ASSESSMENT OF JETBLUE'S RESPONSE TO THE FEBRUARY ICE STORM - Prepared for Kim Smith Vice President of Customer Relations JetBlue Airlines Prepared ...

Page created by Julian Santos
 
CONTINUE READING
ASSESSMENT OF JETBLUE’S RESPONSE TO THE
         FEBRUARY ICE STORM

               Prepared for Kim Smith
         Vice President of Customer Relations
                   JetBlue Airlines

                     Prepared by
                      Student 1

                    July 27, 2007
July 27, 2007

Kim Smith
Vice President of Customer Relations
JetBlue Airlines

Dear Kim:

Here is the report that you requested on JetBlue’s response following the February ice
storm incident as viewed by the consumer.
Your fears are unfounded; despite the February ice storm and its complications for the
airline, JetBlue still remains number one in its class for customer satisfaction. Although
airline research, customer surveys and blog sites are not 100% accurate, these mediums
enable us to gain insight into the reactions of angry passengers to determine if the efforts
you made following the ice storm will satisfy the customer to the extent that they will
want to patronize JetBlue in the future.
JetBlue’s quick response to angry outcries from customers has led you to another
winning survey. The Customer Bill of Rights, profuse apologies to the passengers, free
transfers and refunds gave JetBlue to edge once again in customer satisfaction.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to work on this assignment. If you have any
questions about the report, please call any of us at 1-800-444-6666.

Sincerely,

Student
CONTENTS

                                          PAGE
Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………. iv

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………....1

Assessment of JetBlue’s Response to the February Ice Storm…………………………..1
  What was the Incident……………………………………………..……………..…... 1
  What was the Public Response………...……………….…………..………................2
  What were the Controllable and Uncontrollable Factors……..…………..………….. 3
  What was JetBlue’s Response…………………………………………........................4
  How has JetBlue’s Customer Image Been Affected by the February Ice Storm
  Incident? …………………………………................................................................... 5

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..... 9

Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………..10

                             LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURES

1. “Passenger Revolt” Blog Analysis……………………………………………………6
2. 2007 Passenger Revenue Miles Percentage Increase Percent from 2006…………….8

TABLE

1. Passenger Revenue Miles…………………………………………………………….8

                                              iii

                              EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report provides an analysis and evaluation of the current and prospective public
responses of JetBlue Airways following the effects of a northeast ice storm that caused
delays, cancellations, and a public relations nightmare in February 2007.

The research draws attention to what consumers were feeling before the ice storm and
also gives an insight to what their reactions were after the ice storm. JetBlue was
considered different from other airlines because of their customer service, low fares, and
unique attributions but this incident cost them a lot of money to make the customers
happy.

Based on the research that was performed by this watchdog group, we feel that JetBlue
could have handled the situation at hand better. Not all of the right steps were taken to
ensure that the customer was happy, and that should be priority number one. The way in
which JetBlue came up with the Customer Bill of Rights was spectacular though. The
Bill of Rights shows that the company is trying to make better after all the mistakes that
were made.

                                            iv

       ASSESSMENT OF JETBLUE’S RESPONSE TO THE
                FEBRUARY ICE STORM
INTRODUCTION

This consumer watchdog group was contacted by Kim Smith, the VP of Customer
Relations at JetBlue Airways. The project at hand refers to the recent northeast ice storm
in February of 2007 and how it has affected public responses to the airline. The group is
assessing the responses before and after the ice storm to see what kind of an impact has
been on the public in the current situation. JetBlue Airways hopes to keep a good public
image and wants to ensure that the steps they followed were appreciated by their
consumers who were affected by the ice storm delays

                           WHAT WAS THE INCIDENT?

