The next social networks: Airplanes

Posted by: Dean Foust on January 03

Jeff Jarvis authors the BuzzMachine blog and is a pretty creative thinker about how the Internet is changing our lives. He recently posted an interesting entry noting the potential benefits as airlines begin adding Internet service on some planes. For instance, Jarvis suggests networking passengers so they partner up and share cabs once they arrive at their destination — say, from LaGuardia to Midtown Manhattan. Or to allow tourists to solicit restaurant or entertainment ideas from the hometown passengers.

But Jarvis doesn’t stop there. Why couldn’t airlines also allow for more social-networking during the reservation process — allowing a passenger, for instance, to find out who else is on that particular flight (if not by name, maybe by occupation). Maybe send them a private message asking if they’d like to sit together. A couple who are relocating to a new town and are on a house-hunting trip could find out if there are any real-estate agents on the flight, for instance. Granted, many travelers would probably want to remain anonymous, but it’s an intriguing idea. Maybe the first airline to pursue this strategy could position itself as the airline of choice for the Information Class, and break the traveling public of the notion that airplane seats are commodities. He writes:

This is the key to decommodifying the airline: What if you chose to fly on one airline vs. another because you knew and liked the people better? What if the airline’s brand became its passengers? What if the airline even found ways to encourage more interesting people to fly with them because they knew that would attract and retain passengers (they could offer discounts and benefits to people who are active and popular in the social network)? Right now, all you offer is seats and miles: commodities. How much richer this would be if you offered small societies. Yes, we could still get stuck next to a talkative bozo — but not if we could meet people and arrange our seats before the flight thanks to the social network. Next to the right person, I might even tolerate a middle seat.

Jarvis also suggests allowing passengers to barter seats, though the airlines would never go for that -- they'd rather overbook at higher fares, and then simply "bump" a passenger and pay them the mandated $400. But it's another example of Jarvis' creative thinking.

You can read his post here. Let me know if you've got any other ideas on how airlines could use the Net to foster social interaction.