The new "tweet bot" @VAAInfo service will be available to travellers with Twitter accounts and is the first of its kind to be launched by an airline company. The service allows customers to make a query about a flight and within seconds they will receive tweets back providing real time information about flight arrival and departures.
Image by JuegosPC, on Flickr.
Tourists can check the status of flights taking them to their Caribbean holidays, business trips to New York, or honeymoons in South Africa. The status of return flights can be checked while travellers are abroad in Caribbean hotels and resorts for example, and it is a great service for people who are on the go, such as business travellers.
Fergus Boyd, the Head of E-commerce, said: "We now have over 50,000 Twitter followers worldwide and we know that many of them use the social network to keep abreast of travel news and updates.
"We are finding that many travellers are using the tool simply to confirm when their flight departs and others to check details when picking up friends and family from the airport."
The service is also available for passengers to use while in the air during flights to the Caribbean (as Virgin Atlantic offers flights to as many as 8 destinations in the Caribbean alone) or other exotic destinations that the airline offers services to. This enables travellers to check on connecting flights, while family and friends can check the status of flights at home to save waiting around at airports.
Boyd added: "This service, although used by many on a day to day basis, will really come into its own during times of disruption when we get high peaks of customer queries, many of which are simply asking for an update on the status of their flight."
Image by A380spotter, on Flickr.
Virgin Atlantic operates flights to destinations across the world including New York, Miami, Chicago, Las Vegas, Orlando, Los Angeles, Washington and Boston in the United States; Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa; Dubai in the United Arab Emirates; Sydney in Australia; Shanghai in China; Tokyo in Japan; Hong Kong; Manchester, Glasgow and London in the United Kingdom; and St Lucia, Barbados, Jamaica, Antigua, Tobago, Grenada in the Caribbean.
Whether passengers are taking romantic Caribbean holidays, business trips to Shanghai, or a city break to the United States, the new service will provide regular up-to-the-minute status updates.