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Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon by Stephen Tornblom klgb.blogspot.com

Shashank Nigam, CEO of Simpliflying, is just back from the Loyalty 2011 conference and we talk about how airline loyalty programs measure success and how they work within the airline and with other groups like Communications. We also cover airline use of social media and how they are starting to segment and target customers, and link loyalty programs to social media. Shashank explains how airlines need to step up from social media being about a conversation to being about specific people.

We also have aviation news from the past week, The Australia Desk Report by Steve and Grant from the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and Pieter Johnson his Across the Pond segment.

The week’s aviation news:

• First production F-35A Takes Off
• Oil shock threatens airline recovery
• Vibrating cockpit seat proposed for pilot alerts
• The Martin Jetpack
• Southwest pilots OK ‘AirTran transition agreement’
• Boeing Defeats EADS for $35 Billion Air Force Tanker Program

Mentions:

• Flip.to Hotels, restaurants, and airlines leveraging social networks.
• New Zealand Red Cross

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter and on Facebook, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave a message on our listener line: (361) GEEKS01.

Opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/.