When two brands decide to engage on Twitter the outcome can often be entertaining. When airlines are involved, well, the stakes are often a bit higher. Mostly because context seems to be something the airlines struggle with online. So when a passenger sent a tweet about the irony of watching an ad for one airline on the TVs of another there was plenty of potential for things to go awry.
And now I'm watching an ad for @United while on a @JetBlue flight with live #TV (and #FlyFi). $JBLU $UAL #travel
— Matt Soleyn (@MattSoleyn) October 12, 2014
United responded and it was both on-topic and on-target.
@MattSoleyn We wish you were flying with us, watching the JetBlue commercial. ^JJ
— United Airlines (@united) October 12, 2014
And then a bit of back and forth, though nothing too amazing.
@JetBlue Matt can take turns. ^JJ
— United Airlines (@united) October 12, 2014
@united @MattSoleyn Hmmm…possession IS nine-tenths of the law. He's onboard…NOW! #WeGotHim #TrueBlue
— JetBlue (@JetBlue) October 12, 2014
So, yeah, not really that big a deal. Except that both airlines actually got the message right on this one (admittedly a bigger deal for United than JetBlue, historically speaking).
Good social media presence is rarely a sure thing. I do enjoy seeing it done right every now and then.
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This just confirms how completely pointless Twitter is. Who cares what ad Matt Soleyn is watching and where? Even his own family and friends probably don’t give two squirts of piss about it. Yet a portion of my ticket price pays for the airline to have a social media team so they can have gripping interactions like this. I want my fraction of a cent back.
It is all marketing. And a bit of customer service, too.
You pay for those things with every ticket anyways.
So a single interaction shows that Twitter is pointless? @United has saved me a hell of a lot of time and a good bit of money too. Everyone piles on United for being horrible at social media, but they have been nothing but great to me in the dozen or so assistance-needed interactions I have had with them.