AIRticulate.

British Airways Should Ignore Privacy Group Concerns
Published July 11, 2012 - No Comments
It has gained attention in recent weeks that British Airways has taken to Google-stalking its V.I.P customers, equipping thousands of staff with iPads so they can search for information about the passenger prior to their flight and greet them accordingly. Of course, it has caught th ...
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jetBlue Trying to Get Away With It by Launching a Gameshow!
Published June 11, 2012 - No Comments
It may look a little Smurfy at first glance, but jetBlue is set to make history by becoming the first airline-cum-gameshow operator. From June 18th through 22nd, the airline will be streaming a travel trivia game live online from a New York studio. Hosted by the slick, smooth-talking Mark ...
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Air Asia Rebranding to the Tune of $5 Million USD
Published May 13, 2012 - No Comments
AirAsia is setting aside approximately USD$5 million for corporate rebranding. According to Group Head of Commercial Kathleen Tan, the exercise will include a new look and feel to its main office, check-in counters (starting with Bangkok, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur), advertisements and aircr ...
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Points for Thoughts: Virgin America’s Quest to Know its Customers
Published May 4, 2012 - No Comments
Despite the longtime popular awareness in marketing circles that communication is a two-way street, I’m still amazed at how many airline marketing strategies revolve exclusively around push messages. Most of the communication that reaches me is one-way: “we (the airline) are o ...
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Plugged in with Aerolineas Argentinas: Creating Social Expectations
Published April 4, 2012 - No Comments
I flew with Aerolineas Argentinas for the first time recently, and was pleased to see the efforts they are making to engage customers socially. Now let’s hope that the execution matches the expectation. I’ve said many times, companies do not need to be omnipresent in social m ...
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Humanization is the Name of the Game for Tweeting Customer Service
Published March 31, 2012 - No Comments
Much to the chagrin of many European travelers, there is only one Lidia Stefanowska. But thanks to Twitter, easyJet’s Customer Experience Manager is seen regularly in all 118 easyJet destinations. As the leader of @easyJetCare, Lidia’s team handles customer questions and problems in re ...
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Alaska Airlines Debuts New Terminal 6 at LAX
Published March 24, 2012 - No Comments
Alaska Airlines debuted its “Terminal of the Future” this week in Los Angeles International Airport’s Terminal 6 (read more about it from our friends at Future Travel Experience here). I have been critical in this space before about airlines introducing new technology wit ...
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EY + MCFC: Leveraging Sponsorship Investment to Offer Customer Experiences
Published February 28, 2012 - No Comments
Travel is an experience, not a tangible possession. For this reason, it always amazes me that airlines don’t make a more concerted effort to leverage their unique route structures, hub or focus cities, sponsorships, or anything else that gives them a competitive edge in a particular ...
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Special Airline Business Report: Social Media as More than a Tool for Marketing
Published February 20, 2012 - No Comments
The following article was written by Alex Thomas and published in Airline Business magazine on 20 February, 2012. A link to the original article is available here. Enjoy! Given the rapidly evolving channels through which airlines can connect with their customers, developing a consistent ...
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Is “Automated” Bag Drop Really Saving Anyone Any Time?
Published February 17, 2012 - No Comments
Automation seems to be the name of the game in the airline industry these days. Whether the motivation is to eliminate errors or reduce staffing head counts, the chances of actually dealing with a live individual during your travel experience are becoming slimmer every day. But as I contin ...
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Engagement 101: AirAsia Continues to Innovate with “100th Dragon” Contest
Published February 7, 2012 - No Comments
By now, we should all be used to seeing innovative marketing campaigns from AirAsia. While the airline continues to adapt its route structure to the changing aviation landscape in the Far East, one thing that has remained consistent is its dedication to innovative, engaging approaches to b ...
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Video Posted: Airline Business NCM London
Published February 1, 2012 - 3 Comments
It took a few days, but we’ve finally managed to upload the video of Steven Klimek’s presentation from Airline Business’ New Commercial Models, Retailing and Merchandising conference in London (delay courtesy of poor hotel wifi connections). The presentation below is enti ...
