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I really don't like to jump on somebody when they are down. However, the crisis management disaster that occurred at Jet Blue when the ice storm hit the East Coast in mid-February will go down in public relations history as one of the biggest case studies ever. So we ought to see what we can learn from it.
A monthly e-zine on crisis management brought to you by Judy Hoffman QUOTE OF THE MONTH: JET BLUE BLUES The Huge Storm Hits From a personal point of view, I was just glad I was not in the midst of the whole thing to experience it first-hand! I was trying to fly home from a speaking engagement in Minneapolis on February 13th and had to be re-routed because of bad weather in the central U.S. cancelling a bunch of flights. That storm hit the East Coast with full force the next day -- quite a Valentine's Day present! It wasn't a surprise storm. It had been predicted on all of the weather channels. Those responsible for overseeing operations at all of the airlines knew all about it. Decisions to cancel flights were made much earlier by American, Delta, Southwest and others. Of course passengers are upset when their flights are cancelled. But when it is due to weather that could make flying dangerous, they realize it must be done. They make the arrangements that need to be made to reschedule their plans. Some Bad Decisions Were Made Evidently Jet Blue, with its high-ranking reputation for customer satisfaction, determined to do whatever they could to not cause their passengers this distress. They delayed making the decision to cancel. They let people board airplanes and get them out on the tarmac, thinking there might be a break in the weather that would allow them to take off. That break didn't come. They delayed making the decision to cancel and waited much too long to ask airport officials at J.F.K. to help them get the passengers off the plane and back into the airport. Consequently we heard the horror stories of packed airplanes being held on the runways for six to nine hours with overflowing toilets, little food, angry passengers and distressed crew. Stories that came out later likened the situation to being at the "Hanoi Hilton" and bloggers had a field day with headlines like "The Valentine's Day Hostage Crisis" and blog titles of "JetBlueHostage.com". A horrible day or two of flight cancellations would have been one thing. But the American public has seen these stories of people camped out in airports during bad weather often enough to know that "these things happen." They probably wouldn't have thought much more about it, even though they all shuddered at the idea of themselves being cramped in an airplane for nine hours (probably with some VERY cranky crying babies and a lot of whining adults). But for Jet Blue, their problems dragged on for a full week! This is what differentiates this story and makes it a case study. According to no less a source than the airline's own CEO, David Neeleman, the incident uncovered a number of systemic operational issues that prevented them from being able to bounce back as quickly as the other airlines. As a well-recognized low-cost carrier, the company did not have enough depth of personnel to help, whether to rebook passengers, get baggage straightened out, deal with customer service issues, etc. Their communications system was not robust enough to allow them to get the word to their pilots and inflight crew members as to where they needed to be to get flights moving again. Their phone systems were overwhelmed. The Company's Response I must say that I was quite impressed with most of what I saw with regard to the way the company responded. First of all, the CEO didn't shirk his responsibility. His was the face of the management response almost from the very beginning. (There was one problem which was pointed out to me by Professor William Smullen, who teaches a graduate course in crisis communications at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. He said that, in the first televised interview, he saw the trace of a smile on Mr. Neeleman's face. For those of you who have taken my workshop, you recognize this as something I warn about. Your body language -- and particularly your facial expressions -- will be scrutinized by people anxious to see if you are empathetic about the situation. It isn't unusual for some people -- especially when stressed or nervous -- to display a hint of a smile instead of the more appropriate expression of concern. It is NOT perceived well by those watching.) Secondly, despite the one instance mentioned above, Mr. Neeleman's words (both written and spoken) have expressed genuine and heartfelt concern with full apologies. For those of you who would like to see what an effective apology looks like, please e-mail me and I will send you the text of the full-page ad he placed in the newspaper here in Raleigh. (I assume he did the same for other areas with large concentrations of customers who were affected.) Not only did he apologize, but he (1) explained a bit about why it happened; (2) admitted the company's failures; (3) reasserted the company's commitment to provide the excellent service for which they had become known; (4) provided general information about the Customer Bill of Rights that was announced subsequently which outlined the future compensation they would provide to customers who are delayed significantly because of the airline's fault; and (5) gave some insights into changes they planned to make to minimize recurrences. Thirdly, Mr. Neeleman reached out to people through various communications channels. The newspaper ads were supplemented by his being willing to appear on The Late Show with David Letterman, his placing similar messages to the newspaper ad on their web site, and -- indicating even more that he has an appreciation for the ways younger people tend to communicate -- his putting together a piece for YouTube entitled "Our Promise to You." What Will Become of Jet Blue Now? Of course no one has the complete answer on this at this moment. It will take time to see if they can bounce back. The company had a solid reputation heading into February 14th. The airline industry is going through tough times in general, and for a new one to survive seven years says something about them. The flying public has appreciated their low-cost fares and wants them to succeed. And customer service surveys have rated them highly in the past. They were expanding rapidly, which was part of the problem since their system to deal with the consequences of inclement weather had not kept up with the growth. They must put into effect the operational changes which this meltdown pointed out were needed so that they can avoid a repeat of this nightmare. If they do, barring any serious accident in the near future, I would predict that they will be able to come back despite the serious financial impact this incident will have on them. As Mr. Neeleman said himself, "I can flap my lips all I want. Talk is cheap. Watch us." There is no doubt -- the country will be watching. # # #
Special Notice: If you know of anyone you think might benefit from having his/her own copy of my monthly e-zine, please tell them to go to my web site at www.judyhoffman.com and sign up for it on the home page. Once they get an e-mail asking them to confirm they really want it, they will start their own subscription. 'Til next month...KEEP COOL! Copyright (C) 2007 JCH Enterprises Click here to view other e-zines by Judy Hoffman. |
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