Reading Response Week 3
After reading several articles about the JetBlue crisis, I found it rather difficult to assess the way the company handled the situation. At times it seemed like the company did a good job, but at others it seemed to me like they could have handled it a lot better. It is understandable that the terrible weather that occurred at JFK airport would cause many delays, as it did. However, I feel that a company in the airline business should have some sort of a bad weather plan, because it is always a factor in the business. As soon as the weather begins to cause massive amounts of cancelled flights, the company should already have additional equipment rerouted to the affected area so that normal business operations can continue as quickly as possible. Basically, they should be able to do in one day what they would normally do in two to get back on track. Also, I can understand the reason for delaying a flight on the runway so that it can leave as soon it is cleared for takeoff, but the fact that the equipment used to tow the planes froze to the ground seems pretty ridiculous to me. If the conditions were that bad, they should know that there is no way for a plane to takeoff and it should have returned to the terminal to let the passengers off. As these passengers exited the plane at the terminal, a representative of the company should have been there to greet them with as much information as possible about future flights and accommodations for their extended stay. Vouchers to nearby hotels would be best. Since so many people were affected by this situation, however, I’m sure all nearby hotels had been booked. Therefore, other arrangements should be made for a cot in the airport at least. JetBlue did make it valiant efforts to communicate with its customers (the man with the megaphone was a great idea). Unfortunately, the phone lines were continuously tied up, which only caused the situation to escalate. Despite all the things that went wrong, I like the way the company responded. Creating the Customer Bill of Rights went a long way to show commitment to customer service. I think that people will respond to that.
In terms of ethics, I think JetBlue did what it could. They are in the business of transporting their passengers from point A to B. Without this, there would be no company. Therefore, I do not blame them for attempting to conduct business and fly those planes out of there. Unfortunately for them, that did not happen. They made a business decision and dealt with the problems later. Although the company lost a lot of money from all of this, it shows that they care about their passengers, because it was the company who was spending money to accommodate the passengers.
From the Luntz reading, I have learned that having a motto that accurately reflects your company policy while also appealing to consumers goes a long way. I hope to come up with one to use in my own documents that reflect the attitude of the company. I feel that consistency in this situation is important as long as the company also shows the ability to offer something new when need be. This will be a major focus for me. The values I will focus on have already been presented to me in previous readings from the JetBlue articles both provided and researched individually.
Comments
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I agree that there were times that the company seemed like it was doing all that it could and other times that they could have done a lot more. When it comes to the days of the events I believe that there was a lot more that could have been done. The most of what could have been done probably would have been done in advance. There should have been a plan on how to handle that sort of situation and a faster response to the weather conditions. After the crisis I believe that the CEO of JetBlue handled the situation very well, but many things could have probably been avoided if they would have had a plan of action in the first place.
Planning Ahead
I also wrote in my blog about the necessity of planning ahead for all situations. I would think that an airline company would already have disaster plans especially with the weather and how unpredictable it can be at times. I think their communication is one thing that needs to be worked on in future plans. The employees from JetBlue that spoke to the passengers in the airport directed them to call a phone number that was always busy. This didn't help the passengers because they didn't have any new information or any information at all.
I think you already have great ideas for your press release. I also liked knowing your values before making a decision and I will be using this same advice in my own writings. I am also going to look at my decision from different angles to see how others would react.
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The video of the CEO seemed to be very heartfelt and honest. However, this came after they had received a lot of criticism from the media. It would have made more sense to me if this apology would have come sooner. Some people like to think any news is good news. I really don’t feel that in this case. I wouldn’t be against every flying JetBlue, because after such a disaster I do not see them letting something like this happen again, but other people may feel differently. I think a lot of the passengers would have felt better about the situation if they would have been receiving new information about what was happening. The combination of being stuck at the airport, and not knowing what was going on must have been hard.
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It really surprised me that Jet blue did not have an action plan in place for a bad weather crisis like this. I think they tried to do as much as they could have. Bringing people in from the corporate office to help out was a really smart thing to do. I think it comforted the passengers a lot knowing that there were people to listen. The video form the CEO was also very well done, you could hear serious regret in his voice and he had a plan of what he was going to do to rectify the situation.
The one thing I think they did not do a good job on was the website. In today’s world having a well updated website is very important and failing to do that created a lot of chaos which could have otherwise been avoided.
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I too also thought the CEO’s apology was very sincere and meaningful. But I still do not think his apology should be a means for the company to get off easy. I am sure there have been countless times where employees have made one mistake, but since the repercussions of that error were so great it cost them their job. Of course they are going to apologize to their boss but nine times out of ten he or she could care less. The same concept applies here only the CEO recognized his faults and stepped aside for someone else he thought was better for the job. It also could have been the pressure he was getting by the media to step as well but it is hard to tell.
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I agree with the idea that the media scrutiny and pressure they put on the CEO was a contributing factor for the reason he resigned. Too often people in the media try to see one side of the story and not take a look at the whole picture. I gurantee you the people at JetBlue were sitting and watching the news knowing how biased the media was against them. Then in response to the outrage by the passengers, the media, and the people watching the situation unfold lead to developing a bill of rights and having the CEO step aside. I wish the media would show both sides of a situation but that will probably never happen.