Singing the Blues

Until Valentine's Day (of all days), JetBlue held a high place in hearts of most customers who've flown on the airlline. In fact, the new company even made the top 25 in BusinessWeek's first-ever ranking of the customer service elite (results based on consumer responses from the first half of  2006)--until the business publication decided to remove it from the roster, after its blunder on the runway.

If you didn't see the countless media reports, JetBlue ran into a bit of a problem when a bad snow storm caused massive flight cancellations--to the tune of more than 1,000. Stalled at New York's John F. Kennedy airport, passengers on some planes waited an unforgivable 10+ hours on the icy runway. Some reports even indicated that bathrooms were off limits after several hours on some planes.

Didn't JetBlue learn anything from other airline scheduling mishaps over the years? If you're a small airline, know your limits, and please have a Plan B. Everyone knows there's not much to be done about uncooperative weather, but there's no excuse for people to have to sit on a plane for 10 hours--even 2 hours is pushing it.

Mistakes do come with a price--and JetBlue is willing to pay it. The airline is offering refunds and vouchers to customers who had to endure the unfortunate experience. JetBlue's CEO David Neeleman has apologized publicly through whatever broadcast will let him (including David Letterman, whose late night show seems to be the spot for lots of annoucements these days.) Although I do admire Neeleman for his unrelentless apologies and for being publicly accountable, as most high-level executives seem to run for cover in these instances.

However, it goes back to basic customer service. Businesses who put their customers first are usually the most successful. The Golden Rule is not only the right thing to do, but it is also the most profitable thing to do. And locking people on a plane for hours on end is not recommendable.

--Rachel Brown

Comments

[George Watson]

I'm amazed! JetBlue is the ONLY airline to have made the news during this past month. Bad weather and one airline is the only one affected? And not one question why... Ask anyone in the airline industry where JetBlue is seen as Blue Chip... they were eating everyone else's lunch, and there are some very big legacy airlines who don't like having their lunches eaten. The unbelievably one-sided and consistent harangue by certain news media suggests a very carefully scripted and coordinated (and effective, I might add) smear campaign possibly directed by competitive interests. Free Trade and Fair Competition... oxymorons of the business world. Don't you luvit?

[Nick]

I'm not sure JetBlue is willing to pay he doesn't seem to put his money where his mouth is ... he'll give you a voucher (because everybody redeems those don't they?) but no hard cash. It's all very well saying sorry but if you're saying sorry as a pr exercise those are just crocodile tears ... and ... think of the mileage he's got from all this. Worth a few bob probably? Viral advertising it seems is starting to taste rather bitter with all these sincere pills.