Jetblue's CEO David Neeleman's Blog

Paul Kedrotsky reminded me that Jetblue's CEO has a blog. Would be a great opportunity to use it to blunt the criticism about hte company's poor response in recent days to bad weather and operational snafus. However, it hasn't been updated since 1 February:

[from 2007 Takes Off in the Right Direction]

[...]

We are turning our business around and proving that you can bring humanity back to air travel, keep the fares low and still be profitable. Plus, we are constantly looking for innovative ways to deliver an even better experience and product.

Yeah, but maybe you should think about something more than legroom.

But the real lesson here is the lost opportunity to use this medium to advantage. The company has this one-lung approach -- the sock puppet CEO blog, probably written by the marketing communication people (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) -- and meanwhile the chance to head off the PR disaster is lost because the blog setup is so phony they don't even consider it as a meaningful way to talk to the community of Jetblue users.

tags: jetblue, paul+kedrotsky, sock+puppet+blog, blogging, corporate+blogging, social+media

Comments

[DofAM]

How true. What a dud. They definitely need to be using the blog to communicate what's happening, the challenges they're facing and what they intend to do about it. Crisis PR 101.

[Gerald Buckley]

I'm with you! At least give folks the ability to provide input/comments (even if it's heckling).

[Dave Madison]

Any idea the percentage of JetBlue's passengers even know JetBlue has a blog, reads a blog, or even knows what a blog is? I think JetBlue is probably better served, from an ROI perspective, to continue to manage this crisis through traditional PR means. Not saying the blog wouldn't help, the return on the investment is probably marginal at best.

[Shannon Clark]

Stowe - if you take a look the blog has been updated with the same message which was sent out to all JetBlue customers (I flew from SF to NYC Monday night - wasn't directly impacted by their problems of last week/weekend however)

see http://jetblue.com/about/ourcompany/flightlog/index.html

Shannon

[Don Raimondi]

While it may have been egregious to be stuck for 12 to 6 hours, that’s nothing with compared to threatening lethal force to a toddler with a missing suitcase.

JetBlue Now Harasses Women with young children – The New Passenger Bill of Rights already defunct- Files false police reports, felony impersonation of Federal Agents Oversteps their authority….

My wife Martha, young daughters (Sara 4 & Liora 20 months), Mother-In-Law (Michele) and I flew JetBlue from JFK, NY into West Palm Beach, Fl (PBI) on Tues. 2/13/07 the night of the ice storm. Fortunately our plane took off just before the airline shut down for scheduling issues. Upon arriving at PBI we proceeded to the baggage area only to find one piece of luggage with toiletries and infant supplies was missing. While I checked all the baggage areas my wife proceeded to the Jet Blue Claim office. She was greeted by a women named Jessica, in the office with no ID tag “A JetBlue policy”. The woman proceeded to fill out a claim form and offered a $30 voucher. My wife now upset with this small token of JetBlue appreciation asked if Jessica could track her luggage, Jessica refused saying she could not do this. My wife now more upset asked to speak with a supervisor, Jessica again refused. Jessica proceeded to now tell my wife to “Get Over it”. Visibly upset and now jilted my wife continued to ask for a supervisor and was greeted by Airport Sheriff who placed their hands on their guns while my 4 year old and infant began to cry. The Sheriff asked us to step out of the office and went into speak to Jessica by himself. He came out to advise us we were no longer welcome in the JetBlue claim office and had to leave. As we tried to explain our story the other Sheriffs moved in, again my daughters cried. After a brief discussion we obliged and left only with a claim form in our hands with a voucher for $30.

The next day we called JetBlue customer service and left messages only to never be called back. After being passed of to multiple service reps we found out our luggage was sent to Austin, TX then sent back to NY, forwarded to West Palm Beach, then forwarded by Ft. Lauderdale (by the woman in the JetBlue claim office) when they knew we were staying in Orlando. We finally received the bag a week after on Tues 2/20 from 2/13 when lost. We also found out the JetBlue “friendly” policy is to offer $25 per day after the first 24hrs of notice of loss. My wife made formal complaints against Jessica with JetBlue customer service. As per the quote of Diane a Service Rep with JetBlue “Their was no excuse for how this was handled and how we were treated, the whole incident was handled very poorly”

I returned on Thursday 2/22 to get back to work without any problems, although when I got home I noticed my luggage now had a small hole in it and was very beaten up.

