All pics clicked on iPhone 4s.

So I finally got to watch Life of Pi last week and to say I loved it is an understatement. Life of Pi is a beautiful story – a visual adventure replete with rich fantasy and poignant moments. Suraj Sharma gives a fabulous performance as the young Pi. But most importantly, I was wonder struck and hugely inspired by a very powerful theme in the movie – the ability to create a silver lining out of a cloud. The saying ‘Every cloud has a silver lining’ is well-known. But no one knows if every cloud comes naturally with a silver lining or if it only lies in the eyes of the beholder. The movie starts off with the young Piscine coming up with an ingenious way to stop his classmates from calling him ‘pissing’ – he rebrands himself as Pi. This watershed incident then goes on to set the narrative of the whole movie. The adult Pi introduces the characters of the tiger, hyena, orangutan and zebra in the lifeboat replacing the more painful, tragic human characters. In the process, he creates a better story for himself and for the viewer. I wonder if a pinch of Pi in all of us would make life and living more worthwhile. The ability to use imagination, ingenuity and fantasy to create a silver lining in the cloud of every adversity should surely make life more beautiful. And in the process, create better stories and inspiring journeys.

Adult Pi Patel: So which story do you prefer?

Writer: The one with the tiger. That’s the better story.

Adult Pi Patel: Thank you. And so it goes with God.

Writer: [smiles] It’s an amazing story.

There has been an eardrum-shattering radio silence on this blog and the reasons have been aplenty. For starters, I’ve been hugely active on Twitter (I know, just another silly excuse). I’ve spent 2 years with one of the best social media agencies in Dubai (Omnicom) working on one of the world’s biggest brands on social media (PepsiCo) – learning a lot in the process and evolving from an ‘ad creative guy’ to a ‘media and community strategy person’. I’ve been fueling my passion for aviation, traveling around the world and most importantly, working towards my dream job – a communications role in the airline industry, which finally bore fruit in September 2012. w00t!

I now work for Emirates Airline in an exciting social media role. I’ll be hitting 6 months with them in a few days and am very pleased with the journey that has taken me this far.

An airline job has been my dream for my years and something that I have worked towards since I started my first job in 2005. It’s amazing to be in a role where your passions meet – it doesn’t feel like ‘work’. Being surrounded by the world’s largest fleet of Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s works wonders for one’s #avgeek soul. That said, there are challenges galore and expectations to meet, which is fair, square and deal.

I’m hoping to blog more often – especially as this blog has helped tremendously in my growth as a person and professional. I get very encouraging comments on my best post on this blog – How to know your Airbus from Boeing and I believe that my blog and your support will take me miles ahead on my journey to learn and share. Happy reading! Happy flying!

I’m a loyal customer of India’s Kingfisher Airlines. I first flew Kingfisher in Jan 2011 but since then I have flown them 15 times. I fly them as much as possible. I often pay a premium to fly them even when I have cheaper or non-stop flights available. I even recommend it to those who are looking for flights to India. The only time I flew another airline to India instead of Kingfisher I felt like I was cheating on a partner.

What I like the most about Kingfisher is how they make me feel special when I fly with them. Another reason I love to fly them is their social media engagement. I became a loyal Kingfisher customer because of how they engaged with me on social media the first time I flew with them and have been connected to me since then.

I have watched with growing unhappiness the decline of the airline over the last few months. In my mind, Kingfisher has been one of the finest airlines in the skies, truly deserving its 5-star rating by Skytrax.

So when Kingfisher announced that they would be pulling out of Dubai, I knew I had to be on the last flight, just for the sake of good old times. So I flew Dubai-Mumbai-Dubai, leaving on Friday, 23rd of March and returning on Saturday, 24th of March.

