Keeping up with the times right? Virgin Atlantic will from now onwards be notifying flight clients of flight status via twitter. They apparently have a “tweet bot” service that will allow passengers to use their mobile phones to make payments for tickets, change in reservation fees and upgrades at the same time check for their flight details. This will be a single line tweet from the @VAAInfo twitter account. Customers will also be able to pay via Mpesa and transfer upto Kshs 140,000 a day. This service will be available in Kenya and other countries where Mpesa is available.
Passengers will be required to use the Pay Bill option under Mpesa. The business number assigned to Virgin Atlantic is 672672 (this corresponds to the VS672 flight number that operates from Nairobi to London). Passengers will then be required to input their account number, which is the 6-digit booking reference that comes with every ticket. Normal Mpesa rates will apply and the airline will not charge any other costs. Notification and confirmation of payments will be received once the transaction has been processed. Other payment options accepted by Virgin Atlantic are bankers’ cheques, bank transfers, cash payments, credit cards and debit cards.
How to use the airline’s new Twitter flight status checker:
- § Just tweet the flight number and departure date to the airline’s new Twitter account @VAAInfo.
For example: @VAAInfo VS3 1411
- § For the majority of flights, passengers will immediately receive a tweet in return confirming the departure and arrival times. If, like Sydney flights, it’s a multi-leg journey, the tweet requests that travellers include the departure airport.
- § Passengers will then receive their flight status in true Virgin style.
For example: @RogerFlysalot – Hello gorgeous! The @VirginAtlantic VS3/30Oct left London LHR at 10:50 & is expected in New York JFK at 13:51
- § Travellers can also check flights even when they are still up in the air, in which case you’ll get up-to-the-minute flight status
ADDITIONAL PAYMENT OPTIONS: “Book Now, Pay Later”
Virgin Atlantic passengers also have the option of making their bookings online. They can select the “Book now, pay later” option which allows 72 hours to make payment and means that passengers are not required to give their credit card details at the time of making their bookings.
