KLM Must-See map: your airline gets your friends to help you plan your next trip

It has not even been two weeks since last time we spoke about KLM's social media activities and yet...here we are again, talking about another really cool campaign by the Dutch airline.



This time is about inviting your friends to provide tips about the next destination you are flying to (where to eat, what to see...). Basically see who of your friends has been there and then aggregate these recommendations on a "Must See Map" that KLM will ship to you...in paper format!

This is not the first time that someone tries to crowdsource a destination guide, but the paper format adds an interesting element, particularly because it appears to be shipped for free...is KLM going to be doing it undefinitely? would be interesting to see the ROI of this campaign if postal costs add to much.

But in any case, KLM has got people talking about it (we are not a exception!) and this matters too!

Qatar Airways to sponsor FC Barcelona, advertise on team's shirt

 Today we get into the fascinating World of football sponsorship, because it has been announced that Qatar Airways is going to become an sponsor of one of the World's top football ("soccer" for American readers!) sides: FC Barcelona. So we are going to see Qatar Airways on the FC Barcelona's shirt next season!

This deal consolidates the relationship between FC Barcelona and the emirate of Qatar (whose Qatar Foundation already sponsors the team) and mirrors similar sponsorship deals that top European football teams have sealed with the emerging airlines of the Gulf (the so called "MEB3"): Emirates is currently sponsoring English team Arsenal, Italy's AC Milan and is also adding FC Barcelona's arch-rival Real Madrid in the coming season, while Etihad Airways, of Abu Dhabi, and Qatar Airways are sponsoring Manchester City and Paris St.Germain, both owned by investors of their respective emirates.

The official accouncement, that can be found on FC Barcelona's website, does not disclose financial details, although sports daily El Mundo Deportivo reports that Qatar Sports Investments would pay €170 million for a six year sponsorship. Qatar Airways logo will then replace Qatar Foundation's one on the FC Barcelona shirts and merchandising. Apparently the possibility of replacing the sponsor's name was included in a clause of the original contract between FC Barcelona and Qatar Foundation.

Another point this announcement does not disclose is what is going to happen with FC Barcelona's current sponsorhip deal with Turkish Airlines. The Turkish flag carrier has invested heavily in sports sponsorship in its quest to position itself as a global super-connector and a competitor with the Gulf carriers and was, until now, the "official airline" of FC Barcelona. This relationship might be now "in the air" (if you allow me the bad joke).

By the way, all these airlines sponsoring several teams at the same time are starting to produce some slightly embarrassing situations: for example, a specially-painted Turkish Airlines aircraft flew FC Barcelona to the 2011 Champions League final, that the Catalan side played against non other than...Manchester United, a team that happens to have a similar sponsorhip agreement with the Turkish airline!

However, in this occasion, the final was conveniently played at Wembley stadium, in London, which made it unnecessary for Manchester United to fly...and, made a bit less blatant Turkish Airlines' alleged support for both teams!

More on Vueling...and a couple of cool aircraft paint-shop videos

And yet another Vueling-related story...placing this blog at risk of becoming too Vueling-centric, but, shortly after publishing the latest story about the in-flight concert that took place on one of their aircraft,  I got a note from Vueling letting me know about the following video. It shows the aftermath of one of their other recent marketing campaigns, the Vueling Air Gallery, celebrating Vueling's 50 millionth passenger.

In the video you will see how an airbus A320 is painted with the Instagram photos submitted by people that participated in this contest.



For those of you with an interest in the topic, there are quite a few good time-lapse videos of aircraft paint-jobs on youtube, for example this one of a Northwest Boeing 747 becoming a Delta aircraft. Enjoy!

In-flight live music concert

A lot of Vueling news lately, and this actually happened a few weeks ago, but I thought it was interesting enough to devote it a few lines...

Passengers on this Vueling flight from Barcelona to Madrid, were surprised by a live performance of Catalan pop group Els Amics de les Arts. I first learned about it shortly about the plane landed, from some comments I concidentally read on Twitter. Finally, I have also managed to find a picture, also on twitter (thanks to @lauragp72 for posting it online!)

A nice surprise, that I am sure most of the passengers appreciated, even those that might have been trying to have a little nap!

Could history become a new source of ancillary revenue for airlines?

A few days ago a friend of mine mentioned that, after several years, he had flown again on an aircraft that he knew well from a previous stint in the airline industry. I checked the registration details of the aircraft in question and found out that I had also flown on that plane in the past, only that when it belonged to another airline and had a different name.

So the following idea came to my mind, given the rush to get more and more ancillary revenue, why don’t airlines create a list of famous or important people that have flown on a given aircraft, even on a particular seat, and “market” this experience to the public?

Time to add some plates to aircraft seats too?

The same way that some old houses have historical plates that recall the people that have lived in them, why not airplanes?... well, to be fair, I see a major obstacle with this: whereas age might be perceived as a positive attribute in a house (because a long history might give it its character), it might have quite negative connotations when applied to what is, after all, a flying machine (old equipment!).

Nevertheless, you do not need to go back that many years, there are plenty of contemporary icons that could serve this purpose well (football players, artists, celebrities). Airlines would just need to take care not to highlight these "celebrity seats" past a certain amount of time, and keep renovating them...Anyone willing to pay extra to seat on the same seat that your favourite sportsman sat on when flying to that important match? Judging by the video below, maybe Turkish Airlines is well positioned to do it...

Iberia Express update

Just a quick update on my previous post about Iberia Express where I posted a link to what looked like the new airline's livery. Today Will Horton has tweeted the following picture that confirms the simple mainly white livery of the "new" airline.

With this livery Iberia is possibly wishing to highlight the fact Iberia Express is a "lite" version of itself. I must say I am unimpressed by this design, however this approach might make sense if what you are willing to sell is an unexpensive, basic product stripped out of all unnnecessary extras. Finnair recently moved also to a mainly white livery, although for a different set of reasons.