London City Airport has become the first airport in the UK to enable customers to use Facebook Messenger to view real-time information about their flight.
From today (July 26) any passenger who has Facebook Messenger on their mobile device can send their flight number on the day of travel to the LCY Flight Info Facebook page and receive personalized flight information.
The automated messages provide up-to-the-minute information on flight status, including departure and arrival times and boarding gate numbers, removing the need to constantly check flight information screens. Both departing passengers and those waiting for passengers to arrive can get the information relevant to them.
Alison FitzGerald, chief information officer at London City Airport, said, “The majority of our passengers are connected to social media and many of these are business travelers, so it makes perfect sense to offer flight updates directly to their smartphones via Facebook Messenger. We already offer free wi-fi and a check-in time of 20 minutes or less, and this is another way of ensuring a hassle-free, personalized customer experience.”
Last week it was announced that there are one billion active Facebook Messenger users worldwide, and this new integration joins an existing personalized Twitter update service @LCYFlightInfo, which is provided by BizTweet and developed by TIC (Technology Integration Consultancy).
In the first 12 months since it was introduced in June 2015, Twitter flight information was used by 13,568 registered users.