Tonight 2/27/07 my wife, daughters, and in-laws were scheduled to leave from PBI, FL to return to JFK, NY at 9:30pm. Of course the flight was delayed “new JetBlue policy” so they proceeded to the JetBlue claim office with receipts for expenditures required from the lost suit cast. “We were advised by JetBlue that if we had receipts they would reimburse us, and had to go to the office where the claim was filed”
As soon as Jessica, “once again without any JetBlue ID” saw my wife enter the office she called her supervisor Tom Lewis and Airport Security.

Tom Lewis entered with Sheriff Effman, he told my wife she had no business in their office and how dare she enter and she is not welcome there. He stated that if she does not get out he will ban her from flying on JetBlue. At which point my wife began crying along with my daughters. My father-in-law, Harris Schechtman, an expert transportation consultant and former Vice President of the MTA Bridges and Tunnels, Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority in New York City asked to be explained what is going on here, when Tom Lewis said ok your “Banned from flying Jetblue, please leave the office.”

My father in-law proceeded to open a dialogue with Tom Lewis who called Headquarters and advised them that HQ in NY stands by its employee decisions and we are banned. Tom Lewis then proceeded to offer a JetBlue flight out of Ft. Lauderdale for the next day and said he would not tell Ft. Lauderdale who they are. My father in-law declined this offer and then Tom Lewis banned my entire family from the Palm Beach International Airport. “This was out of his jurisdiction because per airport policy only airport employees can ban someone after they observe the situation and write up a report.” While the conversation was going on Sheriff Effman kept saying “these people are Psycho” It was overheard that he was about to get off shift and looking to arrest my family and make some overtime.

So how do you like JetBlue’s new Bill of Rights “We promise to make your wife and small children cry”

Their customer service department is apparently misinformed because upon being informed their was an incident with a disgruntled employee who cried for police when asked to see a supervisor, you can only go back and make a claim with the same disgruntled employee. Once again this shows the new Bill of Rights by refusing to pay the check they said would be issued and again involving the police while terrorizing children by calling police to respond to the request she was asked to provide.

While it might be understandable that a supervisor would defend ones employees, one would expect him to hear the incident that was. Instead he apparently attended the same acting class as Jessica, because while she falsely claimed she was threatened by a women with children. He took it one step further in illegally representing himself as a federal agent and informing the victims/customers that they are banned from any and all fights our of his airport. Both the head of operations for the airport and head of TSA for the airport were shocked to hear this, as neither local law enforcement, the offended customer or offensive customer service rep or alleged federal agent as this JetBlue supervisor represented himself to be, had bothered to inform either airport operations or TSA about any of the actions they were taking.

[Don Raimond]

While it may have been egregious to be stuck for 12 to 6 hours, that’s nothing with compared to threatening lethal force to a toddler with a missing suitcase.

JetBlue Now Harasses Women with young children – The New Passenger Bill of Rights already defunct- Files false police reports, felony impersonation of Federal Agents Oversteps their authority….

My wife Martha, young daughters (Sara 4 & Liora 20 months), Mother-In-Law (Michele) and I flew JetBlue from JFK, NY into West Palm Beach, Fl (PBI) on Tues. 2/13/07 the night of the ice storm. Fortunately our plane took off just before the airline shut down for scheduling issues. Upon arriving at PBI we proceeded to the baggage area only to find one piece of luggage with toiletries and infant supplies was missing. While I checked all the baggage areas my wife proceeded to the Jet Blue Claim office. She was greeted by a women named Jessica, in the office with no ID tag “A JetBlue policy”. The woman proceeded to fill out a claim form and offered a $30 voucher. My wife now upset with this small token of JetBlue appreciation asked if Jessica could track her luggage, Jessica refused saying she could not do this. My wife now more upset asked to speak with a supervisor, Jessica again refused. Jessica proceeded to now tell my wife to “Get Over it”. Visibly upset and now jilted my wife continued to ask for a supervisor and was greeted by Airport Sheriff who placed their hands on their guns while my 4 year old and infant began to cry. The Sheriff asked us to step out of the office and went into speak to Jessica by himself. He came out to advise us we were no longer welcome in the JetBlue claim office and had to leave. As we tried to explain our story the other Sheriffs moved in, again my daughters cried. After a brief discussion we obliged and left only with a claim form in our hands with a voucher for $30.

