the ‘bee log

I’m a frequent flyer on JetBlue. My development team is located in Syracuse, NY. I’m located in New York City. I come up on average every three weeks to get face time with teammates, customers, and stakeholders. Luckily I didn’t have to fly last week, but, as a member of their frequent flyer program got an apology email from their CEO, David Neeleman, today. An excerpt:

We are sorry and embarrassed. But most of all, we are deeply sorry.
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Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for the anxiety, frustration and inconvenience that you experienced. This is especially saddening because JetBlue was founded on the promise of bringing humanity back to air travel and making the experience of flying happier and easier for everyone who chooses to fly with us. We know we failed to deliver on this promise to you last week.
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Most importantly, we have published the JetBlue Airways Customer Bill of Rights—our official commitment to you of how we will handle operational interruptions going forward—including details of compensation. I have a video message to share with you about this industry leading action.

Again, I didn’t have to fly last week so maybe my take is a bit skewed (admittedly this post could have taken a different tone had I planned on being on a beach in Aruba last week), but they’re doing the right thing and as someone who offers a service I can sympathize; there are times when things just don’t work out, unforeseen problems, ball drops, force majeure, etc.

The first thing to do in a customer-facing disaster is to be 100% transparent: accept accountability, communicate and execute necessary repairs, and restore operations as quickly as possible. JetBlue’s reaction is an excellent case study in how to not only deal with the aftermath of falling on your corporate face, but put yourself above the competition once you’re back up and standing.