On Friday evening as I was getting ready to leave for the airport, I got a call from the Guest Relations Manager based at Dubai. When he introduced himself, my first fear was that he was calling to tell me that my flight was canceled. Thankfully not. What he told me blew my mind away. “Sir, I’m calling to let you know that your favorite seat 9A has been booked by another passenger. I have blocked 9F for you. I have also kept aside Row 12 for you should you like to sit there. We will try to talk to the passenger who has taken 9A and try to get it back for you.” I said in my mind “Whoa, you really didn’t have to do this. Especially not in a difficult time such as this.”

So, this is the deal, whenever I’m flying Kingfisher, they know what my favorite seat is and always block it for me, no matter what the aircraft type. If it is an all-economy Airbus A320, it is 9A. At airports across the world, I have walked up to Kingfisher check-in counters and asked for my favorite seat, only to be told that they have already been pre-assigned for me. Score.

Jeffrey, the Guest Relations Manager who had called me earlier, was waiting with a complimentary lounge access card for me at the check-in counter. We spoke about the current state of affairs at Kingfisher and his words to me were ‘We are hoping for a miracle’, ‘pray for us’ and ‘we wish we had more passengers like you’. I got my boarding pass, shopped at the Duty Free and ambled to the Marhaba Lounge were I downed Chardonnay. Soon it was time for boarding and Jeffrey walked me to the waiting plane and ensured I was comfortably settled down.

IT044 flown by Airbus A320, registered VT-KFF had 50 odd passengers and was soon up in the air. The in-seat screen videos were conspicuous by the absence of Kingfisher chairman Vijay Mallya’s cheerful address. The captain made an announcement highlighting that the safety of passengers was Kingfisher’s priority and wouldn’t be compromised, perhaps an allusion to the negative press about the airline’s operational concerns.

Dinner was soon served by the Kingfisher damsels in red. I went for Chicken Biryani with Kheer. I’m usually not a huge fan of Kingfisher’s in-flight meals but this dish was gobsmackingly delicious. Dinner was followed by a drink of Whyte & Mackay Scotch Whiskey with club soda and ice. Soon we commenced our descent into Mumbai and upon landing I was on a bus to Mumbai CSI Airport Terminal. I then proceeded to kill a day in Mumbai.

I reported for my return flight IT043 to Dubai at 530pm. The once buzzing Kingfisher check-in counters at International Departures bore the look of a deserted ghost town. IT043 was Kingfisher’s last outbound flight to Dubai. I walked up to the counter and gave my passport to Avilon, the Guest Relations Manager whose face lit up on seeing my passport. “I saw you standing in the line and knew that would be you, Mr Rajagopal.” I’m often told that I’m bit of a celeb flyer among Kingfisher staff.

He then went on to hand me a bag with a beautifully wrapped gift. I just remembered that I had tweeted to Kingfisher the previous day before booking my journey about where I could get a Kingfisher plane model to keep as a souvenir of my travels with them. That was the plane. He then gave me a complimentary access to the Celebrations Lounge. My preferred row was already blocked on the plane. I think my eyes welled up at this point.
 

He then walked with me to Immigration where we again spoke about the airline and its declining fortunes. I knew my words of solace would not have been of any help.

My flight was delayed by more than an hour, but I wasn’t complaining at all. I ambled around the expansive duty free at Mumbai Airport. There were around 50 odd passengers on the last flight, Airbus A320, registered VT-KFV. We took off and the crew went around with their business in a nonchalant manner trying hard not to show the worries of their carrier. Dinner was a repeat of the yummy Biryani and Whiskey fare. I was exhausted and dozed off, only waking up as my flight touched down at Dubai International.

I boarded the bus to Terminal 1 and thought of all the good times. When they held back a plane once at Bengaluru so that I could board after running late. The time I got a special tour of an Airbus A321 cockpit. When they chased me down at Chennai Airport to ensure that I had lounge access while waiting for my connecting flight. When the charming guest relations agent at Kochi told me how I was famous among them and then added that ‘we would have never left without you’ (another running late incident). When I discovered at Bangkok that they had my fav seat blocked without even me asking for it. When they served me first in the cabin on my first flight with them and asked me ‘Mr Rajagopal, what would you like to have for your meal?’, probably the first time the crew of any airline addressed me by name in 28 years of flying. About the numerous times I have been personally dropped off or fetched from a plane by their guest relations agents. About the times I have never had to stand in long security lines because I would always be escorted by a staff. All while flying Economy.

