It’s the final stage in a week of valuable learning experiences that’s taken me from Milan, Italy, to Detroit, USA, in the space of a few days, all to do with helping two global organizations get a clearer understanding about social media and how and where that fits into organizational communication.
Because of Shel‘s and my different schedules, I’m not live with him in today’s FIR. I did record a segment last night which I hope he manages to include in the show. We had a brief email conversation last night when I arrived at my hotel at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam (transit stop en route here), and it appears Shel’s had a pretty nightmarish travel experience in Canada over the past few days. No doubt there’ll be a commentary soon at Road Weary.
Meanwhile, I’m sitting in the NorthWest Airlines lounge at Detroit airport enjoying the free wifi along with a pretty tasty cup of coffee as I reflect on my own experiences with two global organizations, leaders and major influencers in their individual fields, and the challenges and opportunities confronting them as they begin to really think about the multiple roles for social media and their own communication strategies.
More later. Just time to publish this post, shut down, grab a duty free and head to the gate.
Given that you are flying, have you been following the Mulley.net and Sky Handling Partners PR bust up?
I hadn’t, Will. Just Googled for it and came up with the story. Wow!
But what counts after all these harrowing travel experiences is traditional media and direct mail interactions with government, airlines and partners to affect change. The Economist gave 14 pages to the concept of travel during the week of the Mulley shitstorm and one of the writers suggested governments are seriously looking at passenger rights, specifically at issues surrounding compensation for lost time, misplaced baggage and logistical delays.
That written, if those aggrieved want to affect change, they need to put pen to paper and keep pushing the campaign to the vote-getting stage. Every voter travels and most of those making political donations fly. And everyone in the European community wants to take Michael O’Leary down a notch. If they don’t, his low-cost, no-frills, tough-shit cargo class philosophy has become the model of 21st century travel.
Good points, Bernie. At the opposite end of the cargo class scale, there’s the sudden growth in business-class-only airlines out of the UK. All reporting full flights to/from the US.
Do people really care about others’ harrowing travel experiences? Probably not if that’s any indicator.