Just in time for Labor Day Weekend travel, Jambo deployed its social networking service to La Guardia Airport in partnership with Concourse Communications, the WiFi hotspot service provider for LGA. Since Jambo can work both online and offline, travelers can use the software throughout La Guardia Airport and on their next flight, at 30,000 feet in the air. Travelers can download Jambo from the Concourse WiFi Hostpot Welcome page.
We are very excited about this because airports are hubs for chance encounters. Over 24 million people pass through LGA every year. The chances that some of those people also share something in common with one another is very high. I’ve run into old friends and even gotten a job from meeting someone on a flight. I know several people who have dated someone they met on a plane. Yet, those interactions are just with the people that happen to be in a seat near them. We’re now extending those opportunities to everyone on the same plane or in a nearby terminal. So there is an huge opportunity for us to connect them together, whether in LGA, on their flight, or wherever they land.
A few months ago, I was traveling through LGA to go to my reunion at Cornell in Ithaca, NY. I ended up missing my connection and had to spend the night in the airport to catch the early morning flight. I passed the time by blogging about my experience (at 3am in the morning), but I would have preferred to discover other travelers that shared something in common with me. I kept thinking I might run into an old classmate. I would have paid a lot of money for a good connection then, anything to help me stay awake. . . . . I was traveling with three laptops, one of which I hadn’t backed up in while, so trying to fall asleep probably wouldn’t be a good idea, particularly since I had to wait in baggage claim until the airport opened at 5am. Unfortunately, we hadn’t rolled out to LGA yet, so I was out of luck. Now, if I get stranded or delayed there again, hopefully I will be able to discover some great contacts nearby. If you find yourself in a similar situation, check out Jambo. Since it works everywhere, you can use it any any airport or flight, among other places and hopefully it can make your experience a little more exciting or productive.