Thank you, Kingfisher for all the good times. You will be dearly missed. Thank you to all the Kingfisher staff who have served me well over a year. You have been truly exceptional in both the good times and the not so good times. I hope it works out for you. Safe travels!

I’ve always wanted to go to Seattle, visit Boeing and the Future of Flight Museum, catch up with #avgeek friends in the Puget Sound and most importantly, get on an inaugural flight and experience a water cannon salute. So I HAD to be on the inaugural EK229 on 1 March 2012 and tick off a couple of items on the bucket list.

Seattle is an amazing place and I don’t say that just because it is the home of Boeing. I will be back soon with more stories on Seattle but till then, enjoy these 2 videos!

Click here to read a travelogue of my trip featured on ArabianSupplyChain.com. 

Blogging. Microblogging. Social Networking. Location-based services. Social Bookmarking. Social Media Optimization. Gamification. Social Media Analytics. Social Communities. Content Strategy. Content Curation. ROI. Social Business. Brand Monitoring. Influencer Outreach. Sentiment Analysis. Buzz Monitoring. Share of Voice. User-Generated Content. Crowdsourcing. Viral Marketing. Engagement. Storytelling. It goes on.

Sometimes, it’s good to take a step back from all that and ask a simple question: why do people use social media?

Social media helps PEOPLE connect and build relationships with other PEOPLE*.

Are your social media efforts doing the same? If not, you are not doing social media.

*Or brands who can be human. 

Pic credit: Flickr

I’m a huge fan of Finnair’s content strategy on social media. Suddenly, content strategy sounds like a buzzword. So for the sake of simplicity, I’d say unique and creative ways of connecting with travelers and creating buzz.

If I could create a manifesto for them, it would be something like:

At Finnair, let us create engaging content by -

1. Focusing on passion points that people already love
2. Being relevant and topical
3. Being emotionally appealing
4. Owning the experience at all touch points
5. Ensuring attention to detail
6. Having fun while creating the experience

It’s not easy bringing all these elephants into one room, but if and when you do, you have created magic.

It started in September 2011 with the Angry Birds flight from Helsinki to Singapore featuring the first ever Angry Birds Asian Challenge (sponsored by Samsung and Roxio). They branded and owned the experience like no other, from a creative and execution point of view. The entire plane, airport, crew and in-flight experience screamed Angry Birds. They got the passengers to play an in-flight Angry Birds challenge. Even served Angry Birds cupcakes when they landed in Singapore.

Check out these delightful snaps from the Angry Birds flight at Travelerfolio.

And then they did it again in January 2012 with the Bollywood dance video on a flight to New Delhi to celebrate India’s Republic Day. The video has nearly 3.5 million video views as of today and tons of positive PR. They spotted an opportunity at the unique intersection that Indian airlines or other international airlines majorly serving India missed – India’s love affair with Bollywood and patriotic feelings inspired by the Republic Day. And the fact that Indians would warmly appreciate the gesture by a ‘foreign airline’.

The secret here to create engaging content is to have an open slate, tell an interesting story and not be restricted by the canvas of your industry. Think about who you are targeting, what captures their interest most and be creative about it while having fun. The views will take off and the buzz will happen.

Today, there are a plethora of online resources available that help you unearth great bargains no matter where you are flying to. These tools are my lifeline.

In today’s post, I’m going to put out some of my secrets as well as some cool tips that can help you discover great deals when it comes to flights. Fasten your seat belts, folks!

For this exercise, we need an itinerary. So let’s say you would like to fly between Dubai (DXB) and Kochi (COK), round trip, outbound on Wed, 22 June and inbound on Wed, 29 June.

