What Were They Thinking?: Crisis Communication: The Good, the Bad, and the Totally Clueless

Jet Blue Airways: A Late-night Disaster

Jet Blue CEO David Neeleman gets big points for stepping up and taking the heat when his airline made national headlines on February 14, 2007, for canceling 1,100 flights and stranding thousands of passengers in airports and on tarmacs across the country. Yes, it was a blizzard. Runways were very icy and the skies above many cities possessed very tough flying conditions, but Jet Blue had operational and communication problems that went beyond that of their competitors.This is ironic because up until that point Jet Blue had been recognized for their superior customer service. But, image means so much.That’s why the image of Jet Blue will be tarnished for a long time by intense and embarrassing media coverage of passengers stranded for up to eleven hours in planes stuck (for apparently no good reason) on the tarmac at JFK airport in NewYork. “Trapped on the Tarmac” was the headline in People magazine , which featured powerful photos of passengers camped out on the floor at JFK. The article quoted passenger Chris Deloge; “Toward the seventh hour, people were yelling at the flight attendant,‘Why can’t we get off this plane?’”1 The attendant had no answer. CEO David Neeleman and his communication team were thinking that admitting responsibility in a forthright fashion for a major communication problem, and not taking further action, would be enough to gain forgiveness from their customers and the general public. What were they thinking?. Taking responsibility is just the beginning. The Lesson. 158 Jet Blue Airways A LATE-NIGHT DISASTER Adubato_final_book 5/20/08 4:32 PM Page 158 “Long Delays Hurt Image of Jet Blue” announced a headline in the New York Times. The story recounted once again how Jet Blue delays and its treatment of passengers was significantly worse than that of its competitors.2 A week after this Valentine’s Day fiasco, media coverage was still negative. A New Jersey Star-Ledger headline on February 21 was the lead story on the front page: “Humbled Jet Blue Picks Itself Up Off theTarmac:AWeek after Its Meltdown in Ice Storm, It Initiates a Program of Guarantees.”The article talked not only about a new “full refund policy” that Jet Blue would offer if a flight was canceled within twelve hours of a scheduled takeoff and a $25 voucher for a plane waiting more than five hours, but it also featured a recounting of David Neeleman’s apologies.3 Many of Neeleman’s apologetic words also appeared in fullpage ads in publications across the country. “We are sorry and embarrassed, but most of all we are deeply sorry.” Neeleman would also say: “We love our customers and we are horrified by this.There are going to be a lot of apologies.” He also called Jet Blue’s performance “unforgivable.”4 Neeleman seemed to genuinely care about how poorly his airline performed in the bad weather. He showed empathy and compassion for the passengers who suffered—particularly those who sat on Jet Blue planes for between seven and eleven hours. He gets points for this. That is why within days Jet Blue took corrective steps to prevent such a disaster in the future. They developed a so-called Passengers Bill of Rights regarding refunds, vouchers, and guarantees—a good idea, but in crisis management that’s a lot like the old saying about closing the barn door after the horses are stolen. It does nothing to help the problem at hand. Jet Blue’s performance during this crisis and CEO Neeleman’s subsequent appearance on Late Night with David Letterman was embarrassing and awkward at best. Clearly, the airline’s inability to communicate with their passengers in the midst of the delays and then Neeleman’s JET BLUE AIRWAYS 159 Adubato_final_book 5/20/08 4:32 PM Page 159 poor performance with Letterman demonstrates that having good intentions and a caring attitude takes you only so far when a true crisis hits. Planning Ahead for the Worst One of the biggest problems with the leadership at Jet Blue involved how poorly they communicated as the crisis was building .They seemed totally unprepared to communicate to passengers in a candid, direct, and timely fashion about how serious things had become. Further, it took Jet Blue representatives too long to communicate directly with the Port Authority, which runs JFK Airport, to let them know there was a serious problem...