were waiting at airports for KLM flights and using social media while they did so. The staff then identified a particular customer and tried to find out as much about them as they could. Once they had enough information, they went out and bought a small, appropriate gift for that passenger and gave it to them before they left the airport. For example, a woman who was going hiking was given a watch that tracks distances and walking speed, and an elderly lady travelling alone was upgraded to First Class. KLM created a Web site and Twitter account dedicated to their campaign, joined Foursquare, and posted their video on their YouTube channel and the KLM Facebook Fan page. They only did this for 40 passengers, but the newsspread quickly via social media and resulted in over 1 million views of their video on their YouTube channel.

At the recent SITA Air Transport IT Summit in Brussels, KLM announced that it employed 23 staff dedicated to address the social media demands of passengers. The team is based at Schiphol Airport. Someone tweeted at the airport that they were thirsty – one of the team saw the tweet and went to find them and hand over a bottle of water.

Qatar Airways used a social media photo contest, Reflections, through which the airline gave away Business and Economy Class air tickets and a total of 1.6 million Privilege Club Qmiles. Followers uploaded photos and invited their friends, families and followers to vote for their photos.

Mango was voted the Coolest