Tip 1: Consider traveling on weekdays instead of weekends (Thu-Sat) if you are in the Middle East. Ticket fares on weekdays are way cheaper than weekend travel.

Tip 2: If you are flying solo or if you are not in a rush to reach your destination, consider connecting flights over non-stop flights. Usually, flying direct and non-stop costs more than flying via another destination. The exception to this rule is if you have a low-cost carrier operating on your selected route.

Step 1: Investigate if a low-cost airline or budget airline is flying your desired route. Typically, low-cost carriers or budget airlines are cheaper than full-service airlines, especially if you book your ticket at least 3 months before your departure. Sometimes, up to 3 weeks before your departure. However, you will find budget airline fares at par with full-service airlines as you get very close to your journey dates. Sometimes, you might even find seats on budget airlines sold out.

Step 2: Google now offers you a cool feature where you can enter a destination and it will show you all the non-stop flights that are operated from your departure city to your destination of the choice. Go to Google and enter “flights from DXB to COK” and it will show you that there are 3 daily non-stop flights on the route, 2 operated by Emirates and 1 operated by Air India Express

Step 3: Now run a search on a travel website. Most online travel websites such as Expedia and Travelocity do not list low-cost airlines or budget carriers. However, checking out prices on them is always useful as:

• You get more options if you are willing to take connecting flights.
• You can get cheaper deals if you are willing to do the above.
• You get to check out both non-stop as well as connecting itineraries in a single window.
• You can experience multiple airlines and layovers especially if you are a travel freak like me.
• You can unearth last minute deals on certain routes if you are lucky.
• You will always get a good idea of the price range you need to pay that you can use to make an informed travel decision.
• Travel websites give you the unmatched ability to compare between itineraries on the basis of multiple parameters such as fares, total journey time, number of connecting flights, arrival time, departing time etc. which you won’t gain by visiting a single airline website.

My three most recommended travel websites are Kayak.com, Expedia.com and Cleartrip.ae. You can never go wrong with them.

Step 4: Run the search on Kayak.com – entering all the details like destinations and dates and Kayak shows you that best fare is $110 on Bahrain Air. Unbelievable, ha? But there’s a catch – the outbound flight is 16hrs long because of a long layover in Bahrain while the inbound flight is 6hrs30mins. The next best deal is Gulf Air with $409 with 6 hrs of travel time each on both inbound and outbound legs. I wouldn’t recommend the long itinerary on Bahrain Air unless you are that price conscious!

Step 5: Run the same search on Cleartrip.ae – Cleartrip is quick to tell me that my best option is again Gulf Air with AED 1,553 ($422.7). Cleartrip is also sharp in telling me that I have an option of flying non-stop on Air India Express on the same route with the fare coming up to AED 1,563 ($425.5). 3 Dollars more and I get to save 2 hours because I fly non-stop, and my decision is made. Air India Express, it will be.

However, Cleartrip has a special cash back offer if I use a VISA credit card to book my ticket. In this itinerary, I get a discount of AED 75 ($20.4) bringing my final fare on Air India Express to AED 1488 ($405.1).

Step 6: Run the same search on Expedia.com – Expedia tells me my best fare is again the Gulf Air deal that Cleartrip.ae recommended. But, they are giving me a price of $409 instead of Cleartrip’s $422.7. Expedia does not list Air India Express on its itineraries.

However, Expedia shows me another result, another connecting flight option on Kingfisher Airlines, costing $417. What if you wanted to fly on Kingfisher?  Just out of curiosity I looked at the same Kingfisher deal over at Cleartrip. There it costs AED 1799 which is $489.7 – $62 more than Expedia. If you apply the Cleartrip Visa offer deal, the fare comes to AED 1724 ($469.3), still $42 more than what Expedia is offering.

See how intriguing this gets with same deals on different websites throwing up different prices. This is why comparison is important.

Step 7: Now run the same search on Gulf Air.com & AirIndiaExpress.in (this is just a value-added search to see the fare difference between the airline website and the travel website). You will be surprised sometimes at what you get out of this search.

