Airline Lost Your Luggage? Tell It to Twitter

Airlines, notorious for bad customer service, use social media to soothe unhappy fliers—and stand out from rivals

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For disgruntled airline passengers, Twitter is the new squeaky wheel.

Unhappy about WiFi failing on your flight? Tweet about it and you may get an apology and even some extra mileage points, and it will likely happen quicker than if you had just called or emailed.

Many companies are embracing social media as a customer service tool. But the airline industry, which badly needs an image overhaul, has become particularly aggressive in using social media to differentiate itself in a commoditized category and, consequently, improve its reputation with fliers.

Take JetBlue, which stopped charging for folded bikes carried on its planes after a customer complaint made its way around the Web.

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