In the past year, I have enjoyed three writing travel weekends, all within the state of Pennsylvania. In the near future, however, I am working to book more writing weekends in Vermont, Harper's Ferry, and Montreal. While some I can access just as easy by car, I am looking forward to using my social media resources to book the Montreal trip in particular. With just a click to HIA’s Facebook page, Airfare Watchdog’s twitter stream, or connecting with sites that offer promotional flight deals, I should be able to find a great fare at the right time to complete my journeys.

Traveling via air has often left me feeling alone. When I did my multi-leg journey to San Francisco and Seattle, I traveled alone and did not get a deep sense of appreciation for being a customer of those airlines. With social media access, I can tweet directly to the airline representatives and get a near-instant response on questions I have about flights, baggage, meals, and extra fees I want to be aware of before takeoff. Even if I’m sitting in the waiting area outside of my gate, I can tweet or comment on the carrier’s social media pages, and take care of any concerns I may have.

I spend countless hours on the phone at work, so to be able to use social media to eliminate that extra phone call, means less stress for me. It is often easier for me to type up a question for a company, and check back for a response when I have the next opportunity to check my replies via Twitter, or my wall on Facebook. It saves me lots of time, energy, and makes me feel much more connected than being put on hold.

Social Media is the new wave of customer service. If done right, air travel questions and concerns can and have become exponentially easier to handle for everyday travelers. It is a great way to connect with your customers on the good and bad things about traveling, to resolve issues immediately, and also to receive feedback on things that may be improved. Carriers and airports can continue to learn much by connecting with their clients through social media sources, and I believe customers will feel a greater sense of appreciation for giving them their business.

Brenda mentions that she can get customer service issues resolved quickly with the advent of social media. Have you an experience of getting an question, complaint or issue resolved by a company employing social media?

Air Travel, Socially Speaking with @flyingwithfish

Introducing the 4th guest post in this new fly HIA blog mini-series, a discussion on how social media has altered the way we travel. Today's guest blogger is Steven Frischling

is an airline and aerospace focused emerging media consultant, building and deploying strategies for airlines, aircraft manufacturers and the travel industry. He writes Flying With Fish a blog that has somehow managed to evolve into something far beyond what it was planned to be.

I sat down to write about travel and the importance of social media a few days ago. Once I finished the piece I realized I had over analyzed what I had written like is often done when pitching a corporation rather than having a conversation about the subject as a whole.

Others in this series by Harrisburg International Airport's series on social media has transforming how we travel have discussed the tools of social media. Tools, such as Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, Blogs, etc etc etc, are important, they are not what makes social media … connecting and engaging is what makes social media effective.

Since HIA is hosting this series, I am going to focus on airports.

Most people never view an airport as a business. An airport to most travelers is a building, with some runways, gates and it’s a place you go through, but it is not generally viewed as a business. Airports need passengers to survive, especially airports that compete with other airports for traffic.

Where I live, the closest airport to my house lost its last airline in 2004 when US Airways Express terminated the service. The airport I prefer to use, Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN), has now been left with a single airline, US Airways Express, since Delta Air Lines pulled out in 2006. These airports are fighting for passengers and their survival against larger airports such as Hartford's Bradley Airport (BDL) and Providence's TF Green Airport (PVD) … and in turn TF Green fights for passengers with Bradley Airport and the much larger Boston Logan Airport (BOS).

To compete, airports must find out the needs of their passengers, not only those in the 'home area' but also those coming to their region. social media opens up a whole new door for airports to explore travelers, build relationships with those who use or may use their facility, and improve the overall travel experience. I have often wondered if my 'home airport' would have a larger passenger base if they actively sought out passengers, recruiting them away from Hartford, Providence and White Plains (HPN). Frequently when speaking with travelers in my area I am met with "New Haven still has an airport?"

So how does an airport using social media change the travel experience? From the outset it is proactive. It puts the airport into a conversational space where they are able to alert travelers to their presence and recruit passengers for them.

