FreshNetworks Blog

Following up on our posts about what British Airways should have done during the T5 fiasco at Heathrow (see posts here and here), I notice today that American Airlines are doing what we advised BA to do.

Last Friday they quietly launched an online blog, AA Conversation, as a way to keep in touch with customers online. The blog only has a few entries so far and is basic. Its success needs to be judged on how it is used in the longer term but the first signs are very encouraging. It contains service update information and critically offers explanations for why delays and cancellations have happened.

This kind of medium is a great way to engage and inform passengers about what has happened. The blog also allows you to include more detail than you could in an announcement or a brief section on the existing website. It’s a great way to make sure that as much information as possible reaches the passengers online.

Keen users will follow the blog by RSS, others can just sign up for updates by email. Comments are encouraged and are flowing in.

One to watch – this could be managed badly and not used, or it could become a model of how airlines inform and engage with their passengers. Giving them information they need and allowing them the right of reply they want. This has to be better than the photocopied letter that BA handed out to people during the T5 fiasco. Let’s hope American Airways put in the time and effort to make this blog really work – that has to be a good development for all air travellers