Virgin America (VX) has teamed up with Here On Biz to use the inflight connectivity from Gogo to launch an inflight social network.
Passengers can download the free Here On Biz app from the Apple App store before their flight and use it in the air to locate LinkedIn connections on their Virgin America flight, at the airport or en route to a conference.
Relying on the airline’s fleetwide Gogo In-Flight WiFi network and purpose-built APIs that identify an aircraft’s location in the air, Here On Biz’s geo-location technology offers passengers the chance to connect via the app with guests on their specific flight, guests on other Virgin America flights in the air, or fellow travelers at their destination.
This month through July 2014, passengers on all Virgin America US domestic flights can access the Here On Biz app for free through the Gogo network.
Passengers can manage their privacy settings, so that they can shut off or limit their visible connections to others onboard.
Launch promotion
To promote the launch of the network, Virgin America is also launching a Twitter promotion that invites flyers to share their dream business travel connection and describe how they would break the ice in 140 characters using the hashtag #PlanePitch. A weekly winner will receive a complimentary Gogo WiFi pass and one Grand Prize winner will win Virgin America Elevate Gold status, six Main Cabin Select business class flights and an annual Gogo pass, so they will never miss a “connection” on the fly.
The idea came from a 2013 survey conducted by Virgin America. The airline surveyed a portion of its top Elevate frequent flyers in its New York, San Francisco and Dallas markets and the ability to network in-flight with other Virgin America flyers was a suggestion that came out of that.
Here on Biz app
The Here On Biz app allows users to see business professionals nearby who are interesting and allows users to chat with those they are connected to. The app provides the real time location of a user’s contacts through LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and those in the user’s address book who use the app.
N.B: Image credit: virginamerica.com
