Schiphol Airport - Big Wave Goodbye

Schiphol Airport - Big Wave Goodbye

Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport has launched an English version of an innovative online service that lets those who stay at home surprise friends and loved ones at the terminal with a virtual wave goodbye that will be broadcast on video screens inside the airport and also sent directly to their mobile phone.

‘The Big Wave Goodbye ’ is a fully automated and integrated system that allows messages to be sent as little as 4 hours in advance, by simply using a webpage application.

Using the app, a user can fill in their friend’s date of departure and invite other friends to join in waving goodbye. Upon departure from Schiphol, not only will the passenger be able to watch the video on their smartphone, but it will also be broadcast on the big screens at Schiphol Plaza plus the screens at the departure gates.

Since the launch of the (Dutch) Facebook app in October 2012, over 10,000 people have already given their loved ones a depar ture to remember.

This endearing value-added concept, whist currently only operational with Schiphol, has a larger scope and could easily be adopted by a raft of carriers, who already have touchstones in the form of smartphone applications, Facebook pages and video screen technology at certain airports.