Travel

The big asks of British Airways

Neville Hobson 1 Comment Business, Communication, Public Relations, Reputation, Technology, Travel
British Airways Dreamliner

It’s hard to know what to fully make of the dreadful mess in which British Airways finds itself today. It follows over three full days of massive disruption to the airline’s business that has resulted in wide scale flight cancellations around the world, huge queues at terminals at the UK’s major airports and many in other countries, and a severe hit on reputation and trust that could cost BA dearly. According to BA, a computer systems failure led to all this. It was caused by a power outage at a data centre near Heathrow airport in London on Saturday May 27, they said. That event knocked out all the airline’s means of managing flights, aircraft movements, passenger bookings, check-ins, baggage […]

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Identity inconvenience to the fore in 2016

Neville Hobson 6 Comments Business, Communication, Europe, Innovation, Mobile, Politics, Society, Software, Technology, Travel, Trends, Web, Workplace

The topic of identity ought to be front of mind for most of us at the moment following the horrific Paris attacks last week. The ability of the terrorists to freely move around France and to and from Belgium and elsewhere in the European Union highlights the flip side of the convenience and freedoms we’re accustomed to today in a union of countries with largely open borders between the states within the Union. In reality, if you are in a member state, you can pretty much travel around the rest of the EU – the western part at least – without ever needing to show a passport or other proof of identity. That applies to everyone, citizens and guests alike. […]

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Car driving evolving into an autonomous car experience

Neville Hobson 7 Comments Business, Communication, Innovation, Marketing, Mobile, Society, Software, Technology, Travel, Trends

How cars are evolving into ‘experience platforms’ and not simply mobile devices to get you from A to B is a topic of huge interest to anyone paying attention to the crossroads where the automotive industry, technology innovation and human behaviour intersect. (I was going to say ‘collide’ but that would hardly make the best metaphor.) Modern cars are now crammed with technology that offer the occupants of those cars environments that are way beyond driving a car in the manner we are accustomed to. Particularly with the high end of the car mass market (think Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, BMW and Jaguar, to name just a few such marques), you’re now in a machine that is more about helping you […]

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Is your Facebook profile enough to prove your ID?

Neville Hobson 11 Comments Business, Communication, Ethics, Social Networks, Society, Technology, Travel, Trends, Web

One thing synonymous with air travel is declaring your identity, usually in the form of a passport or citizen ID card, depending on the country and other factors. In some countries, you can manage just fine with a driving license (a de facto ID document in many places), residency permit for foreigners, or a multitude of means of proving your identity. But would a social networking profile be an approved method of substantiating your identity? Facebook, for instance? The Drum reports that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) – the US government agency responsible for security at places like airports – has accepted sight of a traveller’s Facebook profile as an approved form of ID. The news emerged after Twitter user […]

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Klout score takes off with American Airlines

Neville Hobson 21 Comments Business, Communication, Experiences, Innovation, Marketing, Public Relations, Travel, Trends

To many people, one of the appealing benefits of a good score on influence ranking services is that you can take advantage of perks – free products, services or experiences offered to you based on how high your rank or score is. Each of the Big Three such services – Klout, Kred and PeerIndex – has its own perks programme. The company that has it down to a fine marketing art in the US is Klout with its associations with big brands such as Microsoft, Sony, Cirque du Soleil, T-Mobile and, they say, over 300 more. Now Klout adds American Airlines to its perks roster in a deal that gives Klout users access to nearly 40 worldwide lounge locations including […]

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