by Shashank Nigam | February 14th, 2010
It’s the long weekend in many countries. Canada, US, most of Asia-Pacific are on a holiday. Yet, it’s very nice to see that airlines are listening. Chris Brogan tweeted today that he’d pay JetBlue $7,200 for one year of unlimited flying “pass”. And @JetBlue immediately replied that they’re “listening”.
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Somewhere else on Twitterland, Christi Day of Southwest Airlines was dealing with an outburst from @TheKevinSmith, on Valentine’s Day eve, which finally involved Southwest’s VP calling Smith personally.
Though these may seem like normal twitter conversations, to me they reflect a paradigm shift in the way airlines have started to deal with their customers. It wasn’t too long ago, where I had to print out and post a letter to an airline for a missed-connection claim, because their email inbox was full! And the matter took over 5mths to get resolved (in the end, I didn’t get my $$).
JetBlue and Southwest have both been beacons of change in the industry, and they’ve shown a more human side of airlines – generally considered faceless corporations. Kudos to their efforts to connect with the customer directly, and truly listen. I think it shows where the future of customer service is heading.
What do you think? Has your favorite airline been listening to you lately?
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15 Responses to “Chris Brogan tweets, JetBlue replies. Kevin Smith is upset. Southwest VP calls him. The common man speaks. The airline brand listens.”
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Twitter gives us the opportunity to see what REALLY matters to our Customers. In a way focus groups, surveys, etc sometimes can't show us. The passion that unfolded around our particular situation last night, was no doubt challenging to respond to. However, it allows us the opportunity to address an obviously deeper issue, on a broader scale, with more ears listening. Like you posted, we've reached out via Twitter and phone to Mr. Smith. Hopefully, we'll have a chance to speak with him and personally apologize for his experience.
Great post, as always!
Christi
February 14th, 2010 at 4:16 pmAlmost a year and a half ago I found myself stuck in NYC for a photoshoot with no luggage on a flight from Orlando to NYC. The on-site staff were not helpful in the least, I was freezing my tushie off (Orlando –> NYC is a significant temp change) and they wouldn't give me any sort of help until it had been 24 hours or so that my luggage was MIA. My bag included all of my clothing for my 6 am call the next morning. It was 9 pm when I arrived.
I tweeted my plight, and others did too – eventually I got a response from @JetBlue who helped me to find my luggage and also reimbursed me for the extra $200 bucks I spent in cabs on a wild goose chase that I was sent on trying to find my luggage. That was a year and a half ago. I realized how powerful Twitter was at that time. Now I wonder if a tweet to the same effect would get the same response. Twitter has changed a lot in the past 1.5 years. Would my situation, now that the landscape of Twitter has changed and usage become more common, still get any attention? I would hope so. Only time will tell if airlines and other companies will continue to listen to the masses via these social media mediums, and not just those with extreme amounts of influence.
It's all about how you treat the little folks that counts.
February 14th, 2010 at 5:06 pmKudos Jet Blue and Southwest Airlines for listening. For showing all of us that this industry is all about people. People who fly on airplanes and people who make it possible, be it flight and cabin crews, maintenance, ground staff, etc. A fact that has been forgotten by legacy airlines as they became bigger and bigger and lost sight of what their mission was, is and will always be; fly people safely and conveniently from one point to another.
February 14th, 2010 at 7:26 pmhe is very upset very sad everyone having deelings
February 14th, 2010 at 10:20 pm[...] Chris Brogan tweets, JetBlue replies. Kevin Smith is upset. Southwest VP calls him. The common man s… (simpliflying.com) [...]
February 15th, 2010 at 2:17 amYeah, Kevin Smith seems to be on a Twitter rampage! I hope Christi's
February 15th, 2010 at 1:24 amand Southwest's efforts pacify him soon.
Well Christi, kudos to you and your team for so patiently and
February 15th, 2010 at 1:27 amdedicatedly handling such issues, again and again. Your efforts give
me examples I can share with a lot more airlines around the world,
most of whom have “chickened out” when confronted with the possibility
of a situation like the one you're handling.
@Erika, your is a story so many of us can relate too. I'm sure most of
February 15th, 2010 at 1:51 amthe frequent travelers would have lost their bags at one point or the
other. The important point to note though, is that you were responded
to immediately by @JetBlue on Twitter as well. And the treatment is
not just limited to “celebrity bloggers” or tweeters. And that's where
the paradigm shift is happening. Yes, it's with the celebrities
airlines probably learn their lessons and ways, but it's the common
man they ultimately benefit.
[...] has to be a happy medium for both sides. While its true that some of us have a more powerful voice then others, its clear companies are starting to listen. Once upon a time [...]
February 15th, 2010 at 8:10 am[...] in apologizing if you’re in the wrong. The least United can do is to learn from the likes of Southwest Airlines and JetBlue – remember the famous video apology by then CEO David [...]
March 9th, 2010 at 2:37 pm[...] the Kevin Smith incident? Where he was booted off a Southwest Airlines plane for not being able to fit in the seat? Well, [...]
May 24th, 2010 at 2:54 pm[...] In our hyper-social word, these incidents, while not Toyotas or BPs, can seriously wound businesses and brands that are not sure and secure, like a Song, or a United even (guitars can break the brand some). Southwest encountered Kevin Smith. [...]
June 3rd, 2010 at 5:11 pm[...] In our hyper-social word, these incidents, while not Toyotas or BPs, can seriously wound businesses and brands that are not sure and secure, like a Song, or a United even (guitars can break the brand some). Southwest encountered Kevin Smith. [...]
June 3rd, 2010 at 6:10 pm[...] In our hyper-social word, these incidents, while not Toyotas or BPs, can seriously wound businesses and brands that are not sure and secure, like a Song, or a United even (guitars can break the brand some). Southwest encountered Kevin Smith. [...]
June 3rd, 2010 at 6:37 pm[...] In our hyper-social word, these incidents, while not Toyotas or BPs, can seriously wound businesses and brands that are not sure and secure, like a Song, or a United even (guitars can break the brand some). Southwest encountered Kevin Smith. [...]
June 3rd, 2010 at 8:38 pm