Regaining Altitude: A Case Analysis of the JetBlue Airways Valentine's Day 2007 Crisis

Abstract

Valentine's Day 2007 changed the course of history for JetBlue Airways. The upstart low-fare airline-which had enjoyed unprecedented acclaim from customers and industry observers since its launch in 2000-suddenly found itself in the midst of a major operational catastrophe. A winter storm that enveloped the New York metropolitan region and JetBlue's hub at John F. Kennedy International Airport left hundreds of the company's passengers stranded aboard planes on the tarmac, some for as many as ten hours. Hundreds more waited in vain in the terminal for flights that the airline would eventually cancel. The flight disruptions at JFK plunged JetBlue's entire operation into chaos, forcing the carrier to cancel more than one thousand flights over a six day period. This thesis project describes the corporate crisis communication measures implemented by JetBlue Airways to repair its reputation. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to extend his heartfelt gratitude to the members of his thesis project committee for their involvement and encouragement. In addition, he would also like to express his appreciation to the members of JetBlue Airways' Corporate Communications group and founder David Neeleman, who graciously shared their time and insights to help the author complete this project. Finally, the author would like to thank his parents and especially his wife, Mary. Without their faith and support, this experience would not have been possible. v

Managing Bad News in Social Media: A Case Study on Domino’s Pizza Crisis

“…First, when a company makes a mistake and bad news starts to spread in social media, crisis managers should react quickly, admitting mistakes and apologizing appropriately. Several recent work confirmed the positive effect of CEO's apologies in social media, Twitter and YouTube, both in the US and in Korea (HCD b;Efthimious 2010;Park et al 2011). Second, companies should start conversations in social media during normal times, not just after a crisis hits the organizations.…”

“…As social media plays a major role in the diffusion of bad news and crisis communication, companies have started to leverage social media in responding to corporate crises, such as CEO's apologies using YouTube: David Neeleman, former Chairman of JetBlue Airways responding to its Valentine's day crisis in 2007; Bob Eckert, CEO of Mattel responding to its millions of toy recalls; and Patrick Doyle, President of Domino's Pizza responding to its prank video crisis. The work in (Efthimious 2010) analyzed the case of JetBlue Airways, and the work in (HCD a) analyzed how people's perception changed after viewing the CEO's apologies of Mattel and Domino's. They found positive effects of the CEO's apologizing via YouTube.…”

Malaysian Media Coverage of Palestinian Presidents’ Image during Crises 1996-2016

“…The crisis of JetBlue Airways revealed that its leaders have the opportunity for adopting one or more of five image restoration strategies by Benoit. Examining rebuild reputation effort after the crisis by the Airline showed that JetBlue settled on both corrective action and mortification strategies (Efthimiou 2011). The American multinational telecommunications corporation AT & T used corrective action, mortification, and bolstering strategies to repair its image (Benoit 2013).…”