KLM Meet & Seat

Just read about this in my marketing textbook and can't decide if it's super awesome or slightly creepy. (Leaning towards super awesome!)  KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has a program called Meet & Seat that passengers can opt into, where you can view the Facebook or LinkedIn profiles of fellow passengers prior to your flight, allowing you to choose who to sit next to based on shared interests, networking potential, etc.  You have up until 1 hour before departure time to look through the pictures and bios of your fellow travelers--provided they have also opted into this program--and choose your seat accordingly.  So cool!

KLM defends that this program is geared towards encouraging networking opportunities among passengers... Cards on the table, I would be totally tempted to use this for scoping out hotties and orchestrating inflight "meet-cutes."  At the very least, it would be a nice tool to help me avoid being seated next to an older gentleman who alternates between sniffing his snuff box, hitting on me, and informing me of all the ways his Kindle is superior to my Nook.  (That was a long flight...)

And this isn't the first time KLM has put other airlines to shame with crazy cool social media programs.  Back in 2010 they ran a "Surprise" campaign to reward passengers for using Foursquare to check into KLM terminals at Amsterdam Schipol Airport.  Once they identified a passenger who had checked in and was waiting to board, the KLM Surprise team would research this person by reviewing their social media profiles, then find a gift catered towards their interests or travel destination, and give the gift to the passenger at boarding time.  Delightful!

Jet Blue and a few other American airlines are known for being responsive and helpful to customer inquiries through Twitter, but the Dutch have really set the bar high with these awesome social media programs.  I may have to book a flight to Amsterdam soon. :)