In August, Delta Airlines launched its ticket booking counter application on Facebook. Recently, the airline improved the application, including the facility to check-in as well. You can book tickets, check-in for your flight and also preview amenities provided by various airlines. Delta was the first to launch such an application on a social networking site; and now, they even have mobile applications for iPhone, BlackBerry and Android users.

Taking a cue from them, Malaysian Airlines have launched an application on Facebook called MHbuddy. Here, you can book tickets and check-in from the social networking site itself. But here's what's interesting: passengers can check if any of their Facebook friends are travelling in the same flight or around the same date or destination, making it easier to plans trips with friends. They can book their tickets and notify their friends via Facebook itself! What's more, they can even check seating arrangements of their friends and book seats accordingly. Once the booking is completed, passengers receive their boarding pass via email---or, in some cases, as an SMS---which can later be printed. Keeping in mind that Facebook has privacy concerns, all the information related to flight booking is kept hidden to everyone, which can later be changed according to a user's preference.

These efforts on the behalf of airlines can be seen as a way to be more interactive with their passengers. Where Delta launched an application to make booking easier, Malaysian airlines took it a step further and made it possible for a group of people to make plans together. The future plan according to Malaysian airlines is to introduce meal selection and redeem points while booking tickets. This makes the application more user-friendly for frequent travellers, and turns flying into a social activity.

-- Prerna Arora