Is your airport on Twitter?

(2010 Twitter)

US newspaper The Boston Globe published a list of top US airports using Twitter on July 30, prompting a rebuttal from influential travel blogger Steven "Fish" Frischling, who said that a number of excellent airports were missing from the list.

While Twitter microblogging isn't for everyone, it's a useful method for keeping track of what's going on at airports as sending a Twitter status is far faster than updating a web page and many airports or airlines will update their Twitter feed first.

It's also a useful way of gathering information from different sources - during the widespread closure of European air space due to volcanic ash, for instance, airports and air traffic control authorities issued updates with the hashtag "ashtag," allowing fliers to keep track of all of the updates from a single hashtag search.

Many airports, though not all, also use Twitter for customer feedback, inviting users to tweet their messages and assigning a permanent customer service supervisor to Twitter to monitor and respond.

Useful Airport Twitter Feeds (non-US)

London Heathrow (@heathrowairport)
Amsterdam Schiphol (@schipholairport)
Stockholm Arlanda (@arlanda)
Manchester Airport (@manairport)
Frankfurt Airport (@airport_fra)
Abu Dhabi (@AUH)
Ottawa International (@FlyYOW)

Flying With Fish's Top Ten US Airports on Twitter

#1 – TIE – @Flack4RIC, Richmond Airport (Virginia) (RIC)- RIC
#1 – TIE – @CAKAirport,  Akron-Canton Airport (Ohio) (CAK)
#2 – @HIAairport, Harrisburg Airport (Pennsylvania) (MDT)
#3 – @KCIAirport, Kansas City International Airport (Missouri) (MCI)
#4 – @BostonLogan, Boston Logan Airport (BOS)
#5 – @CHOAirport, Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport Authority (Virginia) (CHO)
#6 – @SBNairport, South Bend Airport (Indiana) (SBN) (run by someone formerly at CAK)
#7 – @PortColumbusCMH, Port of Columbus International Airport (Ohio) (CMH)
#8 – @SanDiegoAirport, San Diego International Airport (California) (SAN)
#9 – @MSPAirport, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (Minnesota) (MSP)
#10 – @Atlanta_Airport, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (Georgia) (ATL)

Data from Flying With Fish - http://boardingarea.com/blogs/flyingwithfish