The crisis began Wednesday, February 14, 2007 when an ice storm took the Eastern
United States by surprise. The majority of airlines responded by canceling more flights
earlier, sending passengers home, and resuming their schedules within a day or two.
JetBlue, however, cancelled only a handful of flights, assuming that the weather would
clear up and it would be able to continue its flights based on forecasts that they received.
This decision was made to honor the airline's policy of doing whatever it can to ensure a
flight is completed, even if it means waiting for several hours. The decision was also
made with hopes that the company’s revenue would keep flowing in and its customers
would remain happy. Following this plan, outbound flights were sent to the runway at
JFK at about 8 a.m., and prepared to take off as soon as the weather let up, while
incoming flights arrived and filled up the gates. Contrary to the improved weather
conditions they were expecting, the freezing rain and sleet continued. This posed as a
problem because under federal aviation guidelines, planes cannot take off in ice pellet
conditions. To make matters even worse, the planes and equipment started to freeze to
the tarmac (Bartholomew).

JetBlue's slow response to such a severe storm ended up trapping over one-thousand
passengers on nine planes, which sat idle on taxiways at John F. Kennedy International
Airport for six or more hours. The problem seemed to stem from the fact that the
company had too many planes on the ground and not enough gates for them to park at,
and as a result several flights sat for excessive amounts of time before being deplaned.
By late afternoon on Wednesday, JetBlue’s management finally gave up hope of flying
the planes that were sitting on the runway and called in buses to transport passengers
back to the terminal. This resulted in quite the chaotic scene because many of the airport
terminals, particularly the JFK hub, were already filled with impatient passengers still
expecting to get on flights (Bartholomew).

                                              1
                                                                                               2
The company had not anticipated the severity of their decision to keep with their
schedules despite the storm, as the effects of this disaster spilled over into the remainder
of the week. On the following Saturday night, the airline announced that the 23 percent
of flights it had canceled on Saturday and Sunday would also be canceled Monday. This
confusion, as well as broken promises, led to heated "exchanges between customers and
employees," causing the airline to call out security personnel (Reed). Throughout the
week, the company subjected its customers to “unacceptable delays, flight cancellations,
lost baggage, and other major inconveniences.” Also, several thousand customers were
stuck for hours, even days in some cases, inside JetBlue's terminal, where access to food,
water, and clean restrooms quickly became scarce (Reed).

Overall, the storm disrupted the movement of aircraft, and, more importantly, upset the
movement of JetBlue's pilot and in-flight crewmembers, who were depending on those
planes to get them to the airports where they were scheduled to serve its customers.
Basically, the main problem involved JetBlue's communication system. According to
David Neeleman, founder and CEO of JetBlue, "the storm had left a major portion of the
airline's 11,000 pilots and flight attendants far from where they needed to
be to operate the planes, and JetBlue lacked the trained staff to find them and tell them
where to go. Prior to that week, JetBlue had never had so many people out of position."
Usually, during disruptions, off-duty crews call into headquarters to give their location
and availability to work. But given the number of flights affected, phone lines were tied-
up and calls couldn't get through (Bailey).

Another major problem that resulted from the storm involved the company's reservation
system. Apparently it became so inundated that customers were unable to get through to
agents to check on the status of a flight (Bailey). Passengers that were bumped off planes
or that had arrived at airports to find their flights had been cancelled could only rebook
their flights by calling the JetBlue reservation office. At this time, JetBlue did not offer
its customers the option to rebook their flights through its website or using airport kiosks.
Then, even after expanding their reservation system to accommodate up to 950 agents at
one time, the company could barely find enough employees to staff the phones and who
were knowledgeable of the system’s functionality.

In the end, it was until almost an entire week that passed by before JetBlue's operations
returned to normal. They finally realized that they needed to reset their operation by
canceling a portion of it. This allowed crewmembers to get their FAA-mandated rest
time, while simultaneously allowing the company to reposition their aircraft in the cities
where they were needed for a successful return to service. By the end of the week, a total
of about 1,200 flights were canceled and the airline faced an expense of $41 million
dollars due to lost revenue, extra costs, and vouchers for free travel (Reed).

                    WHAT WAS THE PUBLIC RESPONSE?

One of the first responses that were brought to the attention of this watchdog group was a
website dedicated to all JetBlue facts. This website would be www.jetbluehostage.com.
Everything that a consumer wants to know about what happened during the ice storm and
what is going on now within the JetBlue company is available on this website.

