Virgin America Setting Up In-Flight Social Networking To Connect Flying Strangers

For those of you who not only can’t stand to be separated from some form of social networking for even a second but also have a burning desire to connect with strangers, Virgin America has got just the thing for you. The airline is teaming with a location-aware social app to boost in-flight networking, even with people not currently in the same airplane as you.

Maybe you’re gabbing with your seat partner about businessy things like mergers and acquisitions or briefcases or whatever, and you’ve got a great idea and don’t want to lose the connection in the vague reassurances of “Let’s exchange cards and talk soon.”

Virgin’s partner app Here on Biz is a location-aware social app that focuses on just such business connections, reports Business Insider, and connects with your LinkedIn profile. It then uses Virgin’s inflight Wi-Fi network to allow users to send messages to people on your flight, at home, or even on another of the airline’s planes in the air.

“When we surveyed our business travelers, we were surprised to learn that the ability to connect with other Virgin America travelers in-flight or en route to a destination was a frequent request,” said Luanne Calvert, Virgin America’s Chief Marketing Officer, in a statement. “The best business connections often happen unexpectedly, and we’ve heard many stories of partnerships and startup ideas being born on our flights.”

All domestic flights will get the social network treatment by the end of this month. It’s unclear whether you could say, look people up by their seat number or if there will be a specific feature that only connects Virgin America passengers.

You can follow MBQ on Twitter if you like reading tweets about when I go to the laundromat: @marybethquirk

Virgin America Wants To Turn Boring Plane Flights Into Awesome Networking Sessions [Business Insider]

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