I have my public relations brain turned on at all times, so when I’m in a situation that requires some PR as a solution, I can’t help but think about what I would do if I were responsible.
I was on my way back home from vacation with my family, and we were waiting at baggage claim from our flight on JetBlue. Usually, it doesn’t take too long for the carousel to begin dispensing bags, but sometimes there can be a bit of a hold up. So, that’s what we figured when we found ourselves waiting for 10 minutes.
And then another 10 minutes passed by.
And then another 20 minutes passed by.
As we found ourselves still waiting after an hour, I noticed passengers around me became more and more frustrated, confused, and irritated; three feelings any company does not want to have their customer experience associated with.
This negatively stemmed from no communication by the employees present in the nearby JetBlue office. I questioned why no one came out to give passengers any updates. Even if they didn’t know what was going on, I figured they should at least communicate how they are investigating into the situation, so passengers aren’t left in the dark.
In moments like these, I’m thankful for my constant curiosity because it leads me to question my every day occurrences. I started to think about what I would do if I were the PR person in charge of this situation.
An opportunity passed without any intervention from JetBlue about 20 minutes into passengers waiting for their bags. At this point in time, the space started to really fill up, and people were looking down at their watches to check how much time had passed. Some passengers began to trickle into the JetBlue office themselves to gauge the situation, and came out just as unhappy. This sparked visible irritation written on the majority of passengers’ faces.
If I were in charge, I would have had an employee make an announcement to acknowledge that they are aware of baggage claim taking more time than usual, and apologize for the inconvenience.
If JetBlue knew what the hold up was, I would have an employee announce the extent of their knowledge about the problem to provide insight on the back end to passengers. If the problem was currently unknown, I would have an employee say that; it’s better to provide an explanation about the unknowns of a problem and state that information will be conveyed as soon as it is known, than to not say anything at all.
With no announcement made from JetBlue, it’s almost as if the company chose to say “no comment,” when asked by a reporter about what was going on. And we all know that’s a big PR no-no.
No communication from a company in a situation that requires it leads customers to have increased dissatisfaction and less empathy for whatever the problem was. If JetBlue had communicated with passengers throughout the duration of the one-hour time frame of passengers waiting ignorantly, I believe passengers would not have left as frustrated as they did.
Without being in the know of what was happening, passengers most likely distrusted JetBlue because of their lack of communication. To mend this, I would have JetBlue send out an email to all the passengers on the flight and offer an apology as well as a discount or coupon for their next flight to show an effort to re-establish trust with the company and a positive sentiment for customer experience.
Consider this JetBlue case study solved!