So here are the prices for our final consideration, following Steps 5, 6 and 7.

So if you wish to fly non-stop, the clear winner is Cleartrip.ae, if you have a VISA credit card. This fare is cheaper than the airline website itself which is such a great steal. Had you gone straight to the airline, you would have ended up paying $9.3 more.

I made the searches between 5pm and 6pm (GMT +4) on Fri, 10 Jun. The pricing dynamics are always fluctuating, but stick to this approach of smart online searching and you should still get better travel deals. Also, try being flexible with your travel dates. Had I decided to make my date of inbound travel as Tuesday, 28 June instead of Wednesday, 29 June, I would have saved AED 70 ($19) with Gulf Air. Also, note that this is work in beta and I’ll be adding more tips in the future.

To recap, my magic formula:

1. Identify key budget airlines & full-service airlines on your route.
2. Run searches on Kayak, Expedia and Cleartrip. Watch out for special offers.
3. Match fares.
4. Cross-check and confirm on the respective airline website. See where you save more.
5. Make your decision. Happy flying!

This post was brought to you by eezeer, another cool online travel tool I’m excited about. Eezeer is a new web and mobile social network that features tweets and location-verified reviews related to travel. How eezeer works is interesting. By gathering thousands of tweets and through members’ travel reviews via a mobile app, eezeer quantifies reliable opinions to create an overall picture of how a particular travel brand is viewed in the public eye through social media. This quantity is called “Karma”.  By checking out the reputation score and reviews of airlines, hotels and airports you can make informed travel decisions. eezeer currently moderates tweets from 391 airlines, 692 hotels, 152 airports and has verified 291154 users from twitter. For more information on eezeer, click here.

Pic credit: Daniel Villa, Airliners.net

In the high-flying world where aviation meets social media, the impossible turned possible today. India’s government-owned national airline Air India announced it was stepping into social media with a clear mandate to generate at least 30% revenue as an ROI.

In a Financial Express news report by Shaheen Mansuri, Arvind Jadhav, AI’s chairman and managing director said, “Until now, we were unable to provide a flexible pricing and customised products to our customers. While other airlines have their presence on Facebook and Twitter, we were missing from that space.

Once brand AI is exposed to a larger audience, it can translate into more sales. Social networking sites have opened up a new distribution platform for the airline. The traditional travel agents and travel websites will co-exist with the new medium,” said Jadhav.

You can read the entire story here.

I had several interesting responses after I shared the story on Twitter which was first broken by the evergreen diva @TobyDiva.

Air India to join social media w/ an ROI goal of increasing sales by 30%. http://ht.ly/4xpDx via @TobyDiva

Few responses:

Jesus! They’re gonna get butchered! Via @DeveshM

WOW! Xcited Via @vishal1mehra

air india using social media would be a pretty stupid initiative in my way..n 30% sales from there sounds insane! Via @aseemrastogi2

This will probably end up like CCD when they entered the social media scene: a lot of unhappy customers who compained non stop. Via @Thor_

My view on #AirIndia & #socialmedia is that they can go two ways…but the #Airline had better do it right to be effective. #smtravel Via @flyingwithfish

If#AirIndia can’t breaks it’s habit of not effectively addressing passengers & protecting it’s brand, #socialmedia won’t succeed Via @flyingwithfish

AI is certainly a late bird after the social media worm; shud’ve emulated Jet & Kingfisher well ahead. Via @StoryMary

I Would say to everyone: “If you’re not in #SocMed yet you’re too late” Via @eezeer

No use without changing hostesses. Via @Askabuska

Here are a couple of my thoughts:

1.    Today Air India is strategically and operationally at a critical juncture. New aviation minister at the helm, overview of top management after the departure of COO Baldauf and his deputies, debt restructuring in process, the much awaited Dreamliners joining the fleet soon, the forthcoming entry into Star Alliance etc. Social media can now step in as a part of an image makeover – the journey to a new Air India. However, this image makeover will have to reflect in the way airline treats customers & offers them an experience that is no less compared to what the competition is offering them.