                                                                                         3
The first passenger reaction was from a man who was visiting New York for the first time
when his flight got canceled and he had to stay in JFK. It seems that the customer service
agents who were trying to help the stranded consumers did not really care what was
going on in the airport. A customer service representative needs to be helpful and
friendly; otherwise complaints are going to arise. That would be problem number 1;
customer service was failing at their number 1 priority, the consumer.

If this group was part of what happened in February of 2007, we would not be happy to
see other flights taking off as usual while sitting and waiting in JFK for our flight that has
been canceled. The cancellation of all the flights and leaving the one incoming flight on
the runway was not a good choice to make for whatever reason it may be. What was
offered to the consumer might have seemed like it was worth it, but when a consumer
spends $1000 or more to find another flight and hotel accommodations, the company
should know that there is a huge problem on their hands.

JetBlue needs to understand that the travelers “stranded” on their planes for several hours
did not understand what the hold up was for. Certain travelers were going on their
honeymoons and then got off the plane to not go anywhere. When a passenger sees that
there are other planes taking off in the same airport, it can become a bit discouraging.
JetBlue did not properly handle the situation at JFK airport, the Customer Bill of Rights
they made can be useful, but it will not make up for the stress and aggravation of being
stranded on a plane.

In order to maintain a professional look in a business the customer needs to be met
completely. It seems as though the customer service representatives were not very willing
to help people in the airport. This problem might have been caused because their leaders
did not really know what was going on as well. Poor communication skills can severely
damage a company’s image to the public. The customers who were dissatisfied with the
ability of JetBlue let everyone knows it. Also, since they will probably not fly JetBlue
again, they will also inform all friends and family members the same thing and JetBlue
will loose out.

   WHAT WERE THE CONTROLLABLE AND UNCONTROLLABLE
                      FACTORS?

JetBlue airlines did not properly prepare for the ice storm that hit in February of 2007.
The ice storm that hit caused many flyers to be stranded on the runway, as well as, in JFK
airport. JetBlue was such a success before this ice storm because they had low costs for
flying and they would hardly ever cancel a flight due to the weather conditions. But, in
this situation, JetBlue should have taken into effect that the weather conditions were
worse than they imagined.

Though it is good to have an airline that cares so much about its passengers; JetBlue
should not have tried so hard to accommodate during an ice storm. If the airline had taken
into effect that the weather conditions were bad and consequently were not letting up,
they should have canceled flights earlier in the day. By canceling the flights
earlier, passengers would not have been stranded in the airport in hopes that would soon
be on the next flight available.

                                                                                            4

The inability to cope with rescheduling so many flight crews proves to be a
weakness for JetBlue airlines. At a time where more workers were needed to help
accommodate passengers, JetBlue did not properly schedule their workers. The end cost
that the company paid to unhappy passengers would have been less if they had just added
more workers to help ease the situation. To have cancellations through Friday after the
storm is considered to be unacceptable. Passengers from JetBlue flights were watching as
other flights took off, but their flights were all still grounded. JetBlue should have paid
more attention to the details of the weather and canceled flights earlier.

The systems that JetBlue uses are not up-to-date. There was no system in place for the
many stranded flight crews to call in to be rerouted. Only after the ice storm was it
decided that a new system would be in order for the company. Before this ice storm
though, what were crews to do if something was happening on the runway. Sitting on the
runway for 11 plus hours does not seem like it would be the right decision to be making.
The amount of money that JetBlue accumulated in such a short period of time, they
should have been able to install a proper system in case of an emergency.

A couple of the more uncontrollable factors that JetBlue had to deal with were the frozen
equipment. The ice storm hit without warning and the equipment on the runway was
effected the worst. This problem was where the first string of delays came from. Also, the
plane being grounded was not JetBlue’s fault. The weather conditions were not safe for
flying; therefore no one was leaving the airport that night. It would have been crazy if
they had tried to fly during an ice storm, why put that many people in danger.

In conclusion, there were a lot of things JetBlue could have done better to in order the
safety and well-being of their customers. A lot of controllable factors were at hand that
should have been dealt with properly, but were not. It seems as though as soon as the ice
storm hit, JetBlue did not know what to do and the whole company got scared. It is quite
unfortunate that is was handled in the way it was, but hopefully the company will come
back through the bad times.