While smaller, regional airports such as Harrisburg, Akron-Canton (CAK), Charlottesville (CHO) and Dallas Love Field (DAL) are able to connect with regular travelers, turning locals into brand ambassadors… larger airports that often seen as the 'large faceless corporations' of the airport world are also doing an excellent job in engaging.

For me a major airport that is shaping the way social media should be used by major global hub airports is London's Heathrow Airport. Heathrow Airport is a massive airport with airlines from every inhabited continent and yet those involved with Heathrow's social media are able to connect, be helpful and at times even playful with their passengers … all while helping build the airports brand image in, a city with five international airports, along the way.

A recent experience that brought a smile to my face upon landing at Heathrow and receiving a message saying "Welcome to Heathrow! There are Crunchie bars waiting for your at WH Smith." While this may seem odd … a few hours earlier, while boarding a flight to London Heathrow I sent a message out on Twitter saying I was on a certain British Airways flight to Heathrow and I couldn't wait to pick up a Crunchie Bar … the folks at Heathrow timed their message to when they knew my plane was at the gate.

Airports are the gateway to a region and an airport's ability to create content and interact with passengers directing them to hotels, restaurants, attractions, allows for an interactive opening with the social media programs in place by tourism boards, local attractions and the chambers of commerce. This flow of conversation gives travelers’ access to instant local insights and suggestions … something that never happened during the planning and transit stages of travel before.

Social media has allowed airports to become full partners with the airlines and those who support travel to a region in being proactive and reactive to travelers needs. Social media has opened the floodgates for airports to become competitive in recruiting and retention or passengers from not only the local population, but also those who visit. Social media has finally allowed airports to explore new revenue streams and have a voice of their own, not the voices of others around them speaking for them.

For airports … social media has been a fundamental game changer for their benefit and the travelers who use them.

Happy Flying!

Have you had an airport engage you on Twitter? Which airports do you fly to/from aren't using social media, but you wish they did?

Air Travel, Socially Speaking with @BethBlair

Introducing the 3rd guest post in this new fly HIA blog mini-series, a discussion on how social media has altered the way we travel. Today's guest blogger is Beth Blair writes for Aviation Security International and a travel blog. You can find her personal site and blog at BethBlair.com.

How social media as altered the way we air travel
The social media trend has not only made our world feel smaller, it’s making travel easier. Every day travelers are turning to their favorite social media sites for updates on news, bargains, trends, air delays or other valuable information that may impact their days on the road and in the sky.

This summer I was on a family trip and as I tweeted our adventures, locals offered advice on bakeries, restaurants and coffee shops. This isn’t rare. Twitter has played a major part in social media evolution and for good reason. It’s the fast-food of communication. (link to Benet’s post?) Just as every tropical island and cruise ship has its own ambiance, so do airports. Travelers don’t hesitate to jump on Twitter to ask fellow travelers where to find an airport pub or massage chair. Better yet, I’ve witnessed people meeting in person for the first time while passing through an airport. A few years ago, they would have walked right past each other.

Airlines in SM
It’s been fun watching airlines and other travel industry businesses partake in social media networks and as the months pass they get better and better. Airlines use social media for damage control, flight bargains and assisting with circumstances such as lost luggage. Oftentimes, a passenger may simply send a tweet out of frustration and the airline looks at it as an opportunity to provide outstanding customer service.

Another common trend is employees, especially cabin and cockpit crews, blogging or tweeting about their experiences, pet peeves or offering advice to passengers. As for airline security, TSA (Transportation Security Administration) has been successful at running the passenger-geared TSA Blog that explains procedures and addressed newsworthy events.

The Joy of Blogging
Blogging in general has made quite an impact on the social media scene. From experiences and opinions to controversial news, the various realms of blogs have given travelers the opportunity to research, discover and gather insight on a destination long before they arrive.

On a personal level, my shared blog, TheVacationGals.com was created for us to share our experiences and findings during our travels. We each have unique voices, opinions and backgrounds which make for an interesting mix.

