Why JetBlue is Different

The challenges with JetBlue over the past week have been well documented especially here in the Northeast.  A company prided on customer service blew it.  IT has also received much of the blame.  So how did they respond?  The company immediately created a customer bill of rights, they took out a full page ads in some of the nation's largest newspapers to apologize, they emailed their frequent flyer members to say sorry, and the CEO, in typical web 2.0 fashion, posted a very humbling YouTube video.

Many companies respond very differently in difficult circumstances.  Blame on employees, deflection to unruly customers, finger-pointing to partners and contractors...the list goes on.  It's how they persevere that really matters and what truly differentiates those unique companies.  I think JetBlue actually turned a negative into a positive.  I actually heard one story on the radio where a couple of JetBlue pilots took a $300+ taxi ride to upstate NY to retrieve a idle airplane and get it back into service.  JetBlue could teach the rest of the airline industry a lesson!  (Actually, I think they are...unfortunately the rest of the industry isn't listening.)

Comments

[bkutik]

Jet Blue has done perfect Crisis Management 101. Right up there with J&J's handling of the Tylanol poisoning crisis years ago. I hope their passenger bill of rights pressures the other airlines to adopt similar measures, so airline travel stops feeling like being cattle headed to the slaughterhouse.

[jeff nolan]

I thought "tylenol" too... deal with the immediate crisis, in their case some very angry customers, and then focus on getting to the solution that caused the crisis. What's interesting about their long term plan is that they are getting ahead of the curve with their bill of rights but investing considerable resources in operational planning to resolve the systemic issues that brought on the problem.

I'll wait and see how they do before fully restoring my favorable opinion of JetBlue. Southwest, by contrast, faced similar weather issues and did not experience the same problems, and point of fact, Southwest has had the equivalent of a bill of rights represented in their culture.