Reading Response 4
After viewing the youtube video provided for us, I viewed several more videos and read some stories posted on the internet. The one I decided to use can be found at this link:
http://jetbluehostage.blogspot.com/2007/03/my-questions-for-neeleman.htm...
The thing that caught my eye on this website was how this was not a story of exactly what happened on the plane. It basically was a long list of questions to David Neeleman from someone that was stuck on a flight for 11 hours. Most of these questions were to make him think about what happened and tried to make him think of what it would be like to be in this situation. I liked the beginning where she starts off by asking him everything he did on Valentines Day. (“What time did you wake up on Valentine’s Day? Were you able to spend Valentines Day with your wife?”) After reviewing the rest of this website, I see many members put in input for these questions and there are many blogs about others experiences.
I can see right away my audience is still very upset, even several months after this debacle happened. My audience ranges from people that were just inconvenienced from this entire situation to people that had terrible experiences. The author tells a story about a man with chronic back pain that got worse by sitting on the plane for 11 hours, which later led to an epidural. I can see she is asking JetBlue what they are going to do to “compensate people’s physical and emotional pain?”
Apologize. In this situation I can not apologize enough. I need to address this audience knowing that this will be my only chance to ever have these people back as customers. I know they are mad so I will have to completely explain everything JetBlue is doing to compensate them. I will reassure to them that we will take care of everyone with a person by person basis and do everything we can to not lose them as valued customers.
Comments
Reply
The link you found to the blog is very interesting. The questions she poses are all pretty good. You have to wonder who found out and what they did on February 14th. I agree that the beginning of the questions directed at David Neeleman were a great attention getter. I’m sure if he read this a lot would be running through his head. It is very easy to see that in general people were very angered at this situation. JetBlue is very lucky that people were not seriously injured. A lot of people will have trouble trusting JetBlue again. Apology will be key in trying to gain some trust back.
Reply
I had been interested in reading some blogs about this situation. I like the link you found. Blogging has become an important part of life now. It can change peoples perspectives on things. I had not originally noted that these people would be missing valentine’s day. This day only happens once a year, and it is harder for JetBlue to compensate for this. There also needs to be special plans for people with disabilities like the guy you mention with the back pain. I agree with Kim that these questions for the CEO are a good attention getter and give you a good understanding of what these people were thinking.
Reply
I really hadn't thought about the travelers missing Valentine's Day either. I'm sure the travelers were even more upset about having to spend their time in an airport, rather than with their loved ones. I'm sure that added a lot more frustration to an already bad situation. I think compensation would be much more difficult for JetBlue with that factored in. I also think it would be difficult to compensate people with special situations, such as the man with the back pain. The company will never be able to fully please everyone. But, I guess they just have to do the best they can.
Interesting
I thought the blog you found was definitely and interesting perspective on this situation. It exemplified the fact that JetBlue could not just pass the blame off on the weather troubles, because customers are not buying it. These people blame JetBlue Airways and no one else for this mess, and they expect them to clean it up. An interesting point was brought up with the man who ended up needing an epidural. How were the people who suffered more than others going to be compensated? His particular situation might have been avoided had they allowed him to lay down in the airport terminal instead of sitting on a cramped airplane seat for hours upon end.
Questions
I really like the blog you choose, because it shows how this customer feels that they haven't received direct and open access to the corporation. This is written by a person that wishes they could sit Neeleman down and make him answer for the crisis. Clearly, for this writer, the video apology was not enough. There is extreme anger in the post, but more than that, the feeling that the corporation has not been accessible to the public or responsible for its actions.