Reading Response (4)
I found a video on YouTube filled by a college age student and three of his friends while going through the termoil of the snow storms with JetBlue. It took him two and half days to get from JFK in New York to Sacramento California. I understand why he was angry at JetBlue and the reason for his complaints in the video. He did mention the Customer Bill of Rights and how he was going to get a refund for his ticket, but he said that he was not going to get a refund for the two extra nights of hotel rooms he and his buddies had stay. It was interesting to see what he was willing to do just to get home. I did not matter who would have a flight home, they would have taken it. It was interesting to see how someone who was stuck on the plain and in the airport slowly starts to change how they feel about an airline as times goes on.
After reading about context and rhetoric, I started to realize how important the information was in using it to convey the message to your audience. I found it very useful when re-writing my press release and also my cover letter. It taught me how to shape my letters to fit my audience and make them more interested in my topic.
The audience I will be writing to are the passengers who were effected by this JetBlue problem, and were just wanted a nice easy day of travel to their destination of joice. I think that one of the most important parts of this letter is the tone that I choose to use. I want to use a tone that lets them know that JetBlue and myself are both very sorry for this inconvience, but also at the same time have the sound of confidence to let them know that JetBlue has a plan so that this disaster will never happen again to its passenger. I want to provide sympathy for them, but provide them with the confidence so they will fly with JetBlue in the near future. I think that conveying the message of reliability of JetBlue is the key and letting them know that we can bounce back from a disaster and showing them how so by providing the Bill of Rights and other usefull information.
Comments
Reply
It is important for us to learn about the rhetoric context now since most of us are going to enter the job scene in the next couple years. This is a very important learning tool that can help anyone regardless of their occupation. It stressesjust how significant the role of an audience has when developing a context since the writer has to cater to them in order for the parts of speech to flow and make sense. I am also approaching the letter similarly to how you are in that I will include a sincere apology and at the same time reinstate the credibility the company had before the week of February 12th.
Response
I agree with your point of view of this situation for the most part. The context and rhetorc in which you choose to write is immensely important to the way in which you want to be recieved by whomever is reading your literature. In my opinion, you are taking a solid, believable approach to your letter, and not promising the world. This is very smart. People are not going to believe you just because you want them to; you have to offer some sort of reassurance that does not sound just like you are making empty promises and apologies. You should definitely include the Customer Bill of Rights in your letter so that your readers know what steps you are taking to make their situation better.
Comment
I can understand why this student was angry as well. A two and a half day journey would be frustrating for anyone. Since I live in the Sacramento area and frequently fly in and out of the Sacramento airport, I can relate to the frustrations these students experienced. There is not a direct flight to Sacramento on any airline coming from the east, and the flights that do go to Sacramento are rare in the first place. Any traveler going to Sacramento is very concerned with delays; personally I have had to wait in airports for several hours because my previous flight was late. I find it disconcerting that they were not reimbursed for their additional hotel stay. It was my understanding that airlines were required to pay for hotel and food after delaying passengers for a certain number of hours. I think you have a nice outline for your letter. However, I don’t believe it is possible to say that this won’t happen to another passenger. Rather that jetBlue is working hard to limit the effect passengers would feel in the event that a similar situation happens in the future.
comment
I totallly agree with what you have written. I really like the point where you mention that the tone should be apologetic but at the same time be confident. If the tone is too humble the customers will get an idea that the company is just being apologetic but doesnt have the right spirit to improve it further. The customers are definitely angry over the mess that had been created due to which they had to spend so much extra money and time. I think that you should include in the letter an extra point of providing more benefits to such customers, maybe providing them with an additional voucher which they could redeem when they fly again with jetBlue. This will also help in giving them insentive to fly with jetBlue again and experience the better service.
response
You bring up a very interesting point that I have not seen others talk about. You said that the letter must be apologetic AND confident. This is very true. You mentioned that a customer was upset even though the bill of rights had compensated. I think that JetBlue should go ahead and take care of all extra travel expenses. Yes, it will be expensive, but it will be more expensive trying to get new customers opposed to retaining old or current ones. It is commendable that are you learning things to re-write some of the documents you have. I think that seeing things from a new perspective will prove to be very beneficial in the future.