|
Why Jet Blue’s Apology Works
I am a JetBlue customer. I am also a fan. But, I admit that when the airline initially fumbled the customer service and public relations challenges that followed the snow/ice storm that whacked the East coat on Valentines Day (is it cliche to call it a ‘Valentines Day Massacre?’), I thought the airline was doomed. You see it all the time — a company screws-up, the press jumps all over them, customers start gravitating to a competitor — and a few months later a little notice appears in the media saying that the company filed for bankrupty.
This won’t kill JetBlue. In fact, I think the airline will come back even stronger than before and their response to this communications disaster will drive significant changes in the entire airline industry.
What worked? First, the very same issue that led to JetBlue’s troubles during the storm — their small size, and relatively thin management structure — played a key role in their recovery. If JetBlue had acted like most companies and issued a press statement or used a PR firm to offer an apology to customers, it would have fallen flat. When David Neeleman, JetBlue’s Founder and CEO, went on a personal apology tour through the media and talked directly to customers online (through the JetBlue website and even on YouTube) it came across as genuine, sincere, and personal. Watch the video - it is obvious that Mr. Neeleman hasn’t slept in days, is taking the responsibility and stress of the crisis very personally. Nobody wants the man to suffer, but it is nice to know that a CEO isn’t shielding himself from tough times when customers are up in arms.
Second, they took swift and decisive action. Lots of companies promise to fix problems when a crisis hits. Usually the investigation into what went wrong takes a few months. Then a few more months pass before any real changes are announced. The public forgets what really caused the problem and the impact that the changes a company makes are hardly noticeable. Not at JetBlue — their new Customer Bill of Rights was issued within days of the crisis, while emotions were still high over the delays and inconveniences. In today’s fast-moving media environment, where news travels very quickly and the attention-span of the average person is very short, JetBlue was able to put into place a plan for real change while their audience was still paying attention.
The way JetBlue responded to this crisis — in the media, to their customers, online, by making the necessary changes to their structure and policies quickly — probably saved the airline. We all know that weather will always cause problems for airline companies. But while I think we all gave up on most of the major airlines long ago when it comes to supporting us as customers when these situations hit, JetBlue has earned itself at least one more chance to prove that its model, and customer-focused philosophy, can and does work. I think it does work and I look forward to flying JetBlue again (in March, I am heading down to Austin, TX — a direct flight from Boston!) so I can show my support.
|
