Seven years ago, TripAdvisor first launched its metasearch flight tool, and it wasn’t long after until it enabled users to post reviews.
In 2014, it updated the look of TripAdvisor Flights by adding detailed amenity information, filled at first by SeatGuru, a socially-powered flight amenities site that it acquired in 2007.
Today TripAdvisor launches what it calls a new reviews platform, live in more than 40 countries and in 29 languages.
You might think of it as a funnel: Travelers can review any airline they’ve flown.
A subset of these airlines have already registered as owners in TripAdvisor’s free management center, allowing them to respond to consumer reviews and opinions. (Once an airline brands signs up, it is able to share photo content and respond to reviews, similar to what hotel brands can do.)
A subset of these highly engaged brands – ANA, Aer Lingus, AeroMexico, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, China Airlines, Swiss, Virgin Australia, and nine others – are taking this reviews process a step further and forming marketing collaborations to proactively encourage travelers to post reviews on TripAdvisor.
Flight reviews collected by carriers or online travel agencies are identified as such on TripAdvisor.
Airlines reluctant to participate because they assume that TripAdvisor will be a complaint channel may want to think again. Perhaps surprisingly, airlines receive an average rating of 3.7 out of 5, a hair shy of the average rating that hotels receive.
Bryan Saltzburg, senior vice president and general manager, global flights business, told Tnooz:
“There’s an identifiable profile for TripAdvisor reviewers. Our people are highly engaged and community-focused. They want to pay it forward. It’s not a discussion back and forth to allow other people to comment, like you see on Facebook and Twitter. Our proposition is just different, and our conversations about flights are, on balance, more positive.”
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