The blog has allowed me to share my experience as a former flight attendant, indulge my interest in travel safety and as a mom I enjoy assisting other parents with their air travel questions. For example, I have been able to voice concerns regarding the dangers of the long-time airline lap-child policy.

While companies are using Facebook and Twitter to start buzz about their products, their blogging customers are sharing their experiences about the products. When it comes to air travel, luggage is always a big conversation piece as are comfort and health products. For parents, topics like strollers, food, entertainment, car seats and the CARES (Child Aviation Restraint System) are at the top of the list.

The proof is in the photos
A photo is worth a thousand words and that certainly seems the case when one photo is placed before thousands of people. Visual stimulation tends to build trust between a poster and a viewer and this is reflected daily in social media. Twitpic and Flickr are just a couple of photo-sharing sites used in social media. Photos of a grotesque hotel room would turn off most future guests whereas a hotel with a gorgeous beach-view would tempt travelers to book a room that day. Today, exposure in social media is better than a brochure.

Of course, not every photo relays the truth behind the story and this can be the case for flying. Earlier this year, a passenger took various photos of a major carrier’s aircraft being “held together” by what looked like duct tape. The photos made its way on to various social media sites. Sure, it looks bad, especially alongside the phrase, “If you can duct it…” However, this is one example where the photo didn’t explain the entire story. The silver adhesive was actually very expensive high-speed tape, a much higher quality of adhesive than duct tape. And it certainly wasn’t bought at Home Depot.

This story should be a remind to all social media users, that while Internet information is easily accessible today and erupting with information, it’s up to the individual to verify all information before coming to a conclusion. Happy traveling and tweeting!

Air Travel, Socially Speaking with @CrankyFlier

Introducing the 2nd guest post in this new fly HIA blog mini-series, a discussion on how social media has altered the way we travel. Today's guest blogger is Brett Snyder. Brett is the President and Chief Airline Dork at Cranky Flier, LLC. In addition to his blog, Brett operates Cranky Concierge air travel assistance service. Today Brett shares his thoughts on Delta Air Lines reservations and the Twitter movement.

Next stop on the Delta tour? Reservations. I was particulary excited about talking to Allison Ausband, who runs the reservations team, because Delta is doing some really interesting things. Besides using some more unique flexible work schedules, Delta is also bringing together social media with reservations to create some spectacularresults.

There are about 5,000 reservations agents at Delta, and they’re scattered around several call centers around the world. Well, at least 4,000 of them are. The rest are actually home-based, similar to what JetBlue does with its agents and the team is humming right along. Right now, there are also call centers in South Africa and Jamaica that take calls from the US, but the long term plan is to bring that all back in-house. Yep, that’s right. Love it.

But of all those agents, there are eight that are particularly interesting to me. Those eight (and growing) make up the DeltaAssist team, the group that manages @DeltaAssist on Twitter. Though the group started off handling issues only during business hours in Atlanta (something I criticized here), it has already been expanded to work on weekends. It will eventually become a 24×7 operation, and that’s where it needs to be. And really, it needs to be there very soon. You can’t have part-time coverage for a 24 hour operation.

The agents on this team are given wide-ranging power to resolve any issues that arise, and if they can’t, they contact whomever needs to fix it. Ultimately, Allison views this team as just another line of business, like the reservations sales team.

Though the benefit this team brings seems obvious to me, I asked Allison how Delta was measuring success. Her first answer was this.

What we’re reading makes it worthwhile. Even if it’s not a favorable comment, it’s real-time learning.

While I agree with that, I can’t imagine that’s how they measure success, so I pressed on and she gave me two answers.

1. Fewer complaints
2. Fewer calls into the reservations center

Allison explained that the response has been phenomenal. The group tells customers that “someone’s listening in cyberspace and there’s a human behind it.” In other words, it gives a human face to a generally impersonal process.

