When Even the Best PR Isn’t Good Enough
by Thomas Becher, APR
The recent case involving Southwest Airlines and an overweight passenger shows the power of mobile technology and social media.
The policy involving “customers of size” made headlines when film director Kevin Smith was kicked off a flight from Oakland to Burbank when the crew determined he was too big. Southwest’s policy: http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/cos_qa.html dictates that “customers of size” purchase two seats if they can’t fit into theirs. Shrinking airline capacity has served to fuel the debate with passengers of all sizes facing packed flights and cramped seats.
With smart phones and Twitter, passengers are now able to instantly gripe about delays and boarding problems to thousands of people before the plane is even in the air. It’s new territory for airlines, and even for those carriers who get social media – like Southwest – sometimes even the best PR isn’t good enough.
As a result of this incident, Smith turned to his Twitter account to vent: “I broke no violation, offered no ‘safety risk’ (what, was I gonna roll on a fellow passenger?). I was wrongly ejected from the flight.” Smith paid for two seats on a later flight but tried to fly stand-by.
Southwest stated in a blog post soon after the incident that “a timely exit from the aircraft in the event of an emergency might be compromised if we allow a cramped, restricted seating arrangement.” After the issue was blasted in the blogosphere and made the celebrity news channels, Southwest refunded his airfare, admitted it was “a mistake in trying to board him as a standby passenger and then remove him,” and said it would be reviewing “how and when this delicate policy is implemented.”
Social media pushed Southwest toward refunding Kevin Smith. My take, as a former manager of media relations for a global airline?
A policy is a policy, but it’s how that policy is implemented by employees on the front line that really matters. In this case it didn’t go so well -- even from an airline that has led the way in harnessing social media to communicate with customers.
The lesson here? Your best public relations is only as good as your employees.
The recent case involving Southwest Airlines and an overweight passenger shows the power of mobile technology and social media.
The policy involving “customers of size” made headlines when film director Kevin Smith was kicked off a flight from Oakland to Burbank when the crew determined he was too big. Southwest’s policy: http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/cos_qa.html dictates that “customers of size” purchase two seats if they can’t fit into theirs. Shrinking airline capacity has served to fuel the debate with passengers of all sizes facing packed flights and cramped seats.
With smart phones and Twitter, passengers are now able to instantly gripe about delays and boarding problems to thousands of people before the plane is even in the air. It’s new territory for airlines, and even for those carriers who get social media – like Southwest – sometimes even the best PR isn’t good enough.
As a result of this incident, Smith turned to his Twitter account to vent: “I broke no violation, offered no ‘safety risk’ (what, was I gonna roll on a fellow passenger?). I was wrongly ejected from the flight.” Smith paid for two seats on a later flight but tried to fly stand-by.
Southwest stated in a blog post soon after the incident that “a timely exit from the aircraft in the event of an emergency might be compromised if we allow a cramped, restricted seating arrangement.” After the issue was blasted in the blogosphere and made the celebrity news channels, Southwest refunded his airfare, admitted it was “a mistake in trying to board him as a standby passenger and then remove him,” and said it would be reviewing “how and when this delicate policy is implemented.”
Social media pushed Southwest toward refunding Kevin Smith. My take, as a former manager of media relations for a global airline?
A policy is a policy, but it’s how that policy is implemented by employees on the front line that really matters. In this case it didn’t go so well -- even from an airline that has led the way in harnessing social media to communicate with customers.
The lesson here? Your best public relations is only as good as your employees.
Labels: news response, PR
posted by tba PR + Advertising at
8:30 AM
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