Representative please! You can still get airline customer service here | Cruising Altitude

So-called travel experts (like me) love to tell readers like you about the latest hack. Arguably one of our favorites (and at this point probably one of the most well-known) is using social media to get in touch with airline customer service when something goes wrong.

But all of us chronically online people have seen social media evolve in real time over the last few months. Twitter is X now, and the way people are using it has changed. That got me wondering: What does it mean for airlines? As passengers shift their app preferences, how do companies that transport you adapt?

It turns out airlines spend a lot of time thinking about these questions, but for now, X and other social media platforms remain a good option to get in touch.

Airlines and social media

Alex Chard used X to reach out to two airlines in recent weeks and said he found it an efficient way to get his issues addressed.

“You feel less like just some random person with an issue waiting to connect with someone,” he told me, explaining how social media felt more efficient than calling in for help. “Other people latch onto (posts) and share their stories, and I think for me that sort of feels like a powerful way – if you’re concerned about your brand you don’t want people to start retweeting and sharing stuff.”

Chard and his wife were flying from their home in Los Angeles to Rome via New York on Oct. 11 and realized one of their bags didn’t make the flight when it didn’t come off the plane, and the airline’s in-app tracker showed it still in LA. He said he reached out to Delta Air Lines on X and was able to get information on having his bag processed and sent to his in-laws in Europe.

“It is definitely a way I will continue to approach these situations,” Chard said. “From these experiences I’ve had, the response has often been swifter and a bit more direct than going through those traditional channels.”

While Delta did not provide a comment for this column, representatives from other airlines told me social media is an important tool for reaching and helping customers.

“Our goal is to service people where they already are,” Kelsey Kopankiewitz, a digital strategy advisor at Southwest Airlines told me.

Her colleague John Young, a digital strategy manager, added that the airline tries to stay nimble when it comes to picking platforms for customer service.

“We’re always evaluating where our customers are and what their preferences are,” he said. “Whether it’s through social or not, we are going to take care of folks.”

Southwest’s neighbor in Dallas, American Airlines, takes a similar view when it comes to online interactions.

“Any of the channels that our consumers come to us on are important,” Carolyne Truelove, American’s vice president of reservations and service recovery told me. “Our mission is to be convenient, consistent and connected, and to differentiate your experience based on status.”

How can I get to a real human online to help with my flight?

Both American and Southwest representatives said that getting in touch with the airline directly, especially through its app or website, is an increasingly efficient way to deal with issues. They emphasized that it’s becoming more popular with customers too.

“Our new and improved digital tools now allow you as a domestic customer to take care of most of the things that you would need to take care of on your own,” Truelove from American, said. “As our tools are being used more, there are fewer customers needing to contact us in general.”

Young, from Southwest, added that customers shouldn’t worry too much about how they get in touch, though he cautioned that any avenue for contact can get overwhelmed if there’s a major issue like weather affecting many flights.

“Generally speaking, it’s really hard to say ‘this is a hack’ because we try to staff accordingly across the channels,” he said. “All of them, when they get inundated, you may find yourself waiting longer than you want.”

Frontier Airlines even did away with call centers altogether, which can make it especially tough to get in touch when something goes wrong.

Last week's Cruising Altitude: Don't bother with an airline loyalty program if you're this traveler

How airline customer service evolves online

Chard, the traveler who got in touch with Delta on X, said the climate on social media overall is changing, pointing to fractured online communities.

But for airlines specifically, social media remains a good way to get in touch, and the carriers aren’t seeing many changes in how people interact with them online so far.

“We have not seen any volume difference or any topic changes as of right now,” Kopankiewitz, from Southwest, told me. “We’ll continue to try to have a presence on there and try to support our customers.”

American Airlines also said that as customer social media habits change, companies continually have to adapt. United Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this column.

“If consumers start to shift someplace else, we’re ready,” Truelove said.

In the meantime, I can’t advise you to run away from your preferred platform for airline customer service, but as the climate changes online, it’s worth being vigilant if you reach out publicly.

Chard warned that he noticed fake accounts trying to get his information both times he posted to airlines on X.

“In both cases, almost immediately, fake accounts set up as Singapore Airlines and as Delta replied, almost with identical messages,” he said. “That definitely seems to be a pattern of taking this approach.”

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in New York. You can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Flight assistance: Why social media can still help | Cruising Altitude