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Social Distribution 2.0(12): My Presentation at Airline Business NCM London
Published January 27, 2012 - No Comments
It’s a sunny Winter morning here in London, and I’m about to participate on a panel discussion with Ursula Silling, Founder & CEO of XXL Solutions; Rauno Parras, Chief Commercial Officer of Estonian Air; and Tom Bacon, Principal of Tom Bacon Consulting. Please view my indiv ...
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Why Airlines Need to Reconsider What “Loyalty” Is Today…
Published January 23, 2012 - No Comments
Repeat customers may indeed be more valuable to an airline than new customers over time, as they represent a steady stream of revenue at a reduced acquisition cost. But how much revenue does a carrier need to give away for “loyalty” before the economic benefit of repeat versus new cust ...
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iPhone Apps for Airports that do not even Offer Free Wifi?
Published January 19, 2012 - No Comments
This post will simply open up debate for further discussion… When I landed in Zurich yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to see a bright, shiny, glowing billboard advertising ZRH Airport’s free iPhone app (see below). I’m not sure what kind of money ZRH spent on this ...
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Who Killed Rico? Air New Zealand’s Clever Move to Phase Out the Loveable Lunatic…
Published December 17, 2011 - No Comments
Who killed Rico? That’s the million-dollar, or free round-trip, question. Air New Zealand’s fuzzy little mascot that crept his way into our hearts over the past year, and took a starring role in several of my presentations, was recently “murdered” at a party in his ...
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Using Social Media to Charter a Plane? Virgin America says OK!
Published November 29, 2011 - No Comments
I like clothes. And I like social media. So it’s no wonder that I’ve been a member of Gilt Groupe, which offers “luxury” goods online at lower margins, with the aim to make up the discount with volume sold. I was quite shocked to open my latest set of offers, howeve ...
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Key Takeaways After 4 Days of the Dubai Air Show…
Published November 16, 2011 - No Comments
We’re one day away from the conclusion of the 2011 Dubai Air Show, and I’ve managed to come up with a few conclusions, for those of you who couldn’t make it (or for those who could, but were too distracted with jet noises to think straight). 1) The airline industry, despi ...
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Presentation from ICCA 2011: Social Media and the Airline Industry
Published November 7, 2011 - No Comments
Below is the full version of my presentation at ICCA 2011 in Leipzig, Germany on social media and the airline industry. My presentation, “Two Paradigm Shifts in Travel and Three Ways to Drive Results,” looked into how social media is changing the travel industry and what airlines and a ...
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We’re Making History!
Published October 19, 2011 - One Comment
Hi folks…can’t write much on this one, as I just completed the longest travel day of my life. In the process of getting from Singapore, where I began the “day”, to Granada, Spain….I managed to touch the ground in Seoul, San Francisco and Frankfurt. Fortunate ...
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IATA World Passenger Symposium 2011: Singapore
Published October 14, 2011 - No Comments
I will be participating in a panel discussion entitled “Let the Customer Find You: Delivering the Right Distribution Mix” at the IATA World Passenger Symposium in Singapore this week. IATA has been a vital player in “simplifying the business” of airlines, and hopefu ...
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Airbus Air Transport Seminar Latin America: Presentation in Miami, 04 October 2011
Published October 4, 2011 - One Comment
I’ve posted my presentation from Airbus’ Air Transport Seminar for Latin American carriers, which took place today at the Sonesta Bayfront Hotel in Coconut Grove, Florida, USA. This is a general overview of the state of social media in the airline industry, focusing on how soci ...
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New Whitepaper Out Today! (Hint: Download it Here!)
Published July 26, 2011 - One Comment
How many times have you read a whitepaper that introduced new vocabulary to the English language? Specific to the aviation industry? My latest one (done in conjunction with SimpliFlying) does exactly that, introducing a concept called “Airrogance“, which is essentially arrogance app ...
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Prioritizing Precious Expenditures: Livery Design or Customer Experience?
Published June 28, 2011 - No Comments
Aviation buffs everywhere love a beautiful livery, but painting and re-painting a fleet isn’t cheap. As part of its merger with Continental, United Airlines is in the process of rebranding its livery—for the second time in the past seven years (see AirlineReporter’s hilarious acc ...
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