The Best And Worst Twitter Updates During #Dorian From Airports

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, I worked the phones for an airline. We had a major front-page crisis once…which I won’t get into here. Let’s just say we had no news to give the passengers for a very long time. So I’m sensitive about how passengers get their updates, and if those updates are easy to understand.

I have written a few white papers about social media as the new crisis communications tool. Today, social media is a lifeline, and not just a lifeline for passengers. The other thing is this: as long as airplanes have to land, airports remain open for them. But airports can cease operations.

Passengers don’t know how to intuit that an airport will be open and operational. So they check the airports directly. That’s where social media comes in.

Here are my picks for best in Twitter updates from the U.S. airports that have been (sort of) in Dorian’s path.

The Best: Fort Lauderdale International Airport

Fort Lauderdale International Airport (FLL) kept its tweet pinned to the top, clearly visible for all to see as the first point of information. Today is September 5-and it’s still up. Which is awesome and shows how considerate FLL is to its passengers. (Do people really need to know? Some do. As a result, it doesn’t hurt to keep this pinned up past the threat of the storm for a day or two.)

Honorable Mention: PBI

West Palm Beach International airport (PBI) has its latest tweet regarding the weather impact on its airport at the top. It’s not pinned to the top, though, which diminishes the level of “announcement” gravitas.

The Worst: Miami International Airport

This was a tone-deaf tweet from Miami International Airport (MIA) on September 2nd. Sure, Miami knows what’s going on, but do the people flying to Miami know? Which prompted extra work for the MIA social media manager below…

When MIA finally posted the tweet below, the airport still did not state whether the airport was open or not. Also, it would help to stagger these two announcements: English pinned to the top, Spanish unpinned below, and ditch the graphical backgrounds (See: Justin Trudeau’s Twitter). The two announcements in the same tweet on a graphic background make for a tough read.

Prompting more questions and more work for the MIA social media manager…

Of course, Pitbull’s flight cancellation “details” didn’t help…prompting more confusion about what was happening on the ground in Miami…

Honorable Mention: Charlotte International Airport

Charlotte International (CLT) is sort of in Dorian’s path. Above is their update...which on the surface, is okay. What’s missing? “We’re open” or “We’re operational” before “check the flight status of your airline” before the prompt to download their app.

Of course, we’ve all got killer mind reading and meteorology skills and know that CLT airport is never closed…even though they may not be “operational”…

In short…whether the airport relies on airplanes to stay open during hurricanes is a chicken/egg question when you just want to know if your plane will land at the airport. Are flight conditions good enough to do anything? That’s the questions that prompts people to check the airport. Updates that are easy to understand benefit everyone.

Originally published at https://alittletravel.com on September 5, 2019.