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Remember when air travel was glamorous?
On February 15, JetBlue Airways encountered
a customer service nightmare. As a snowstorm
pounded New York, passengers on the discount
airline experienced delays of epic
proportions due to congestion, frozen
equipment and mechanical failures. As a
result, ten planes were stranded on the
runway, some for as long as 11 hours.
Passengers quickly let their voices be heard
and soon tales of the delays were flying all
over the news and the web.
For this edition of the Good, the Bad and
the Ugly, Kate and Yvette will discuss the
communications campaign that JetBlue used to
handle the “snowstorm” of negative publicity
across North America. JetBlue’s two-tiered
campaign consisted of an email to their
customers and a videotaped apology
distributed on their home page and on
YouTube. Their website became their
announcement – loud and clear. The campaign
will be rated according to the following
system.
|
The Good - |
Salmon Wellington* and
Little Miss Sunshine |
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The Bad -
|
Sesame Crisps and Airplane 2 |
|
The Ugly - |
Stale coffee and Snakes on a
Plane |
* Editor’s note – Kate has officially
verified that she was served Salmon
Wellington on British Airways.
Kate’s Rating:
Good
Yvette’s Rating:
Good |
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Kate’s
Critique:
Rating: Good
I think JetBlue did a very good job dealing
with a very difficult situation. Many
airlines other than JetBlue experienced
delays during the same storm, but because
JetBlue had invested so heavily in its image
of a friendly and personable airline, the
delays experienced by the very vocal
passengers were particularly damaging.
I love the development of the JetBlue
Airways Customer Bill of Rights, and it’s
placement right on JetBlue’s homepage. It
directly addresses what every delayed
passenger feels, that they have spent a lot
of money on their ticket and that they are
not being delivered the service that was
promised. The Bill of Rights enables
JetBlue’s customers to take control of their
circumstances, and communicates the
company’s value proposition of “bringing
humanity back to air travel.” The terms
outlined in the document are very smart – if
you are unsatisfied with JetBlue’s service,
you receive discounted travel in the future,
which means that the company has the
opportunity to continue to build strong
customer relationships. While the reality is
that most customers will not go through the
effort to redeem the discount, by posting
their compensation structure in a clear and
straightforward way, every customer knows up
front what they are entitled to should the
unexpected occur.
I think that the videotaped apology is very
effective - it is unusual in this day and
age for Senior Executives to take such
complete responsibility for a situation such
as this, and then follow through with the
solutions. Neeleman is on message and his
tone is consistent with the overall tone of
the company. He is dressed casually, his
message is delivered very directly, and it
seems like he has stepped on camera, without
preparation, to immediately let his
customers know that he was responding to
their concerns and has personally taken
responsibility for his company’s actions.
Releasing the video on YouTube is a very
smart strategy in that it enables JetBlue to
reach a very wide audience as quickly as
possible, and also enables them to introduce
potential customers to the airline. The only
disadvantage I see with marketing in this
medium is that the videos can be linked to
other videos that you may not want to be
associated with. For example, this video is
linked to several others based on the fact
that Mr. Neeleman is a member of the Mormon
Church, which may or may not be the
information that he wanted to communicate to
all JetBlue customers. |
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Yvette’s Critique:
Rating: Good
I think that JetBlue did a commendable job
with this campaign. Both the letter and the
videotaped apology indicate that they have
listened to their Clients’ pain and are
facing the problem head-on by responding to
their needs in a straightforward and
professional manner. Fact is fact – when bad
weather strikes it is difficult to make
everything better – frankly, this is the
first time I’ve seen an airline care so
much.
I think that it’s time for more airlines to
adopt JetBlue’s refreshing approach to
customer service – I have been delayed for
long periods of time on a number of
occasions and have experienced absolutely
terrible customer service when I have
attempted to get alternate flights. One
service representative even held up their
hand to stop me from asking questions! I
love the level of “empowerment” that the
“Customer Bill of Rights” creates – this
will hopefully set a standard for all
airlines in the future. I also love the logo
considering that it would have been
developed quickly!
I think that it was brilliant that they
chose to post their apology on YouTube. As I
write this, the clip has been viewed 267,691
times, and comments and commentary on the
video is all over the Internet. This shows
once again that JetBlue “gets” their
customers and their choice of medium got
their message out with lightning speed.
We will all agree – a good “disaster
recovery plan” in marketing and
communications is essential – and
acknowledging that you have made an error
very commendable. JetBlue has positioned
itself as a customer-caring airline, and by
apologizing directly to their customers they
are continuing to build the relationship
that will keep this airline’s customers
loyal to the brand, ensuring the survival of
this airline. |
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