Local airlines learn the value of Twitter the hard way #philippines #aviation #news

Robert JA Basilio Jr., GMANews.TV

When antiquated navigational equipment broke down last June, three Philippine carriers — Philippine Airlines (PAL), Cebu Pacific Air, and Zest Air — immediately announced flight cancellations on radio, television, and the web.

However, only Cebu Pacific bothered to report the incident on its Twitter account (@CebuPacificAir).

In ten 140-character messages posted within a two-day period —the time it took authorities to temporarily replace the equipment— the Gokongwei-led airline announced that it was canceling 30 flights on nine domestic routes.

Online silence

In contrast, Zest Air (@ZestAir) remained silent despite having cancelled nine trips. The company's last tweet was dated November 2009.

Philippine Airlines (@flyPAL) was mum on the rescheduled arrivals of three Manila-bound international flights. No mention of these were made, even in just 140 characters.

@flyPAL also kept quiet when a local Manila-bound PAL flight's touchdown was delayed for an hour, a passenger on that trip told GMANews.TV.

"The plane had to circle the airport for about an hour before we could land due to delays on the runway in Manila," the passenger said in an email to GMANews.TV.

'Tweeting just magnifies the situation'

But Benito E. Gliponeo III, one of five PAL employees, who manages the account, defended the airline's silence.

"[Tweeting] about it just magnifies the situation," Gliponeo, PAL's manager for planning and development in corporate e-Business, told GMANews.TV in an interview.

Gliponeo knows this from experience.

Early this year, when a traveler lost his luggage while on a flight to Manila from the United States, the airline got the flak on Twitter.

"On Twitter, the passenger blamed PAL for lost luggage but it was the staff of the carrier who failed to place his luggage in his connecting flight in the first place," Gliponeo said.

Although the luggage was eventually found and retrieved, it was never mentioned by the passenger on Twitter, "leaving a bad impression about PAL," Gliponeo said. "The passenger's negative comment on Twitter was read by his followers, all of whom may not be followers of PAL."

Rare help on Twitter

Meanwhile, @flyPAL helped a passenger store his luggage while looking to spend a few hours in the city before leaving for Bangkok, his final destination.

In various tweets, the airline provided him accurate, step-by-step directions regarding where to go and which hallways to traverse in the virtually abandoned airport terminal whose staff was done for the day.

But these incidents appear to be rare.

Or at least it so appears to Gliponeo, a PAL employee for more than ten years.

"Once you have a complaint, it's magnified even though you may have ten commendations," he said.

However, this is just one of the many Twitter-related risks that companies such as PAL have to deal with, said Vince Altez, a senior analyst of XMG Global that specializes in trends and issues in information technology.

Misuse and abuse

"Since (Twitter) is free, it is also open to misuse and abuse —anyone can use someone else's brand and spread bad news and comments that easily," he said in an email message to GMANews.TV.

However, these setbacks have never prevented Cebu Pacific from tweeting news that do not necessarily make passengers brim with optimism.

This explains why the Gokongwei-led airline reported the flight delays in its Twitter account, which is handled by just one online media specialist who is also in charge of its Facebook presence.

'A marketing and disruption communication tool'

Twitter is used by Cebu Pacific "as a marketing tool and as a disruption communication tool," Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific's vice president for marketing, told GMANews.TV in an email message. "And when there is a disruption, the faster we are able to reach our followers or our passengers the better. That way you are able to inform them ahead of time."

Instant, or even advance information, isn't the only advantage.

As @CebuPacificAir reported cancellations in real time, its followers rose steadily, thereby increasing its reach. (A similar rise in followers has also been noted for @flyPAL but it wasn't as significant.)

As of the end of June 19, @CebuPacificAir's followers reached 20,200. The next day, it rose to 20,909.

Talk about benefitting from a crisis.

More @CebuPacificAir followers mean more chances of making a sale on a platform that "is easy, effective, and free," Iyog said.

"We foresee a steadily increasing passenger base that view the Cebu Pacific Air Twitter account as a source of information on flights and seat sales," she added.

Relationships versus sales

But using Twitter isn't not just about sales anymore, it's also about enhancing customer relationships.

"We get tweets asking about the seat pitch and legroom space in our planes. One Twitter user even asked whether a 777 has three-pronged power outlets," Gliponeo said. "But these tweets come generally from business class passengers who are more technologically savvy."

Questions directed at @flyPAL are included in replies as much as possible to ensure the accuracy of our answers, added Gliponeo.

"If the answer would benefit everyone, we make the tweet public. If not, it is sent by direct message," he said, adding that he uses UberTwitter for Blackberry for tweeting. 

For its part, Cebu Pacific's replies to its followers are all public since its account doesn't follow anyone and are therefore disallowed from direct messaging.

But not all tweets and direct messages raise concerns that require quick and specific replies, according to Gliponeo.

Of @flyPAL's 50 mentions and direct messages on a regular day — a number that reaches 200 during storms — many tweets are still about booking, baggage, and ticket fares, Gliponeo said.

"If the information they request are already known by our followers, we reply to them in private," Gliponeo said.

Instead of providing passengers with instant information regarding these general matters, PAL's Twitter team encourages them to visit the airline's website, whose booking engine is also named Fly PAL.

This is exactly the same strategy that the airline employs regarding email queries, which also average around 50 on a regular day.

"Eighty percent of what passengers need from Philippine Airlines are on our website," he said.

Increase in airline Twitter usage

Both PAL and Cebu Pacific are also optimistic about increased Twitter usage in the future, especially since Filipino Twitter users are expected to reach two million by the yearend.

"More Twitter activity is expected and the volume of @flyPAL mentions will rise by double digits in the next six months," Gliponeo said, citing the aviation industry's recovery in Asia.

And this only means one thing.

Despite the availability of their websites and the usefulness of their information, PAL and Cebu Pacific's respective Twitter presences are here to stay. 

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