A passenger on a flight notices his reading lamp is broken, so, using his mobile device, he complains on Twitter. Within minutes, the airline’s ground staff has dispatched a flight attendant to fix the problem and has alerted maintenance at the destination airport. Corporate communications has passed the Tweet onto the customer service department, which contacts the passenger to apologize for the inconvenience.

This scenario is not science fiction. It, or one similar to it, happens every day in airline cabins as tech-savvy passengers use social media tools to disperse information among their networks. Are airlines ready for this new world?

Although most of the industry is engaged online to some extent, there remains a lingering notion among a number of legacy airlines that social media is, to quote one senior executive, “just a silly fad.” Perceptions like these are reinforced by the fact that social media has yet to make a measurable impact on the bottom line of any carriers. But airlines such as JetBlue Airways and Virgin America are betting that their investments of time and resources in social media will pay off in the not-too-distant future.

While social media continues to evolve and the tools used to reach an engaged online community may change, the paradigm shift in customer habits is here to stay, say media analysts and airlines that have bought into the concept. “Shame on those airlines who think they can ignore this and that it will go away,” says Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst with Forrester Research.

JetBlue has more than 1.4 million followers on Twitter, the micro-blogging site that allows users to update their networks in 140-character posts, called “Tweets.” That is more than any other airline, and among the higher number of followers of any corporation. JetBlue’s attention to social media requires significant resources. A team of six in the corporate communications department monitors the feed until the last passenger has left the last airport each day, says Morgan Johnston, manager of corporate communications.

JetBlue cannot point to a direct financial benefit from its social media, but company managers see a payoff in two areas that ultimately impact profits, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. “The utility is not what it does to the bottom line but how it works as a marketing tool,” says Marty St. George, senior vice president of marketing and commercial strategy. “Real-time customer feedback is a gift.”

The airline’s vast Twitter following and its growing presence on Facebook serve as excellent market research, says St. George. JetBlue focuses its energy online to listening to what its customers are saying about the company, and, when appropriate, steps in to resolve customer-service issues. Responding to demand, it also has set up a second Twitter feed to promote fare sales.

But succeeding in social media requires allowing customer control of the message, at least to a certain degree. While that is difficult for most companies, it should not be an excuse to ignore social media, says Harteveldt. “Guess what—your brand is being discussed online anyway,” he argues. Bad messages now have the ability to go viral to thousands, even millions, of people in cyberspace.

A case in point is a video posted to YouTube by musician Dave Carroll about his eight-month struggle to get compensation from United Airlines for a damaged guitar. The battle turned into a public relations nightmare for the carrier, as the video of Carroll’s song, “United Breaks Guitars,” was viewed more than 6.6 million times. That led to his story being picked up by major television news outlets. He even was called to Washington last year to testify at a congressional hearing on passenger rights.

United eventually offered Carroll compensation, but the episode underscored the need for airlines to be engaged with the online community and to step in quickly when an issue arises. “With social media, the airline has an opportunity to be part of the conversation,” Harteveldt says.