The next day we called JetBlue customer service and left messages only to never be called back. After being passed of to multiple service reps we found out our luggage was sent to Austin, TX then sent back to NY, forwarded to West Palm Beach, then forwarded by Ft. Lauderdale (by the woman in the JetBlue claim office) when they knew we were staying in Orlando. We finally received the bag a week after on Tues 2/20 from 2/13 when lost. We also found out the JetBlue “friendly” policy is to offer $25 per day after the first 24hrs of notice of loss. My wife made formal complaints against Jessica with JetBlue customer service. As per the quote of Diane a Service Rep with JetBlue “Their was no excuse for how this was handled and how we were treated, the whole incident was handled very poorly”

I returned on Thursday 2/22 to get back to work without any problems, although when I got home I noticed my luggage now had a small hole in it and was very beaten up.

Tonight 2/27/07 my wife, daughters, and in-laws were scheduled to leave from PBI, FL to return to JFK, NY at 9:30pm. Of course the flight was delayed “new JetBlue policy” so they proceeded to the JetBlue claim office with receipts for expenditures required from the lost suit cast. “We were advised by JetBlue that if we had receipts they would reimburse us, and had to go to the office where the claim was filed”
As soon as Jessica, “once again without any JetBlue ID” saw my wife enter the office she called her supervisor Tom Lewis and Airport Security.

Tom Lewis entered with Sheriff Effman, he told my wife she had no business in their office and how dare she enter and she is not welcome there. He stated that if she does not get out he will ban her from flying on JetBlue. At which point my wife began crying along with my daughters. My father-in-law, Harris Schechtman, an expert transportation consultant and former Vice President of the MTA Bridges and Tunnels, Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority in New York City asked to be explained what is going on here, when Tom Lewis said ok your “Banned from flying Jetblue, please leave the office.”

My father in-law proceeded to open a dialogue with Tom Lewis who called Headquarters and advised them that HQ in NY stands by its employee decisions and we are banned. Tom Lewis then proceeded to offer a JetBlue flight out of Ft. Lauderdale for the next day and said he would not tell Ft. Lauderdale who they are. My father in-law declined this offer and then Tom Lewis banned my entire family from the Palm Beach International Airport. “This was out of his jurisdiction because per airport policy only airport employees can ban someone after they observe the situation and write up a report.” While the conversation was going on Sheriff Effman kept saying “these people are Psycho” It was overheard that he was about to get off shift and looking to arrest my family and make some overtime.

So how do you like JetBlue’s new Bill of Rights “We promise to make your wife and small children cry”

Their customer service department is apparently misinformed because upon being informed their was an incident with a disgruntled employee who cried for police when asked to see a supervisor, you can only go back and make a claim with the same disgruntled employee. Once again this shows the new Bill of Rights by refusing to pay the check they said would be issued and again involving the police while terrorizing children by calling police to respond to the request she was asked to provide.

While it might be understandable that a supervisor would defend ones employees, one would expect him to hear the incident that was. Instead he apparently attended the same acting class as Jessica, because while she falsely claimed she was threatened by a women with children. He took it one step further in illegally representing himself as a federal agent and informing the victims/customers that they are banned from any and all fights our of his airport. Both the head of operations for the airport and head of TSA for the airport were shocked to hear this, as neither local law enforcement, the offended customer or offensive customer service rep or alleged federal agent as this JetBlue supervisor represented himself to be, had bothered to inform either airport operations or TSA about any of the actions they were taking.

[Tom Geraghty]

Jetblue experience.
Wow! you can talk a big talk but when it comes to walking "you stink at it JetBlue". Sorry you won me over with everything but when push came to shove. I called to cancel a flight the words refund came up, or what appeared to come up. It is not that my company can't pony up the cost, but using the word credit shell when you join the club, vs being on the confirmation or cancellation

Why is it so hard to pur forth terms where you people do not have to say "Did you read the fine PRINT" this statement was used. Can you believe it that in todays market companies, old and new (JetBlue) still use trickery.

