Rather like Delta Airlines and others that now allow booking through Facebook, Malaysia Airways’ MHBuddy system not only allows passengers to check-in and print out boarding passes, it also lets them search for other Facebook friends who may be on that flight.  MHBuddy allows those who prefer their flying to be more sociable to send Facebook messages telling them of their flight plans and even lets them change their seats so they can sit together… without leaving the Facebook page.  Now, I’m no fanboy for Facebook and I prefer to follow an anonymous and solitary routine when flying rather than sitting with mates, or even industry colleagues, but Malaysia Airlines is not alone in using social media to extend its (non-carbon) footprint and this particular Facebook initiative is certainly innovative.  Last year a YouTube video from low-cost Philippine airline Cebu Pacific went viral after showing its flight attendants dancing to Katy Perry and Lady Gaga while demonstrating safety procedures. The video has now had more than 10 million views and given Cebu more publicity than it could ever have hoped to wish for, although I would be worried about the flippancy the airline seems to have for safety.  This may be the most important channel for airlines when using social media to engage with their customers. Virgin Atlantic has begun to make noises about using YouTube in the future and this may be a short-haul approach that allows it to catch up with its overseas rivals.  Its main rival, British Airways is also testing the water and ‘is powering’ a kind-of-social-network called Metrotwin that twins London and New York by blogs and reader reviews and recommendations, thus ‘twinning’ locations in both cities.  It may be some time before UK airlines completely embrace social media so in the interim I would suggest a more immediate route to success. As previously stated, I’m flying to San Francisco on March 7th on British Airways and I’m @montymunford on Twitter. An upgrade would be nice – haha.
Travellers are increasingly using social media for flying and overseas    airlines are stealing a march on their UK rivals.