

Use Facebook and LinkedIn to find an airline seatmate goes live: KLM Meet & Seat - nickoakland
http://www.klm.com/travel/us_en/prepare_for_travel/on_board/Your_seat_on_board/meet_and_seat.htm

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bcrescimanno
I hate to say it; but my prediction for the use of this service goes about
like this:

Several young, socially connected folks give it a shot.

Horny dudes browse the passenger list looking for a "hot chick" to sit next
to.

Girls wise up to what the guys are doing and stop signing up.

Guys do what we always do and lose interest in yet another "social activity"
completely devoid of women.

~~~
loceng
And those individuals will hopefully get honest reviews and their
douchebaggary will be known to the world. I highly doubt many people will do
this unless they don't care about their reputation, networking, etc.. And
besides if they do develop a certain public reputation then no one will want
to sit next to them.

I think this idea is absolutely brilliant. It makes me even want to travel
more. I love meeting people and have different interests I'd be happy to talk
about for hours and hours with someone. You'll either learn new things, make
contacts, or be teaching someone whereby you're strengthening your own
understanding. It's win-win-win!

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malandrew
Very cool idea. The only problem is making sure that the interest is
reciprocal. Instead of being able to see where others may be seating, it
should show all people on board and allow you to express interest, which then
gives the other person the ability to reciprocate. If the other person
declines, the declination should be in ambiguous terms so the person declining
neither offends or feels obligated, such as "This person has declined because
they plan to rest or do work while on this flight"

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pinaceae
as a frequent long distance flyer: what an awful idea. flying is not a social
experience, it is not a bar.

having someone next to you trying to sell crap - with no physical escape _for
hours_? oh yeah. in other contexts i am walking away.

klm is doing a lot of marketing with social media. they have a pretty famous
video on usage of twitter.

~~~
malandrew
If you have no control over who might sit next you you I agree. However
imagine if you were flying NYC-SF and could find out who were entrepreneurs,
software engineers or designers on you flight and talk shop for a couple of
hours.

The key issue is discovering if the interest is mutual. It's not unsolvable.
Merely intractable.

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cypherpunks01
New hobby: Find the seat that maximizes the distance between me and the
nearest person who has shared their Facebook profile with KLM.

What other webapps do people want to write? : )

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pork
So people with Facebook profiles are somehow repulsive, while people with HN
usernames are implicitly acceptable?

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picklefish
I bet people could use this to break into houses. Given the right person with
lax privacy settings. One public facebook event with your address or something
and someone who knows you'll be flying.

~~~
loceng
If someone really wants to break in there are much easier ways..

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jdwhit2
Is this from the same people behind the social airport concept that was
pitched during the office hours at Techcrunch's conference?

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enjalot
rare jongens die Nederlanders ;)

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hc8217
salesmen will love this, and lonely women.

