JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – South African Airways (SAA), has announced a new online check-in feature called Social Check-In. According to Tim Clyde-Smith, SAA’s Country Manager for Australasia, the new Social Seat Selector allows customers to use their Facebook details to help choose who they want to sit next to on their next flight.

“This is a new innovation from SAA and helps customers select who they want to sit next to on their next flight with us,” Tim said this week.

“Now there’s no excuse to be bored. Customers can spice it up by selecting anyone who also uses the feature and have shared their own details,” Tim said.

Only available to those checking in online, all customers need to do is follow these easy steps:

• Check in online on flysaa.com or our mobi site m.flysaa.com and input flight details.

• Simply share their Facebook details while checking in.

• Select profile details they want to share with other passengers and add travel details.

Next, a seat map will show:

• Other customer profile details.

• The seats they have chosen.

• Available seats allowing customers to select seats next to people with the same interests or going to the same events.

“Social Check-In is available for both flights within South Africa and all international flights including our daily service from Perth. Customers need to check in from 24 hours before their flight and not less than 90 minutes for domestic flights in South Africa or 2 hours for an international flight. After that, customers won’t be able to view other passengers’ profiles or change their seat,” Tim said.