A colleague of mine commented to me after reading my blog post about the dopey invitation that JetBlue sent me a couple of days ago that it seems that JetBlue keeps loading the gun and handing it to me.
Yep. Any company that lives by slick marketing will ultimately get hoisted with its own petard.
In its ongoing effort to TALK about how wonderful it is, rather than actually BE wonderful, JetBlue has created a microsite called "Happy Jetting", which is their marketing slogan du jour.One of the pages on the "Happy Jetting" web site is called "Jetting Cares" and it reads as follows (I am NOT making this up):
"At JetBlue we believe happiness is a whole lot better than grouchiness, anger and unhappiness. We believe that happy crewmembers lead to happy customers. We believe that listening isn't hard to do. We believe that while air travel always has its unexpected bumps, our job is to keep improving the ride. And we believe that when you add that kind of common sense to 35,000 feet, you make air travel something it hasn't been in a long time: enjoyable."
Now, this statement must be parsed. Bear with me:
- At JetBlue we believe happiness is a whole lot better than grouchiness, anger and unhappiness.
OK, we accept that you believe that. Who wouldn't? It's common sense. We all believe that too. We're with ya'!
- We believe that happy crewmembers lead to happy customers.
Uh oh. Sounds good, but what about the poor JetBlue employee that I had to deal with at the ticket counter in Portland when you cancelled my flight and told me I could fly in three days? THAT guy was so unhappy, you could taste it. He actually said to me that he wished there was a supervisor there, but it was 5:00 AM and they run a skeleton crew in Portland so, sorry, but he was almost as miserable as I was.
- We believe that listening isn't hard to do.
Big trouble here. That same employee was not EMPOWERED to listen. He could only say two things to the planeload of stranded customers: "Partial refund or wait three days for the next flight." That's ALL he kept saying because that's all he was allowed to say by JetBlue. Listening was NEVER part of the equation. And the corporate relations person who called me a couple of weeks ago kept reciting from the "Contract of Carriage" as if it were the Talmud. She "heard" what I was saying, but she was never really "listening".
- We believe that while air travel always has its unexpected bumps, our job is to keep improving the ride.
"Unexpected bumps?" Bad weather is an unexpected bump. Mechanical problems are unexpected bumps. Stranding 150 people for three days in an airport with no food or lodging because you are selling a product that you can not properly service - that is somewhere between a "bump" and an "egregious abdication of any corporate responsibility to the customer."
- And we believe that when you add that kind of common sense to 35,000 feet, you make air travel something it hasn't been in a long time: enjoyable.
Yeah, well, I can't really comment on this one since the closest I got to 35,000 feet with JetBlue was the escalator up to the ticket counter, where I was told, in essence, to "f-off." To find out what it was like to enjoy anything at 35,000 feet, I had to buy a one-way ticket home for $1,000 on Delta Airlines.
So there you have it. More marketing pablum from a company that talks a great game, but forgets the essential part of any customer experience is actually providing the product that you sold to the customer.
As Hamlet (or was it Homer?) said: "D'oh!"
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7 comments:
There had to have been a supervisor there as a station does not run with just gate agents there. I'm pretty sure his poor attitude was a result of a plane load of people yelling at him all night and probably acting like animals. There was nothing he could do at that point. It was 5am and all the flights were full for the next few days. What exactly do you want him to do at that moment? This is the chance you take when flying. Flights cancel. Thats life. It is impossible to ensure that every city has a spare plane and crew waiting on standby in the event a flight cancels or breaks. This is a ridiculous thought and no airline does this, unless you are at base.
Wow. This anonymous poster shows the same lack of understanding, empathy and common sense that has brought the airlines to the point they are now. If this person works for JetBlue, or any other airline, and actually believes what he/she has typed here, things really are hopeless.