                    WHAT WAS JETBLUE”S RESPONSE?

As a response to the events the occurred last February, JetBlue took several steps to mend
the broken bonds between itself and its various stakeholders. In an effort to emerge as a
more reliable and even more customer responsive airline, the company announced that
they’d begun taking immediate corrective steps to regain customers' confidence. The
corporate executives began putting a comprehensive plan in place to provide better and
timelier information to their customers, more tools and resources for their crewmembers,
and improved procedures for handling operational difficulties in the future.

Only a week after the storm, JetBlue's commitment to their customers was accurately
demonstrated when they launched their Customer Bill of Rights. This new feature
provides real compensation to customers inconvenienced when flights are cancelled or
delayed, and outlines specific amounts owed for a given hourly delay. As one member of
JetBlue's Customer Communications department put it, "It's our way of letting customers

                                                                                          5
know that they can count on us, even in many situations that are beyond the control of
our airline. It's our way of saying (that) we screwed up" (Jet Blue Finally Responds). The
Customer Bill of Rights increases JetBlue's level of responsibility to customers
tremendously. The Bill most importantly states that, "All customers whose flight is
cancelled by JetBlue will, at the customer’s option, receive a full refund or re-
accommodation on a future JetBlue flight at no additional charge or fare. If JetBlue
cancels a flight within 12 hours of scheduled departure and the cancellation is due to a
Controllable Irregularity, JetBlue will also provide the customer with a Voucher valid for
future travel on JetBlue in the amount paid to JetBlue for the customer’s roundtrip." It
also includes their commitment in dealing with departure delays, over-bookings, and
ground delays. It assures customers that they will be notified of delays prior to scheduled
departure, cancellations and their cause, and diversions and their cause. Furthermore,
JetBlue testifies that it will deplane customers if an aircraft is ground-delayed for five
hours. In addition to the key provisions of the JetBlue Customer Bill of Rights listed, the
airline formed a customer advisory council, who is consulted with regarding ongoing
improvement programs (JetBlue Announces the JetBlue Customer Bill of Rights).

From an internal perspective, the company has also responded in several areas. They've
taken various steps to make sure their processes and tools are up to par. These changes
were communicated to their customers and investors through various media tools. For
example, in addition to the large ads taken out in newspapers, the stakeholders were
exposed to JetBlue’s apologies and promise for a better future through an e-mail from
Neeleman, a video placed on YouTube, and an apology posted on its website. All three
included a sincere apology for all of the holdups, delays, inconveniences, and
cancellations that they imposed on their customers the weeks following the February ice
storm (Halladay).

Also, in the month following the catastrophe, the company welcomed a new addition to
their team. Russell G. Chew took on the role of Chief Operating Officer, and imposed a
few much-needed changes to the company's operations. He began by rewiring the
airline's central nervous system, or the System Operations Control center, with new
technology, policies and people. The first steps have been taken to allow customers who
buy their tickets through the company's website to rebook themselves or get refunds in
the event of flight disruptions. Also, new managers and procedures have been put into
place at the airline’s major “choke point,” John F. Kennedy International Airport in New
York (JetBlue Names Russell Chew Chief Operating Officer).

Another major change motivated by the hiring of Chew involved adjusting the airline's
mindset to infuse what he calls "corporate discipline." Apparently, their old philosophy
placed the needs of several hundred people to get to their destinations ahead of the larger
obligation of preventing delays from piling up and disrupting the carrier's entire
operation, a situation that affects thousands (Reed).

  HOW HAS JETBLUE’S CUSTOMER IMAGE BEEN AFFECTED BY
           THE FEBRUARY ICE STORM INCIDENT?

