Full article on economist.com
Social media is nothing new for the airline industry. Most carriers understand that peer-to-peer social networks like Facebook and Twitter offer a cost-effective and direct means of engaging with passengers—typically for service updates, conflict resolution and marketing. Even longstanding sceptics like Ryanair now pay their staff to interact with customers on social media. The airlines don’t always get it right, of course, but they are no more prone to blunders than anyone else. And yet one thing has been noticeably lacking from the industry’s social media landscape: a means for passengers to converse with one another not before or after their flight, but during it. Virgin America has now changed that...
