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Airlines and booking sites incentivized their audiences to book flights by publishing discounted fares to specific destinations. As a whole, the social media platform moves were much different this week. Most of the activity, although not as large, took place on Twitter.

Each Friday, we call out travel brands that have stronger than usual activity on social media. Using SkiftIQ, we’re able to track current performance versus past (60-day averages, unless otherwise noted) as well as notice spikes in activity that demonstrate a brand either has a viral hit on its hands, or a public relations mess to clean up.

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The latest social activity on SkiftIQ for the week ending September 19, 2014:

1. Virgin America on Facebook

Travelers, love insane deals. Virgin America posted about its flash sale of one-way fares starting from $59 and it got the 18,000+ thumbs up, 1,500 shares and 500 comments. Those shares caught the attention of others and turned them into Page Likes. On average, it gains 291 Followers/Day, on September 16 and September 17, it skyrocketed on both days by 830%, and that’s 2,400 more fans per day.

This announcement also triggered a mini-frenzy on Twitter following Virgin America’s news about its winning streak at the Passengers Choice Awards, and its move from Fort Worth to Dallas. It steadily gained 50% new followers each day September 15 to 17.

2. Expedia on Twitter

Last year, Expedia made a push to promote travel to South America. This year, the booking site invited its audience on Twitter to chat about Central America. Expedia engaged its audience with striking images of exotic flora and fauna and local culture from various tropical destinations. It normally tweets 25 times a day, for the #ExpediaChat, it rose to 87 status updates, a 250% increase in conversation volume.

3. British Airways on Instagram

Celebrity on board. Orlando Bloom was casually hamming it up in first class with one of the flight attendants. This snap got 3,500 likes, 87 comments and 200 new followers. Although the airline didn’t post another photo the following day, it still sustained its 60% increase. On Twitter, it didn’t repurpose Orlando Bloom’s photo from Instagram, but it still gained a noteworthy amount of followers.

4. Cebu Pacific Air on Twitter

This Philippine airline announced its #CEBseatsale to domestic and international destinations. There are fares from 1 Philippine Peso, that’s $0.0002 from and to nearby cities and international fares from Cebu to Sydney from $112.00. On average, its Twitter community grows by 1,020 Followers/Day. The promotion increased its fans by 55% for five out of seven days, a steady clip of 550 new fans each day.

5. KLM on Twitter

Golf, data, and photos anyone? Apparently KLM’s Twitter fans are into the swing of things and data points, contrary to Martijn van der Zee’s thoughts. This airline transported golf pros to its KLM Open Golf Tournament in Switzerland and tweeted photos and a blog link about the activation. The following day, Martijn van der Zee, senior vice president of e-commerce at Air France-KLM, sounded off about his love for small — not big — data and these tweets got more retweets than the day before. Lastly, it called on its creative audience to enter a photography contest in collaboration with Holland Herald. KLM gained 50% new followers, totaling 1,500 for three days, on top of its 2,920 Followers/Day Average.

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Tags: british airways, expedia, klm, social media, virgin america

Photo credit: A flash sale for Virgin America's mood-lit cabin flights. Virgin America / Facebook

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