2.    Air India can be sure to get a lot of negative PR and feedback on their social media platforms. The airline has unfortunately had a legacy of poor service and this is going to show clearly when consumers engage with the airline on social media. How they manage the negative feedback and win over audiences is going to be very crucial.

3.    The best brands on social media are the best brands in business. There’s only so much social media can do to make you look good. If you do not deliver on your core customer promise or if you don’t do your job right, you should never be on social media. Period.

4.    The danger of using social media as a broadcast medium is that it will bite you in the back. Social cannot be a me-too approach as a response to your competition being on it. However, I appreciate the assertiveness shown by Mr Jadhav on utilizing the medium for generating revenues. Air India’s competitors such as Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines are doing a great job engaging with their customers on social media. Competition on the airline social media airwaves in India will be intense.

5.    Is Air India ready for the big step it is to take? Are they aware of the potential benefits and pitfalls of engaging in the medium? Do they have the resources in place to execute a social media strategy that will work for them? Lots more questions that time will answer.

Good luck, Air India and welcome aboard the social media bandwagon!

So is Air India going to make it or break it in social media? Would love to hear your thoughts.

On last count, there are over 180 airlines on Twitter. Every airline worth their salt is on Facebook building communities and rewarding loyalty via contests.

What I love most about airlines that are doing social media right is: those who are using social media to listen to their customers and offer them delightful surprises. Such a rare experience happened to me last month, via Kingfisher Airlines.

Kingfisher Airlines, based out of India is one of the world’s seven airlines to be ranked as a 5-star airline by Skytrax. They fly to 63 domestic destinations and 8 international destinations with an Airbus & ATR fleet. Headed by one of India’s most flamboyant tycoons Dr Vijay Mallya, Kingfisher has built a strong brand for itself in service and quality over the years. It wouldn’t be unfair to call Kingfisher the Virgin America of Indian skies.

I have watched Kingfisher’s meteoric rise and often lamented the fact that I have never flown them, primarily because they don’t fly out of Muscat. Anyhow, a great opportunity to try Kingfisher for the first time came up last month and I decided to fly them outbound on Dubai-Bengaluru-Cochin and Chennai-Bengaluru-Dubai on my inbound leg.

Kingfisher is active on Twitter and as always, I tweeted before my departure that I was flying them. I received a reply from them asking me to enjoy their service. Quite the appropriate thing to do on social media, yes?

I arrive at Dubai Airport on the date of my departure, stood in a snaking queue of flustered passengers waiting to check-in. When my turn came, I noticed the check-in agent spend a few extra seconds looking at her screen and then proceeded to consult with her supervisor before handing me a complimentary Lounge Access card. Now, how great is that?

Unfortunately, I couldn’t check out the Lounge as I was running late for my flight, so I boarded the all economy A321 and we were soon wheels up to Bengaluru. After reaching cruising altitude, the cabin crew started meal service. I noticed that they rolled up the cart straight to where I was sitting (somewhere in the middle of the plane) and asked me “Mr Rajagopal, what would you like to have for dinner?”

That was an absolute stunner for me. I know in premium classes it is a practice for crew to know beforehand who they are serving, but moi flying in Y class (or cattle class as one prominent Indian politician once described the back of the bus)? The crew knew my name and that was an absolutely delightful surprise for me. They served me well & I sure got a few envious looks from around the cabin.

The 2 cabin crew members who worked my section would come up to me once in a while and ensure that I was all comfy. Nothing artificial, but a genuine and warm desire to serve well, which is sadly missing from a lot of airlines this day. Believe you me, these are the little, personal touches that make flying such a lovely experience for me.

When I inquired how the crew knew me by name, I was told that they were informed beforehand that I would be flying with them and was asked to take special care of me. Social media at work, yes?

I felt like the ‘king of good times’ as I thoroughly enjoyed my flight and didn’t forget to compliment Kingfisher in my feedback form (I believe they should look at the paper quality of the form as ball point pens don’t write well on them – minor detail, I know).

