Friday, January 17, 2014

Networking on a plane

This just came up on my Facebook feed – KLM is offering a new service called Meet and Seat whereby you can connect with other passengers on your flight by adding your Facebook or your LinkedIn profile to your flight details. They say:
“KLM’s Meet & Seat lets you find out about interesting people who will be on board your KLM flight such as other passengers attending the same event as you at your destination.
Simply share your Facebook or LinkedIn profile details to check other participating passengers’ details and where they'll be sitting. Of course you can also choose your seat.”
So it’s essentially networking on a plane or is it dating? Either’s possible, of course. And it doesn’t sound like my idea of fun on the face of it.
klm networking
I like the serendipity of seeing who you end up sitting next to and whether or not you talk to them - chance is sometimes rather wonderful. And I also like it when I have a row to myself or a seat free next to me so I can have some down time and either prepare myself for the upcoming trip or contemplate on the trip that I’ve just been on.
On a practical note, as a woman, I think I'd feel vulnerable about someone specifically choosing to sit next to me on a flight... there are all kinds of stalker-y issues plus there'd be no escape for the duration of the flight if the person you end up with is a bore. Maybe it would be different if it were a flight to a big trade show where I'm already likely to know people on the plane. I’m also not one for getting up and around much on a flight – at least, not on a short-haul flight. But I guess you could arrange to meet up in the lounge beforehand or on the other side.
I can see its uses on flights to large trade shows like the upcoming Mobile World Congress where almost everyone on the flight is in the industry. But even then, it’s quite nice to hide in the corner and just observe what’s going on.
Wonder if it will work or not? What do you think?
Anyway, I don't fly through Amsterdam much so I guess I won't be trying it anytime soon but I'll be keeping an eye on it to see how it pans out.

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