Reading Response 3
JetBlue's crisis is an interesting situation. I still do not exactly understand how this extreme problem could happen to such a large airliner. Storms happen everywhere and it's strange that any airliner would not have plans for when such situations arise. I don't think JetBlue acted in an effective way. They obviousl delayed many people and caused a great backup of passengers. The most effective thing is to have everyone fly out on their designated flights at their designated times. This isn't always practical, but would be ideal. Therefore any variation from this ideal situation would be less then effective.
JetBlue says that they focus on customer service and that they make flying more affordable and comfortable for passengers. I don't understand how a company who focuses so heavily on customer service can react to the situation to poorly. I believe that in someways JetBlue did not act ethically. They did not provide people with the whole and entire truth in the situation. Many times because the employees did not know the answers, but when the truth is not being shared, the company is not being entirely ethical.
I plan to work on next weeks assignments by combining the things that were mentioned in the ethics readings with my own personal opinion on the situation. Hopefully the Luntz reading will help me to word my letter in such a way that my points are accurately expressed, but no one is offended. Therefore it would have the best chance of actually making an impact if someone where to read it.
Comments
Reading Response
I completely agree with you. I couldn't believe that an airline wouldn't have a plan of action for problems like weather. Weather is very unpredictable and will always affect transportation especially airlines. I believe that JetBlue should have communicated with their passengers in a more effective way. Having employees who didn't know anything try to communicate with the passengers wasn't effective. Telling the passengers to call a number that was constantly busy was also not effective. JetBlue wasn't ethical because they weren't providing the truth. Telling the passengers, "I'm sorry but I don't know what is going on right now either. I will let you know more when I know more." would have been more honest and effective than telling them to call a busy number. JetBlue should have gone about this situation in a more effective manner and hopefully will be prepared if bad weather affects them again.
Reading Response 3:comment
I also cannot believe that a company like JetBlue could get itself in this bind. I expect this out of an amateur company or small privately owned business. I agree with you on how a company, who focuses on customer service could react to a crisis in such a deceitful way. JetBlue did not have ethics when they lied to the customers involved in this chaos. Truth is one the main ideas when considering following an ethics code, must of us learn to tell the truth early in life.
Comment
I also think that the situation could have been handled better. How an airliner like JetBlue originally did not have a crisis plan just boggles my mind. If an original plan was set on how to handle a crisis situation, there would not have been stranded passengers and angry customers. The airline must have watched the radar and been aware of what was coming, so why did they not address the situation sooner? I really think the company is lucky that it is still alive and doing well after such a mess. I only hope they learned from their mistakes!
Hang on
I dont completely agree with your statements. I dont understand where JetBlue acted completely unethical. While they may not have handled the situation perfectly, I do not see how they were unethical. I remember reading where some of the JetBlue staff actually went around an collected business cards to follow up with the customers that were waiting. That is pretty impressive considering the circumstances. Things are much easier said then done now that we are seeing the situation from this perspective. I disagree completely with putting the entire blame on JetBlue. I thought that Neeleman acted extremely professional and took all of the blame even when it could have gone else where.
comment
I do not agree with you when you say that JetBlue did not manage the crisis effectively. First of all, the company could not imagine a storm with such magnitude that caused this problem, the weather is something that is our of their control. Other airlines, like American, also cancelled their flights. I read somewhere that American cancelled 200 flights. Secondly, JetBlue is a company whose business is based on their customer relations image. This is why they had to think about their actions, since they could not afford to lose this image since this would make them exactly the same as their competition. JetBlue did manage the crisis effectively due to Mr. Neelman's statement and the development of the customer bill of rights, since they did not lose their image which in the end is what counts the most.