While Delta hasn’t fully fleshed out its metrics yet, it likes the trends that it’s seeing. DeltaAssist agents can respond more quickly to customers when they’re in trouble. Since it’s not on the phone, the agents can multi-task and be more productive. And best of all (in my opinion)? Twitter limits you to 140 characters, so it makes customers get to the point. That lets the team help more people with less time. In fact, I had the chance to use it this week for a Cranky Concierge client, and I think that highlights how efficient this is.

crankyflier: looks like flt 63 ATL TPA may cxl – trying to help [client confirmation #] – is it possible to reaccom even if no cxl yet?
DeltaAssist: We can, although the only flight with 2 seats still open is leaving @ 10:50p. ^WG
crankyflier: Well, can we grab those seats and then they can still hang around 63 to see if it goes earlier?
DeltaAssist: All set. ^WG

Fantastic. No need to call anyone, and you have to explain it very concisely. The problem, of course, is that some might abuse the system, and I asked if they’d seen that so far. In her Southern accent, Allison slyly notes, “We have some regulars.” And that’s a constant issue for the airline – figuring out how to help people and when. Allison knows that Delta can’t respond to everything in cyberspace, so the airline is turning toward technology to help find what needs urgent assistance and what might not.

DeltaAssist will never take over the job of reservation agents completely, but it will be a strong complement. Regardless of the channel that people use, all agents are now being reminded that there are rules, but they aren’t in stone.

“We want agents to know, they’re listening to the customer. They need to do what’s right.”

That sort of empowerment isn’t something that we’ve seen at legacy airlines in recent times, and I hope it doesn’t ring hollow in this case. Granted, after my recentguest post from a former Delta reservations agent, it does make you wonder how easy it will be to make this change in empowerment stick. When I was there, they were sending reservations agents into recurrent training to make it clear that they had more power to make things right.

It also helps that there is complete support from senior management.

“We wouldn’t have been able to get all these resources if [the execs] didn’t believe in what we were doing.”

That’s true, and it’s certainly welcome.

Air Travel, Socially Speaking with @avweekbenet

Introducing the latest in fly HIA blog mini-series, a discussion on how social media has altered the way we travel. Today's guest blogger is Benét J. Wilson. Benét is the Online Managing Editor for Business Aviation at Aviation Week in Washington, D.C., and is a consummate traveler and blogger.

The Internet has revolutionized and democratized the world of travel. In the old days, we had to rely on travel agents for booking our tickets and trusting that they would give us the best fares. We also had to rely on them, along with travel writers, for intelligence on where to go and where to stay.

But with the advent of the Internet, those functions became available to anyone with access to a computer. We can now book our own travel, find independent reviews on resorts and hotels and tailor our own vacations.

But for me, the one thing that has transformed travel is the growth in social media. And the one tool that has revolutionized how we experience our travel is Twitter. The 140-character microblogging site has the ability to give travelers instant information about any part of their trip.

For example, I flew to Geneva, Switzerland, back in May for a major business aviation show. The day after I arrived, I came down with a horrible cold. We all know that nothing is worse than being on the road and getting sick, especially if you’re out of the county.

I jokingly sent a Tweet asking one of my followers to go to Walgreens, get me some lotion tissues, some Sudafed Cold medicine for day and NyQuil for the evenings and along with some Riccola cough drops and fly them to Geneva. The next thing I know, I had tweets suggesting medicines I could buy in Geneva. One of my followers was even kind enough to Tweet her suggestions to me in French and German so I could show it to the pharmacist.

I took her good advice and got some great medicine and felt better after only a day. I again joked about how much better I felt, but admitted I had no idea what I was taking. Several of my European followers assured me that the medicines recommended to me were the right ones to take.

One of my favorite Twitter travel people is Stacy Smalls, AKA @EliteTravelGal. She is constantly tweeting about her amazing travels and giving advice on where people should go. She also handles her client emergency requests (and even requests from non-clients), because you never know when you’ll need help.

