The JetBlues

The snow has melted away here in New York, but Jet Blue's troubles haven't. The low-cost air carrier's struggles with flight cancellations during the winter storm have made headlines and led many to speculate whether the popular airline can recover from its blunders, which include leaving passengers on the runway for up to 11 hours. (A friend who was stranded on one JetBlue flight remarked that he overheard another passenger proclaim, “I can’t eat another Terra Blue chip!”)

While watching the local news, I saw an interview in which a marketing consultant said JetBlue could recover from the damage if it properly made amends with its customers, many of whom were loyal JetBlue flyers. The trick, however, would be how willing the airline is to go above and beyond to win
customers back. Instead of doing what’s expected, such as refunding or crediting the ticket prices, the consultant recommended JetBlue do something like provide a few hundred free miles equivalent to the number of hours a passenger had to wait.

I agree with the consultant that JetBlue has to do something more than just refund people’s money, or even offer free tickets—that’s the least they can do. A brand built largely through word-of-mouth buzz from happy consumers must work harder to win back business. I don’t really know what that solution is—More than one voucher for a free ticket? A million frequent flyer miles? Some extra snacks on their next flight?—but what I do know is that a company’s resolve is measured less by how they act during the good times, than how they react in a crisis. I do believe JetBlue can bounce back if they remember to stay on top of the customer focus that has served them so well in the past.

Comments

[hollywood bistro]

It tells something good. Like an important message.

[Daniel Felsted]

In January taught a class on management. I shared with them lectures from Duke's Fuqua Business School Distinguished Speakers series (http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/itunes/).

Each CEO talked about ethics, honesty, & integrity. Throughout the class and in their comments after words the students said that they didn’t realize how important ethics, honesty, & integrity.

If these qualities are part of the person/organization it shows through in the actions of its people and leaders.

The question that begs to be asked is… What are the allegiances of those people or businesses whose don’t play by these rules to?

There are only four choices:
• to self
• to others
• to evil
• to good

I, for one, am glad to see such stand-up examples of good! We need them and so do our customers.

[Ron Hayes]

As would be expected, JetBlue has provided refunds to customers to the tune of close to $30 million and the world is singing their praises. However, according to an article in the Boston Globe, what really seems to have amazed everyone the most is that CEO, David Neeleman, came right out and admitted failure, accepted personal responsibility and apologized. Something so simple has the industry abuzz with accolades. Just goes to show how simple courtesy and honesty are missing so much that when a CEO demonstrates it clearly, the whole world takes notice. A lesson for us all - if you want to truly have an impact, start with the fundamentals of honesty, courtesy and compassion.

[Daniel Felsted]

I have no doubt that JetBlue will take care of their customers. Nigel Adams proudly told of another time of crisis when JetBlue employees took it upon themselves get their customers to their destination and considerable cost to JetBlue. They shined them they will shine again.

Another thing to remember is when a company is customer focused and the customer feels it they will forgive mistakes much more readily than when a company doesn’t have loyal customers.

In the past, JetBlue has done what was right by the customer. I believe they will continue even though such mishaps happen.

[Ron Hayes]

I think sometimes, we as marketers get too caught up in our own world to focus on why a particular customer base is so loyal to a company. JetBlue offers a fairly distinct service to many destinations that their competitors don't offer and they do it for a reasonable fare. To say that JetBlue is going to have to go way out of its way to keep its customer base happy is forgetting the reason these customers are so loyal in the first place. While it would be a wonderful example of their continued focus on the customer if they do something more than provide refunds, the main focus should be on continuing to offer the services that attracted their customers in the first place. It's like Walmart - people continually talk about how much they hate Walmart but Walmart continues to rake in the dough because they give their customer base what they want - low prices.