Hats off to the companies that will put forth everything where you do not have to read the fine print.

Shame on a company who speaks of changing how they charge you. JetBlue is dressing up old words, and do not stand behind the statement of changeing the way we fly!

Keep your tv and free snacks, your customer service is not what you advertise it to be.

I will not and would not give you complement on how you run your business. There are new companies making way against the old established companies and ways, but you are not one of them.

What will it take to come up with a CEO that is willing to build a company on honest and open practices up front.

The times are changing but people like this getting paid lots of money to create new gimmicks for the same atmosphere.

JetBlue you stink and you lost me as a client for ever!

Trust me it is not about the 253.00, it is about being open and honest.

Thank God I work for company that discloses everything up front, you will never hear the words from our customer service people say "Did you read the fine print"

Nice one Dave!

[Peter]

They do not seem to learn. Below an experience for me over the last couple of days flying from JFK to Logan and back, during which I spent at least 12 hours waiting on and off planes... I sent the letter below to them, it is going to be interesting to see if and how they respond...

Hi,

I'd like to share some very recent experience with your airline which made me feel very strongly negatively about your airline. And the 'Bill of Rights' seems more like a nice P&R gag with no real meaning whatsoever.

1) On Monday, June 10th I was booked on the flight at 18:40 from JFK to Logan. The flight kep on being delayed and delayed until around 8pm or so we finally boarded. It took another almost 3 hours for the plane to take off, which we spent on the tarmak! sounds familiar? I thought so... INstead of being in Boston around 8pm for dinner with friends, I was there at 2am!!!! An had an important meeting at 8:30 in Camebridge. Great.

2) Today, on Tuesday, June 11th, I am book on the flight 1017, leaving 18:40 fomr Boston to JFK. And just when I get to the gate, I am told that the information on your webpage and the monitors (which said a delay until 7:10) was inaccurate. We will be leaving at the earliest! 10:30pm!!! So I will spend another 5 hours wasted here at the airport.

3) You claim to provide internet at JFK yet it has not worked any of the last 8 times or so I was there. It is either down, or wrongly configured, or simply with a horrible signal. What a fraud.

4) Here at Logan, even better, you do not offer internet, not even a whole lot of plugs are available (there are all but 2 here around the gate area (29th-3xish)

5)I do not recall a SINGLE TIME my flight between JFK and Boston has been on time!!!! Please feel free and check into my flight records and check the percentage yourself of flights that actually land on time!

6)Remember - happiness(or customer satisfaction) is the difference between expectation and reality. And as far as I can tell, you are running a brand-campaign based on the great 'JetBlue experience'. Unfortunately that experience has all but deteriorated to a painfull drudgery of eternally delayed flights and failed promises. Is this just an experiment in "how much can we fool those people to stay our customers"?

I'd appreciate a personal response from someone in a meaningful position to instigate some change (or let me know that no change is planned so that I can stop bothering to fly with you and move on). Trust me, a general canned 'we are sorry, there is nothing we can do. Its weather or the bad people at JFK or the bad people at Logan or whatever' is not going to do it.

I'll try to find your head of customer relationship and email him/her this letter or post it at some blogs he/she might read, yet I'd appreciate if you can be so kind and forward it to him/her directly.

If you'd like to reach me, I'll be here at Logan for the next few hours it seems...

Cheers

Peter

[Rosario Corbo]

I’m a regular costumer of Jet Blue Airways and at this moment I’m very disappointed with you because of what happened to me on the night of June 25th at JFK airport.

I booked and bought my flight from Houston, TX to Burlington, VT on May 15. I booked flight #626 from Houston-Hobby to JFK, NY at 5:00 pm on June 25th and then flight #128 from JFK, NY to Burlington, VT at 10:58 pm to arrive in Burlington at night at 12:05.

