Cathay Pacific Airways Gives VIP Treatment To High-Klout Members

If you're one of those people who has to tweet every 10 seconds, never keeps your Facebook page outdated, and always checks out up and coming platforms like Instagram and Pinterest? If so, then you probably already know about Klout, a startup that ranks individuals based on their social media presence. It is largely just a way to brag about yourself online – but one airline is starting to turn it into something more.

Cathay Pacific Airways has announced that its members-only lounge at the San Francisco airport will now be accessible to people with a high Klout score, whether or not you're actually flying on Cathay Pacific. All that a user has to do is whip out their Klout smartphone app and show it to the receptionist. Anyone who has a score of more 40 or higher will be allowed to enter the gated lounge.

It's definitely a huge PR boost for Klout, but what's in it for Cathay? "By partnering with Klout, we have the opportunity to invite travelers who typically may not fly with us to experience our ground products and services, in hopes that they may one day choose to visit us again," Cathay Pacific marketing VP Dennis Owen was quoted as saying. The airline primarily serves Hong Kong from the US. The idea is that anyone with a high Klout score is likely to boast about everything in their lives on social media – so there will be a huge influx of people "checkin in" and tweeting about Cathay Pacific at SFO.

[via VentureBeat]