Crisis Communications: JetBlue Airways

"Crisis Communications: JetBlue Airways" by Thomas Nardacci

Last week, JetBlue faced a major corporate communications crisis as thousands of passengers were left stranded and newspapers depicted a sea of luggage left unclaimed because of severe weather.

Company president David Neeleman did his company a great service by standing up and addressing the situation within days. The company also issued an immediate statement on the day of the delays offering a full refund and free roundtrip flight to all customers who were impacted.

While it is debatable whether 5 hours is "ok" for a passenger to be kept on a grounded plane (and Congress is likely to continue this exact discussion), the customer bill of rights the company released was pretty clear and direct, and Neeleman’s statement didn’t try to redirect blame:

"This was a big wake-up call for JetBlue," said JetBlue Founder and CEO David Neeleman. "If there's a silver lining, it is the fact that our airline is going to be stronger and even better prepared to serve our customers. In addition, I want to publicly apologize to JetBlue's crewmembers -- the best in the industry -- and I promise to get the right resources, tools and support for them going forward, so that they in turn can deliver the JetBlue Experience you have come to expect from us."

Congress is likely to bring this issue up when they debate any “Passenger Bill of Rights” proposals. Neeleman, and JetBlue, by admitting fault and developing a solution aimed to benefit their customer, took a great deal of future heat off of themselves should they face a Congressional inquiry or legislative hearing.