No longer are your choices merely “window or aisle seat” when booking on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. The airline has recently rolled out their new “Meet and Seat” program which allows you to interact with fellow passengers based on similar Facebook and LinkedIn interests. The idea is that you can share time on the flight with someone who shares your interests or who may be attending the same event as you.
 |
 |
How It Works
You simply link your Facebook and/or LinkedIn accounts to your flight via the KLM portal, showing as many or as few of your details as you wish. Then you browse the flight to see who else is registered with similar interests and where they’re seated. If a seat is available, you may choose an adjacent seat. You also have the option of contacting them privately before the flight via Facebook or LinkedIn to introduce yourself or have coffee before takeoff. It could spur productive business collaborations or could be used for arranging to share a taxi. Or speed dating. Or maybe just for an interesting seat mate for long intercontinental flights.
Of course it is an opt-in program, and only those who have chosen to link their Facebook and LinkedIn profiles will be participating and desiring contact.
KLM Social Media Leader
This is not KLM’s first endeavor into the social media world. They have been at this for several years with great success. Some years ago they partnered with Air France with Bluenity.com to allow flyers to meet and share travel tips on common destinations. Then as Foursquare was taking off, they launched the “KLM Surprise” campaign, designed to engage passengers who were waiting for flights to take off. Passengers who checked in for their flight with Foursquare or tweeted about it were then surprised with gifts appropriate to their social media profiles, such as flight upgrades, app vouchers and Nike+ Fuelbands. They found the program to be a rousing success, with over 1 million tweets generated in response.
These sound like great ideas to us – if you have to fly commercial. Of course flying private with your friends has its advantages too. Contact us at International Air Charter for a free quote on your group’s flight to your next destination.