Three areas of research were used to gauge the JB efforts to remain a customer service
airline and to determine if JetBlue’s response to the ice storm incident was accepted as
adequate by JetBlue’s customer base. These three areas: blogs, analysis of Passenger
Revenue Traffic Reports from January to June comparing JetBlue to 3 other major
                                                                                            6
airlines, and independent customer airline surveys were the basis of information for this
assessment.
BLOG Analysis
Three webpage blogs were located:

                “Passenger revolt,” Posted by Brian Williams, Anchor & Managing
                Editor, dailynightly.msnbc.com “Critics, backers speak up on passengers'
                bill of rights,”
                http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/airline_ratings_and_performance/
                “Continental, JetBlue again top J.D. Power ratings,”
                http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/airline_ratings_and_performance/

These three blogs sites offered a diverse sampling of opinions and suggestions from
airline customers. The first site by Brian Williams’ “Passenger revolt” was used as a site
to vent by many travelers although it is unclear how many of the entries were made by
passengers directly affected by the February ice storm. The 266 identifiable entries were
reviewed and categorized as a complaint, a comment that was generally positive toward
JetBlue’s efforts and those that offered other suggestions or were otherwise irrelevant to
the ice storm incident.

                      “Passenger Revolt” Blog Analysis

                                                          133 Compliaints

                                                          73 Supportive Remarks

                                                          60 Neutral Comments

                                      Figure 1
      Posted by Brian Williams, Anchor & Managing Editor www.msnbc.msn.com

In the complaint category, 133 remarks voiced general complaints about the length of
time the passengers sat in the aircraft. It is important to note that none of the complaints
indicated that they were from any of the passengers that were in the aircraft during the ice
storm.

The 60 general comments were a variety of comments and some expressing the opinion
that deregulation was the true cause of the airline’s problems, JFK airport was the cause,
not JetBlue, etc. The 73 remarks categorized as favorable to the way JetBlue handled the
situation.

The entries on the site deemed irrelevant were unidentified entries made by people
                                                                                            7
repeatedly expressing their dislike for the inability to deplane and the airlines authority
over the situation. These entries were not included in the analysis because many appeared
to be duplicate entries. As the following graph indicates, the examination of the remarks
classified as valid, indicated approximately one-half of the remarks were from
dissatisfied potential passengers and the remaining one-half expressed favorable JetBlue
response to the ice storm or felt that it was not JetBlue that was entirely to blame for the
situation.

The second blog site, Today in the Sky News and Analysis about airlines, airports and air
travel, “Critics, backers speak up on passengers' bill of rights,” written by Ben
Mutzabaugh, verbalizes opinions for a customer bill of rights and against a bill of rights.
An editorial comment made by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram states, “it's time for
Congress to step forward and tell airlines that they can't do it anymore. Voluntary self-
regulation by the airlines has not worked." Mutzabaugh quotes an editorial from the
Hartford Courant, "a federal 'bill of rights' for airline passengers would be an
overreaction to an uncommon streak of bad luck that befell one discount carrier this past
week." The summary of the Hartford Courant editorial stated that legislation and federal
mandates for the airlines could make the situation worse.

The last blog site article, Today in the Sky News and Analysis about airlines, airports and
air travel, “Continental, JetBlue again top J.D. Power ratings” also written by Ben
Mutzabaugh, confirms the JD Powers survey ratings that will be discussed further later in
the report.

                 Analysis of Passenger Revenue Traffic Reports

Our research included a sampling of revenue passenger miles as reported by JetBlue and
three of its closest competitors, American Airlines (AA), Continental Airlines and
Southwest Airlines (SW). Passenger revenue miles (PRM) were collected for all four
airlines from January 2006 to June 2006 and compared to January 2007 to June 2007.

As indicated in the figure below, the following conclusions were made:

                       1. AA, although larger in volume than the other three airlines, is
                          not performing as well as the same time period for 2006. The
                          total percentage loss of PRM for the first six months of 2007
                          was -2.3%.
                       2. Continental shows a 5.5% increase in PRM for the first six
                          months of 2007.
                       3. SW shows a 5.5% increase in PRM for the first six months of
                          2007.
                       4. JetBlue, despite a difficult February with a PRM growth of
                          only 3.2%, has had the highest increase in PRM among its
                          competitors, ending the first six months at 10.6%.

