Tweets Fly while Planes are Grounded @ManAirport

As you can imagine the recent snow across Europe brought with it a number of problems for Manchester Airport and its customers. It seemed as though when it was not snowing in Manchester, causing the temporary closure of the runways and the delays in flights departing, it was snowing everywhere else, causing the dreaded knock on effect. Couple this with the 900% increase in traffic through the website instigating the need for the deployment of the “Simple Site” offering just the essential travel information, and you have have all the elements for the perfect PR storm, never mind the snow storm mother nature was serving up.

It is often cited in Darwinian theory that significant events bear witness to big leaps in evolution, and so seems the case with Manchester Airports Social Media experiment on Twitter. What had started in the summer as a fantastic service for their customers, giving them the ability to track their arrival and departure times as well as the power to communicate directly with the Airport, quite literally overnight, grew wings and flew at a time their planes could not.

When their customers needed communication, the Airport had the tools and their staff the skills to be able to talk constantly, and the importance of this will not be lost on either party from now on. The Manchester Airport Twitter Team became both voice of authority and the reassuring arm around the shoulder to their stranded passengers. They sent instructions to their followers both general and responding to the concerns of an individual. Travellers were comforted by the knowledge that information would be freely shared as and when it became available, and took further solace in the fact they were watching all airports, not just their own. If a passenger was flying to Paris, they could easily find out the conditions they were to land in though the Twitter team.

It was this constant communication that made the difference to the travellers stuck in the terminals, or the relatives waiting for loved ones to arrive. Everyone was aware that the conditions were beyond the control of the Airport and its staff, however, the one thing they could control, the information, they did so with aplomb. While other airports could be accused of hiding behind the conditions, leading to frustration in the departure lounge, Manchester Airport’s Twitter followers were calmed by the fact that the Airport was engaging with them, there was sense everyone was in this together, jokes were even sent to @ManAirport by travellers trying to lighten the mood. I guess it’s a lot harder to blame someone or something when they are constantly chatting with you and keeping you informed of any developments.

A great deal of credit for the way the Manchester Airport Twitter Team handled the situation, and here at KMP we are extremely proud of them. It was only last July that our very own Gez Daring stepped back from the training sessions, took the stabilisers off and watched them peddle Twitter forwards on their own.

Since then they have been engaging with their followers on a commercial level, by offering updated flight information and details on discount vouchers for the Terminal outlets. However, more importantly they have been communicating on a conversational level, gossiping about which famous person has been spotted in which terminal and what they could be doing in Manchester? It is this mix of professionalism and banter that served them and their followers so well when it was needed most.