No sir you are the one who does not seem to understand the way things work. Airlines do not just decide they are going to screw the passengers because they feel like it. Why would they do that?? This costs them money. Do you really think that they wanted to cancel your flight? Do you think the employee wanted to be there until 5am being yelled at? NO. There is only so much one can do. I'm sure if there was room on the flights in the following days everyone would have been rebooked easily. Unfortunately in the summertime the load factor on all flights are almost 100%. This makes it virtually impossible to rebook flights when there are no empty seats. Cancelling a flight costs a lot of money. Especially when it is a full flight. I do understand the frustration of being on the other end of this as it has happened to me many times. Its the chance you take when flying. With the weather how it has been this summer, especially in the NY area, it just makes travel miserable. However, taking it out on people who have no control over it is not fair either. A majority of the traveling public have become tragic as of late. People are selfish and greedy and believe they are entitled to everything, meanwhile the fares they pay are ridiculously low. This doesnt just apply to the airline industry. People need to learn respect and how to treat others. Sorry for going off on a tangent but its true. I have worked with the general public for the past 15 years and it just keeps getting worse. I try to treat all employees the way I want to be treated. However when you get people who do not think as such is when you get disgruntled employees. Sorry for your bad situation but suing in small claims court is probably not going to get very far. Good Luck in your endeavor.
If you have read the entire blog, you'll find that we agree on certian points. One of them is that airfares MUST go up if the airlines are to survive. I would rather pay an increased fare if it means that an airline has a better chance of getting me to my destination. If we can not afford the increased fares, tough luck on us. We also can not afford caviar, BMWs and fine wine, but I do not see BMW compromising its quality and brand so that they can lower prices. Things cost what they cost.
And, for the record, I personally did not abuse any JetBlue employees, nor did I see anyone else doing so (except the guy who told the pilot that announced the flight cancellation that it was "bullsh*t")
My fight is with management, who seems quite tone-deaf. The employees are just doing their jobs.
However, you really seem to totally miss the point about being able to deliver the service the airlines have pre-sold to customers. And JetBlue has an especially acute problem because of its marketing and brand efforts. More on that in a new post coming later toady or tomorrow.
Thanks for your comments, though.
I did not think you were one of the ones who would abuse an employee of any company. However, I see it daily in the airline industry. I'm sure you weren't standing right there to hear everything that transpired between each customer and gate agent that night. I have read some of your blog. Of course there are ridiculous things that management of any company creates, when in fact they don't work in the environment that these policies are created for. Often it seems they just sit in their offices and make stuff up out of thin air. However, a flight cancellation due to weather is not something that they or anyone else can prevent. I am sure that if a person traveling on your flight who opted not to take a later flight, would have indeed gotten a refund if they wanted. If there were other flights open to rebook passengers, everyone would have been accomodated. Unfortunately there wasn't any seats for a few days. It is a huge inconvenience and a pain, but weather is not something we have control over. Lowering the fares does not change the brand at all, it just attracts a less desirable clientle. Upping the fares wouldn't prevent this situation from occuring again. However, YES fares need to be raised. Its ridiculous already. I will have to check out your other postings soon. Oh and by the way....Happy Jetting is stupid
I am sure that if a person traveling on your flight who opted not to take a later flight, would have indeed gotten a refund if they wanted. If there were other flights open to rebook passengers, everyone would have been accomodated.
Airlines use this argument all the time and it drives me crazy! They make this claim as if booking a flight for the same day would cost the same as the previous flight booked weeks in advance.
Yes, one could receive a refund on the previous flight, which may have been booked for say $300 on a 21-day advance fare. But a ticket on a same-day fare would cost easily over a thousand dollars!
Hardly a fair trade.
And the airlines know this perfectly well, which is what makes that argument so dishonest.
I was stating that if anyone wanted, they could have received a refund instead of traveling days later. It doesn't matter what they would or could have done, nobody would ever be happy anyway. By the way it would not cost over $1000 for a walk up same day fare at Jetblue.
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