Let me tell you how this trip turned out:
• The boarding process in Houston was delayed 30 minutes.
• The plane at Houston was delayed more than one hour due to weather conditions.
• The arrival at JFK airport was at 10:55 and the gate where the plane was to go was taken, so we were required to wait at least 10 more minutes for a reassigned gate.
• I asked the officer on board of my plane to tell my connecting flight to wait, but he replied there’s nothing he could do.
• When I arrived at the JFK gate for my flight to Burlington, the plane had already taken off.
• There was a woman at the gate that explained to me that I had missed my plane and although she knew that the Houston plane was delayed, there was nothing she could do but to make another reservation for me for the next day.
• I asked for someone to help me and to hear my complaints and she told me I needed to go to the Service Center to speak to the manager.
• I went to the Service Center. The person manning the Service Deak was rude and kept repeating that they couldn’t help me and I needed to wait for the manager.
• More than 30 minutes later when the manager came, he told us that he only had one room available and he had decided to give it to a mother with a child. So, as there were more than 10 people waiting for a hotel room to sleep, he told us there was nothing he could do. However, one of the people working there named Adam, in a very sarcastic way, offerd us some pillows to be comfortable sleeping there. I did not appreciate his rudeness nor did anyone else standing with me.
• At the Sevice Desk I was told that the only thing I could do is to go out of the security area and check if there was any room available near the airport and pay for it at my expense. The only problem there is that once I go out of the security area there is no turning back because I couldn’t re-enter to the airport until 3.00 am.

After spending the night trapped in New York City:
• My plane was supposed to start boarding at 8:45 am, and the boarding process started at 9 am.
• The plane took off at 10:00 am, so I arrived to Burlington at 11:30 am on June 26th.

I’m aware that the delay in Houston was due to Force Majeure Events according to your “Contract of Carriage”. I found it totally unacceptable that the plane in JFK (Burlington flight #128), couldn’t wait 10 minutes before taking off, when it was the last plane of the night and there were more than 10 people that were delayed for a reason totally out of their control. The staff of Jet Blue airways was aware of our delay and they knew that if Flight #128 would wait 10 more minutes we would arrive on connecting flights to board #128.

To repeat my points for clarity, once I arrived at JFK and walked to the gate where Burlington (#128) was supposed to depart, the agent there changed my ticket to the next plane available and I was told to go to the Service Center. While I was at the Service Center, I spent 40 minutes talking to some people that could only making excuses and tell me to wait for the manager. When he decided to show up, he gave away the “only” room available and told me that there was nothing he could do.

I have two questions that need to be answered by you:
1. Who could have helped me?
2. How is it possible that in one of the biggest cities of the world you couldn’t find accommodations for me?

I hope you can judge for yourself how unfair this situation was, and how vulnerable and unprotected I felt as a woman feeling alone, surrounded by people who kept saying there was nothing they could do.

Can you help me with this question?:
Why did I need to wait for almost two hours at the airport if no one from Jet Blue intended to help me? I understand it’s not my job to tell you what to do or how to handle your customers problems but based on the contract you and I formed when I bought my ticket, I expect Jet Blue to honor that committment and really help me.

I finally arrived at Burlington 12 hours later than I was supposed to. I need someone to be responsible for that because I trusted Jet Blue airways and you totally let me down. Please, I need to know that someone at your company can do something for me on these issues, both now and in the future.

I’m sure it’s Jet Blue airways intention to take care of me and not the other way around.

[John]

I've been flying Jetblue since they started as an airline. I have seen a consistent, steady decline in customer service from check-in to flight attendants to flight delays for questionable circumstances to luggage mishandling (including things stolen from my checked bags). It's the classic example of a company that is expanding at the cost of customer service. Mr. Neeleman should be ashamed of himself for the way he has developed his company. Talk is easy but when action costs money its the customer that suffers. I begrudgingly fly Jetblue when I need to but I will NEVER buy stock in a company that I see going in the wrong direction.

[Susan Donnelly]

My family flew Jetblue from F Meyers to Kennedy on 3/25. We checked gold bags along with our luggage. Lucky for us we landed on time, our luggage was first off the plane, our car was waiting for us so we were home within 45 minutes of landing. Sheer Bliss!! Once home, my son opened his golf bag and found that 10 of 14 clubs were broken in half. I call Jetblue immediately and was transferred to baggage at JFK ( what a great experience) and after 50 minutes I had a claim number and person to speak to in Utah. Guess what happened??? Golf clubs are not covered so I received a good will $100 credit for use in 1 year. It will cost my son $2000 to replace and repair the clubs. Jetblue says the damage is not consistent with damage from the flight and I didn't go back to JFK to show them the damgage. Beware....Jetblue does not care about it's customers