Reading Response Week #4
The conditions costumers had to go through in the JetBlue crisis were appalling. The video shown in yotube shows how, even inside the airport, things were uncomfortable for everyone. I can say from experience that every time I travel, deep inside I fear that will happen. As I learned with chapter 1, we must be sure that we know the audience in order to give the information in the right context. In order to communicate properly we must understand what the other party has been through and then come up with the position they want us to assume.
Knowing all these, and getting myself in the position of the customers who went through that horrible time, I would be able to get to them in an efficient way. After watching the video and the one you may see find in the link at the bottom, we can find anxiety, uncomforting, lack of patience and trust to the company. It is funny how they take everything as a joke, but their tone shows their position. They know the horrible moment they’re going through and they are blaming the company for it.
The only way to get them to hear and give a second chance is to be humble at every time. They want to feel supported once again by the airline (something they didn’t feel during the crisis). Apologies can sound in many different ways depending on the context. Being humble when writing the JetBlue’s apologies, they will seem sincere.
Comments
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Being humble is important. I agree in that these customers need to feel the company’s sincere apology and gain trust in the company. Hundreds of people were stranded and felt like they were just tossed back and forth never finding answers. It is important for a company to be sure to always keep customers informed of what is going on and be sure that the customers stay happy. Now, no one is happy with delays but I think that if the customer service was more helpful and the lines weren’t hours long with no reply, most of the customers could have later understood. Instead these customers left angry and some may still be angry.
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Indeed, communication is what makes the world go around. But when there is lack of such a thing, it can have disasterous results as what JetBlue experienced. Now granted the weather played a big role in it but the failure to exchange important information between individuals played an even bigger role. It was no surprise to me that the passengers were joking around. What was done was done and being livid for hours on end was not going to change anything nor would it be healthy. They tried to make the best of things in the middle of a crisis. Personally, it would be very difficult for me to do such a thing if I was in their shoes.
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Actually I had the same thought when I watched those videos. I’ve had two experiences that have proven me that I wouldn’t have gotten any fun time out of that crisis. The worst one happened in a flight that started in Guayaquil-Ecuador, I had to wait in Miami and then take a flight to Chicago. Because of bad weather (storm) they made us wait for about 4 hours. It was horrible! I felt I was going crazy!! I never spoke to anyone and just sat there with an attitude that kept anyone from coming near me. With that experience I can get an idea of what they must have felt after so many hours and their flights cancelled. I just admire but at the same time get very confused with their patience and excellent sense of humor.
Reading Response (4) Comment
Humble is an excellent tone to take when writing the letter. Being humble implies sincerity and a sense of reliability. Sincerity is important because you don't want your letter to come off as fake emotions. I think like you mentioned, understanding where our audience is coming from, the feelings that they felt, and really understanding what they went through will help create a genuinely humble tone. Also, I liked how you mentioned that the letter should show support. I never thought about this. However, in the video that I choose to post, was of a man and a women who were complaining about being told different information from different people and they specifically said that everyone in charge keeps disappearing. They felt abandoned when they needed those people most, they obviously weren't feeling supported by the upper management of Jet Blue! Interesting Point!
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Thank you!! It’s good being able to add another position costumers assumed in that difficult time. This is in fact the most negative feeling since they felt abandoned by the company itself. The weather had nothing to do with the fact that JetBlue left them without the information they had the right to know. Not considering that sentiment when deciding the context of my letter would have been a big mistake. In my letter I won’t fail to add the acceptance of that mistake and the proper apologies to solve it. I am sure that was the harder thing to cover for jetblue since the consequences from that relied in the trust costumers would have in the airline in the future. Thanks again for the comment!
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Wow thats a great point! I did notice this, but I never really thought about it this way. It was not the storm that JetBlue customers were mad at. I would imagine they were irritated by the storm, but every airline had cancellations and delays. The customers made the huge deal about this because the company would not give anyone a straight answer. If JetBlue would have just brought the planes to the terminal or canceled flights instead of leaving passengers on them, they could have dodged this situation. I think if the upper management is striving for customer service and wants to run with the big airlines, they should follow the big name airlines moves in disasters
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I agree that it is extremely important to sound humble to the customer. However, I also feel it is important to be confident. If a company sounds like the made a mistake and keeps mulling over it, a customer will feel like it will happen again. Sounding apologetic and humble is great, but you must not forget to speak of how JetBlue is still proud of the employees within the company and the great job they are doing. I think it might be wise to speak of specific instances within JetBlue where employees reached out to help others. Also, a larger compensation would be key for someone who took the time to write into a company with their complaints. I would also state the action plans that are in place to make sure this situation never happens again. And I agree with you, Chapter 1 is very important in this project.