This year has seen a marked increase in the number of overseas trips I’ve taken, and whilst air travel can be a draining experience, there are a number of apps that aim to make the whole affair more productive.
Back in 2011 for instance, Dutch airline KLM launched Meet & Seat, whereby you can view the social profiles of your fellow passengers, and decide based on that if you’d like to network with them.
You login to the KLM website pre-flight and volunteer the social data you’re willing to share. You’re then taking to the seating map you’re all no doubt familiar with, whereby you can see the details volunteered by other passengers. The hope is that you might, for instance, select your seat based upon shared interests.
Delta airlines tried a similar thing, but rather than aiming to connect up those of a similar standing, they want to connect the experienced up with the in-experienced. The project, known as Innovation Class, let users attach their LinkedIn profiles to their tickets, and the airline matched you up with another passenger to share experiences. Delta suggest that they will hand pick high class innovators on their way to various events and have fellow passengers apply for the empty seat next to them. Unfortunately, it’s no longer a service they offer, but a new startup has entered this space to try and make serendipitous encounters on your flight more likely.
Wait list
Rather than encourage connections on the flight however, WaitList aim to connect you up with others during your wait to board. Estimates suggest that most flyers wait for around an hour at the airport before boarding, and the app aims to match you up with like minded souls so you can network.
Users upload a virtual business card to a wall together with the kind of interactions they’re looking for. They can then search the cards of other users at the airport and reach out to those who look interesting.
The app is designed for business travelers who are flying solo in between meetings and looking to develop new contacts and expand their network.
The German project is still at a beta stage, but it follows on from a number of more established attempts to offer such a service, none of which I sense have really achieved mainstream success. Time will tell if WaitList will fair better.