Another favorite is Brett Snyder, AKA @crankyflier, who brings humor and clarity to the airline business in his blog of the same name. But he also has a business – Cranky Concierge that sprang up after Twitter followers asked for help in rebooking flights after flight delays and cancellations. During Iceland’s volcano eruption, Snyder solicited clients via Twitter and came up with some really unique connections to get people out of Europe.

And if you mention almost any city in the world, I guarantee you will get some great suggestions on Twitter for places you don’t find in the guidebooks or deals that may not always be visible. A friend recently had an 8-hour layover in Singapore and wanted suggestions on what to do. One of my followers told me that the airport’s Singapore Visitors Center offers FREE two-hour tours of the city, including transportation. There’s also a free shuttle that takes you to points in the city.

So you will never see me travel without my two smartphones and their corresponding Twitter apps: the Blackberry Curve with UberTwitter and the iPhone4 with Echofone (both great recommendations from my Twitter followers). And to borrow my favorite airline tag line – this one from the soon-to-be-departed AirTran Airways – go. There’s nothing stopping you!

Are you a Social Air Traveler?

When you cruising through the terminal looking for your gate, you may notice that many of your fellow air travelers are engrossed in their smart phones, iPads, netbooks, laptops, or any number of other electronic handheld devices. Some of those travelers may even be occupied by multiple smart devices. What are they doing? They're emailing, uploading, downloading, texting, tweeting, posting, writing, compiling, computing, researching, reading, surfing, sharing, shopping, and the list of activities is endless! Did we miss any?

Each day more and more of these activities are becoming socially connected to those around us. We have ever increasing opportunities to share what we're doing with just about everyone that we're connected to through social networking sites. This revolution in how we participate in online activities makes us social at work, play, travel, life, and more. How are you connecting with your Social Graph?

If you are traveling alone, do you connect online via social media to keep in touch with your family and friends? If you're traveling with a colleague on business, do you converse over the web or over a cup of coffee?

How do you prefer to be social when flying?

Time for another $250 Facebook Giveaway!

Hey fans, followers, friends, subscribers, tweeps, and social media community! We've put together another giveaway just for you! What's the scoop you ask? Our Facebook fan page has been seeing weekly increases in fans joining the HIA social networking community and "liking" what we're doing and we're super appreciative. To show just how much we appreciate our fans we're giving away a $250 airfare gift certificate when we reach 2,000 fans. At that point out, our fans* become eligible for the giveaway.

The gift certificate is good toward airfare on an airline of your choice. The trip must originate or end at HIA. So if you live out of the area, but are planning on flying into HIA you could employ the gift certificate toward your trip! But, it doesn't stop there... if we reach 3,000 fans we'll do a 3rd giveaway of another $250 airfare gift certificate!

This is one of the ways we'd like to thank you for your continued support of our social networking community and the airlines serving HIA! Did you know that you can connect with our social networking community from our website? Be sure to let us know what you think of the new integration!

*If you are an employee of Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority, tenant or an airline serving SARAA/HIA, you and your immediate family members are not eligible for these giveaways.

Facebook Fan Page Giveaway

Hey fans, followers, friends, subscribers, tweeps, and social media community! We've put together a giveaway just for you! What's the scoop you ask? Our Facebook fan page has been seeing weekly increases in folks joining the HIA community and "liking" what we're doing and we're super appreciative.

To show just how much we appreciate our fans we're giving away a $250 airfare gift certificate when we reach 1,500 fans. At that point out, our fans* become eligible for the giveaway. The gift certificate is good toward airfare on an airline of your choice. The trip must originate or end at HIA. So if you live out of the area, but are planning on flying into HIA you could employ the gift certificate toward your trip!

But, it doesn't stop there... if we reach 2,000 fans we'll do a 2nd giveaway of another $250 airfare gift certificate! This is one of the ways we'd like to thank you for your continued support of our social networking community and the airlines serving HIA!

Did you know that you can connect with our social networking community from our website? Be sure to let us know what you think of the new integration!

*If you are an employee of Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority or an airline serving SARAA/HIA, you and your immediate family members are not eligible for these giveaways.