                                                                                            8

         2007 Passenger Revenue Miles Percentage Increase Percent from 2006
Figure 2

                                                     Table 1

                                   Traffic Reports
                     2006 to 2007 Month over Month Comparison
                             Comparing JetBlue to 3 Major Competitors
                                    Revenue Passenger Miles
                 January       February      March         April        May         June       Six Month

2007
Continental      3,357,564     3,194,291    3,836,162    3,821,308    3,949,056    4,110,835   22,269,216
2006
Continental      3,203,670     3,019,661    3,745,395    3,629,997    3,627,338    3,885,939   21,112,000
Continental          4.8%          5.8%         2.4%         5.3%         8.9%         5.8%         5.5%

2007 AA         10,902,283     9,732,313   11,933,218   11,547,599   11,888,216   12,223,629   68,227,258
2006 AA         11,032,336     9,862,884   12,100,872   11,936,076   12,244,325   12,662,133   69,838,626
AA                   -1.2%         -1.3%        -1.4%        -3.3%        -2.9%        -3.5%        -2.3%

2007 SW
Airlines         6,330,979     6,109,365    7,532,224    7,382,832    7,820,858    8,238,474   43,414,732
2006 SW
Airlines         5,971,187     5,964,090    7,264,211    7,074,152    7,406,651    7,518,453   41,198,744
SW Airlines          9.6%          5.6%         4.4%         3.7%         2.4%         6.0%         5.4%

2007 Jet Blue    1,938,919     1,739,500    2,261,011    2,265,164    2,218,108    2,251,964   12,674,666
2006 Jet Blue    1,790,979     1,685,746    2,059,294    2,028,929    1,897,356    1,997,663   11,459,967
Jet Blue             8.3%          3.2%         9.9%        11.6%        16.9%        12.7%        10.6%

                             Independent Customer Airline Surveys

The third research medium we examined was two independent industry surveys,
Consumer Reports and J.D. Power. The well-known Consumer Reports National
Research Center conducted a survey reporting 23,000 participants commenting on of
31,455 U.S. domestic flights. The survey covered consumer areas of interest such as
attendant service, seating, on-time status, and check-in procedures.

                                                                                                            9

The Consumer Reports survey, conducted in early February and then repeated on a
smaller scale in April made this statement. “Our researchers also conducted a smaller,
follow-up survey in April, soon after the highly publicized, weather-related blunders of
JetBlue in mid-February and USAirways in March, which left thousands of their
passengers stranded and fuming. We found that JetBlue’s blues seem to have had little
effect on the airline’s overall levels of satisfaction; it remained among the top-rated
carriers in our second survey.” These survey results were also found on several other web
sites such as Modbee.com.

The second survey, taken by J.D.Power was originally published June 19, 2007 in
Business Travel News and reported on the CNN Money.com webpage.
The survey reported 9653 replies from passengers who had flown on an airline in the past
year and covered areas of importance to passengers such as cost, service, and
reservations. The 1,000-point rating scored JetBlue at 810 points which significantly beat
out its closest competitors, Frontier, Southwest and AirTran and Continental Airlines.
According to Linda Hirneise, Power and Associates executive director of the travel
practice, "Although the airline fell prey to severe weather delays in February 2007, they
have been able to retain feelings of goodwill among their passenger base. JetBlue
continues to lead in satisfaction with low-cost carriers by a significant margin."

                CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on our research, we feel that JetBlue could have handled the situation at hand
better. Not all of the right steps were taken to ensure that the customer was happy, and
that should be priority number one. This is obvious from the reports of JetBlue's slow
response to such a severe storm ended up trapping over one-thousand passengers on nine
planes, which sat idle on taxiways at John F. Kennedy International Airport for six or
more hours.

JetBlue should keep in mind that passengers are people who need to be informed.
In order to maintain a professional look in a business the customer’s needs to be met
completely. This means helpful, reliable information and service from anyone who wears
the JetBlue logo.