I landed early morning at Bengaluru and almost missed my connecting flight to Cochin due to a security snafu. I literally missed my bus to the plane. However, the kind people at Kingfisher got me ferried to the waiting ATR in their car just in time. I hopped on the plane and we were off. Trust me on this; they could have left without me. Will never forget the sight of an ATR waiting on the ground on a misty morning, the crew peeping out of the door and me diving into it with my rucksack pulling me back. Reminded me of how we jump into moving trains. Another big star from me.

Landed in Cochin and I was happy to let Kingfisher know that my flights went well and they DMed back wishing me a great time in India. (Almost sounds like a love affair, hmmm?)

So I spent the next couple of days train hopping across India (I think I spent 7 out of my 9 days sleeping on overnight trains). A week later, I was ready to make the hop back to Dubai. I was flying from Chennai and on my local train ride to the airport, I was wondering if I would have any similar surprises in store.

I was met by this very helpful Kingfisher ground staff who helped me with my bags. And I did make a note of how Kingfisher staff are generally polite, professional and courteous. You begin to feel that these people, whether they are at the low end or the high end of the line, are carefully cherry-picked to live a certain brand vision that leads to delighting customers.

Proceeded to check-in and gladly got my fav seat on an A321 which gives you humongous amounts of legroom. There were no surprises waiting for me at the check-in desk. Must say, I was slightly disappointed after all the pampering a week ago. I traipsed across the terminal towards a Maggi noodle stall and went on to ravenously chomp down a noodle bowl.

As I gulp through my noodles, I spot 2 Kingfisher staff make a beeline for me and I’m like – Uh Oh! Crew: Mr. Rajagopal, we were looking for you… So again, Kingfisher decided to make my day. Minutes later, I was escorted into a lounge at Chennai Airport (at this point was beginning to feel like royalty) and the staff promised to fetch me before boarding. Spent a good 30 minutes in the lounge and then she was back.  Trust me, nothing beats the experience of being chaperoned by a Kingfisher crew on the ground. I did manage to count a few envious looks and did I say I didn’t have to stand in a line for my security check? The lovely crew member hopped with me on the bus and literally dropped me at the door of the plane. My mind was flying at 35k feet by then.

The flight to Bengaluru went without incident. Must say, I liked my seat on the ATR in front of the plane which is the only row facing the rest of the seats. They are comfortable and you get a feeling of flying in a biz jet. Landed at Bengaluru and was at met at the door of the plane by another Kingfisher staffer. I know that at this point this is all sounding like a giant ego-fueled fairy tale. But then this gorgeous staffer walks me from the plane, takes me through immigration and security, mind you, no standing in queues again, you are introduced everywhere as a ‘guest’ and then proceeds to comfortably ensconce me in a premium lounge at the International Terminal.

I tuck into some fine Sauvignon Blanc, Paneer rolls and rum cake as I wait for my ‘Bus to Dubai. My ‘handler’ appeared again before boarding and walked me on the airbridge till my jet, bidding bye and safe travels.

Wheels up to Dubai, great food, much better than on the inbound leg, caught some shuteye and a perfect landing – didn’t even know if we touched ground, just floated in and came to a stop at the airbridge. As we deplaned, the Captain came out to say hello. A great ending to an awesome Kingfisher tale.

So what’s the summary of this whole experience? Just a fluffy piece singing a lot of praise in favor of Kingfisher for making the day of a planegeek? Well, they earned it and yes, a big thank you to them for giving me one of the best flights in my life.

Will Kingfisher roll out the same red carpet treatment to everyone who tweets to them about their journeys? Perhaps not. But have they won a loyal customer and strong brand evangelist in me. Definitely, yes.

To sign off, brands engaging in social media take off to a new level when they are able to consistently and creatively offer value, engagement and delightful surprises to their audience.  It all starts from caring to listen and daring to surprise. Amen!