Social Media Flight Paths: An Airline Comparison

Have you bagged a bargain flight? It’s so satisfying when you fly somewhere for next to nothing. Interesting though to watch how discount airlines compare when a crisis or difficulties arise.

Take today on Twitter for example.

We all know the Chilean ash cloud is severely hampering airlines. Thousands of passengers stranded. Hundreds of flights delayed or cancelled. Challenging circumstances for all involved.

Most airlines have taken to Twitter regularly updating customers. Here are some examples from Jetstar and Virgin Australia:

Bonus points to Jetstar for responding to tweets and directing followers to appropriate information where available.

Great effort from Virgin too.

Both airlines are demonstrating their understanding of customer needs and the value social media offers for communication.

These are the latest tweets on Tiger Airways wall:

You might notice Tiger Airways hasn’t tweeted. Scrolling down the page, nothing changes. Tiger promised an update at 10am that hasn’t been provided. In fact someone has tweeted that @TigerAirwaysAus must only tweet when they have a sale.

Not a great way to show your customers you care.

What can we learn from this?

Firstly, don’t sign up to a social media platform if you’re not going to monitor it.

Second, don’t make promises you aren’t able to keep.

Third, when followers reach out to you be sure to respond to them promptly.

Do you follow these rules? Or have you learned the hard way? Tell me in comments.