Airlines get signals in customer chat rooms

Susan Stellin :: The New York Times - IHT: "Early in April, Continental Airlines played host at a gathering in Houston for members of FlyerTalk.com, a travel Web site best known for its message boards where travelers discuss, dissect and often denigrate pretty much anything related to travel, but mostly airlines and their frequent-flier programs.

In fact, Web logs may be grabbing all the media headlines, but online communities like FlyerTalk are wielding a different kind of influence in the corporate world, providing instant feedback from those critics whom marketers have called "influencers." Just by logging on, companies can study, learn from and even respond to the cacophony of opinions about what they are doing wrong and what they are doing right without spending a dime on focus groups or market research.

Although travel companies pay attention to other travelers' sites, like FrequentFlier.com, MoreMiles.org, TripAdvisor.com and HotelChatter.com, FlyerTalk is widely considered the best place to go for feedback, given the level of activity on its forums.

Some travel companies have even assigned employees to act as authorized representatives in monitoring FlyerTalk's message boards and answering questions, reporting back about hot topics and occasionally putting out fires - ideally without sounding like a corporate mouthpiece or disrupting the Web site's natural give and take.

Screen credibility is also critical, and by all accounts, Starwood Lurker has mastered the art of fitting in, posting his own responses to discussions about favorite movie quotes or basketball, as well as answers to questions about hotel points, upgrades and promotions in a manner that doesn't sound scripted or managed.

Randy Petersen, editor of InsideFlyer magazine, said he started the FlyerTalk forums as a way for frequent fliers to help each other, but he did not anticipate that the site would lead to such involvement from the companies that everyone was discussing. (Delta Air Lines, British Airways, Marriott and Hyatt all have some official presence on their respective message boards.)"