Finnair introduces social check-in service

HONG KONG – Finnair has introduced a new social check-in service, which allows the passengers to link their Facebook profile with the seat map. When doing so, other passengers can see the passenger’s Facebook profile and the passenger can see who else has checked in on the same flight and where they are seated.

After completing check-in, the customer can tell his friends in his or her social networks where they are heading and their estimated time of arrival.

“Many people like telling their friends on Facebook where they are traveling. We wanted to make this a little bit easier and also add some value in the check-in process for those who want to see who they are traveling with and who are open to meeting new people,” says Aku Varamäki, social media manager for Finnair.

“We want to make air travel more social and find new ways to utilise social media during customer journey in ways that delight our customers,” says Jarkko Konttinen, Vice President, Marketing,. “We’re proud to be front-runners in utilising social media and making air travel more social.”

The service only shows the customer’s public Facebook profile and is only visible to the passengers on the same flight. Using the social check-in service is voluntary, and customers can choose to travel “incognito” just like before. Also, it is possible to disable the social check-in at any time, thus preventing other passengers from seeing the social network profile in conjunction with the seatmap.

In the first phase the service only includes Facebook but more social networks will be added later. The service was developed in partnership with Amadeus IT Group.