There have been many positive outcomes from JetBlue as a result of this incident. The
JetBlue Customer Bill of Rights has been well received. Customer Bill of Rights
increases JetBlue's level of responsibility to customers tremendously. Also, in the month
following the catastrophe, the company welcomed Russell G. Chew who took on the role
of Chief Operating Officer, and imposed a few much-needed changes to the company's
operations including the rewiring the airline's central nervous system or the System
Operations Control center, with new technology, policies and people. The first steps have
been taken to allow customers who buy their tickets through the company's website to
rebook themselves or get refunds in the event of flight disruptions. Also, new managers
and procedures have been put into place at the airline’s major “choke point,” John F.
Kennedy International Airport in New York (JetBlue Names Russell Chew Chief
Operating Officer).

                                                                                         10
Another major change motivated by the hiring of Chew involved adjusting the airline's
mindset to infuse what he calls "corporate discipline." Apparently, their old philosophy
placed the needs of several hundred people to get to their destinations ahead of the larger
obligation of preventing delays from piling up and disrupting the carrier's entire
operation, a situation that affects thousands (Reed).

All of the changes have strengthened JetBlue Airlines. There is no dispute that JetBlue
has grown from this incident and has become a better, more efficient business with flying
public as its number one concern. We concur with the quote from Consumer Reports,
“We found that JetBlue’s blues seem to have had little effect on the airline’s overall
levels of satisfaction; it remained among the top-rated carriers in our second survey.”
JetBlue remains number one among customer satisfaction.

                                                                                       11

                                    WORKS CITED
American Airlines Corporation. “Press Releases.” American Airlines Traffic Reports. 13
      July 2007. 

Bailey, Jeff. “JetBlue’s C.E.O. Is ‘Mortified’ After Fliers Are Stranded.” 19 February
        2007. The New York Times. 17 February 2007

Bartholomew, Doug & Mel Duvall. "What Really Happened At JetBlue." 5 April 2007.
       Baseline. 20 July 2007. 

“Best airlines for today’s busy skies.” Consumer Reoprts.org 13 Jul 2007.
       .

Continental Airlines. Investor Relations Financial & Traffic Releases. 13 July 2007. <
       http://www.continental.com/web/en- US/content/company /investor/news.aspx>.

Halladay, Hal. “JetBlue Uses New Media to Reach Customers.” 23 February 2007. Know
       More Media. 20 July 2007. 

"JetBlue Announces the JetBlue Customer Bill of Rights."20 February 2007. JetBlue
       Investor Relations. < http://investor.jetblue.com/phoenix.zhtml ?c=131045
       &p=irol-newsArticle&ID=965052&highlight >

JetBlue Corporation. “Press Releases.” JetBlue Traffic Reports 13 July 2007 <
       http://investor.jetblue.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=131045&p=irol-news&nyo=0>.

"Jet Blue Finally Responds." 19 July 2007. 

“JetBlue, Midwest Airlines tops in Consumer Reports survey.” Newspaper Enterprise
       Assn. 13 Jul 2007. < http://www.modbee.com/business/story/13768549p-
       14349915c.html>.

"JetBlue Names Russell Chew Chief Operating Officer ." 7 March 2007. JetBlue
       Investor Relations. 18 July 2007. 

JetBlue Tops J.D. Power Passenger Survey. 3 Jul 2007. CNN Money.com. 13 Jul 2007.
       .

                                                                                      12
Mutzabaugh, Ben. “:Today in the Sky News and Analysis about airlines, airports and air
      travel - Continental, JetBlue again top J.D. Power ratings.” USA Today.com.15
      July 2007 .

Mutzabaugh, Ben. “Today in the Sky News and Analysis about airlines, airports and air
      travel -Critics, backers speak up on passengers' bill of rights.” USA Today.com.
      15 July 2007 .

Reed, Dan. "JetBlue Tries to Bounce Back From Storm of Trouble." 7 June 2007.
       USAToday. 17 July 2007. < http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2007-06-06-
       new-blue-usat_N.htm >

Southwest Airlines. “Press Room.” News Releases. 13 July 2007. .

Williams, Brian. “Passenger revolt.” dailynightly.msnbc.com. 13 July 2007 <
       http://dailynightly.msnbc.com /2007 /02/passenger_revol.html>.
You can also read