On a Bet, Party People Fill KLM Flight to Miami Using Twitter

DJs, promoters, label reps and "professional party people" from the Netherlands have persuaded Dutch airline KLM to add an extra flight to its roster. In a new twist on crowd-buying, the initiators of Fly2Miami made a bet with KLM on Twitter to organise a non-stop flight from Amsterdam to Miami.

If Fly2Miami could get 351 seats reserved before December 6, KLM would add a flight to its schedule on March 21, 2011 specifically for people attending the Ultra Music Festival and related parties. The initiative was prompted by a Dutch filmmaker tweeting about the lack of a direct flight from Amsterdam to Miami, a query that the airline's Twitter team rapidly responded to with a wager. Exceeding everyone's expectations, the flight was fully booked within five hours.

"We can rightly call it a first - the first time KLM will deploy an aircraft following a request on Twitter," said Martijn van der Zee, vice president of e-commerce at KLM. "Social media are becoming more and more important to KLM to offer information and service to our customers."

Source: Springwise