Describe a time when you used the consumer decision process while making a purchase, and the role advertising played.

New York-based Jet blue airways had started 2007 on a roll; growth in terms of both destination and fleet size was far outpacing even the most ambitious industry projections. And more important, the airlines continued to enjoy a cult-like following among its loyal customers, thanks in large part to uncommonly attentive service, generous legroom, free satellite television feeds in every leather seat, and of course, the company’s signature Terra Blues potato chips. In fact, Jet blue ranked highest in customer satisfaction among low-cost airlines in 2006 and among all major airlines in the united States in 2005.

Yet as a winter nor’s eater barreled toward the New York metropolitan region on February 14, 2007, JetBlue’s leaders were blissfully unware that the next even days would be by fr the most trying in the company’s eight- year history. Within five days, the company would have cancelled more than 1000 flights incurring tens of millions of dollar in loses in the process and tarnishing JetBlue’s sterling reputation, thanks to a combination of bad luck, flawed decision making and multiple systemic failures.

Jetblue founder and CEO David Neeleman encouraged his executive team to search for bold and inventive solutions to restore the company’s public image, win back customers and reassure employees and investors. If that meant parting with convention, then so be it Neeleman said.

Jetblue takes off

The 1999 launch of Jetblue Airways was never supposed to work. After all, of the 58 startup jet Airlines that had commenced operations since the U.S government deregulated the industry in 1978, only two survived. It is a business whose margins are so razor thin that a couple of passengers on each plane can spell the difference between profit and loss where a 1-cent rise in the price of jet fuel can cost the industry an added $180 million a year, wrote industry expert Barbara Peterson in 2004”.

Industry behemoths like eastern Airlines, trans world Airlines, United Airlines, American Airlines, Braniff International Airways. Northwest Airlines, and Delta Airlines reaped enormous profits and rules the skies until Congress and President Jimmy Carter passed the Airlines Deregulation Act of 1978. The primary purpose of the act was to eliminate government control over commercial aviation and encourage market forces to shape the industy’s development.

Although the cut0throat competitive tactics used by the legacy airlines in the 1980s and 1990s cause most new companies to fail, competition persisted, and airfares dropped significantly into the twenty-five century, leading to the rise of low-cost carriers such as AirTran airways, Southwest Airlines, and JetBlue Airways.

JetBlue was the brainchild of David Neeleman an industry Visionary who promised to “bring Humanity back to air travel” Neeleman, who was born in Brazil but grew up in the Utah as part of a large Mormon family, was no stranger to startup airlines. He helped to build Morris Air, a Uta-based airlines that Southwest in 1993 for $129 Million.

Neeleman leveraged his industry experience and connections to create a company that would boast a fleet of brand new airplanes low fares, and a host of customer-friendly embellishments that legacy carries and startups alike would be hard pressed to match Neeleman envisioned treating Jetblue’s customers – never referred to as passengers to comfy leather seats paperless ticketing, and exceptional service by flight crew members. Every seat would come equipped with a television that features dozens of free channel provided by satellite signal. Finally to keep costs down, Jetblue would offer a virtually unlimited supply of appealing in flight snacks instead if soggy meals that no one really wanted.

Backed by an impressive capital reserve Neeleman’s plan worked for sooner than even the most optimistic industry observers predicted. With flights to and from previously underserve markets, Jetblue quickly shot to the top pf J.D Power and Associates customer satisfaction surveys. Based out of New York’a John F. Kennedy international Airport, the start up soon expanded operation’s to los Angeles, Southern Florida, and a host of Smaller markets, such as Buffalo, New York.

Jetbule’s Launch was particularly well timed despite frequent pricing skirmishes resulting from increased competition, the domestic commercial aviation, industry started 2001 as the beneficiary of 24 consecutive quarters of profitability. Passengers volume had risen at an average annual rate of 3.6 percent over the previous decade and net profits for the industry totaled $7.9 billion in 2000, then the unthinkable happened .

The terrorist hijacking and downing of four U.S. Jetlines in New York City, Washington D.C and rural Pennsylvania on September 11, 2011, crippled the industry. Consumer confidence in the safety and security of air travel plummeted, sending booking rates down by 70 percent when flights resumed after9/11 the industry, which generated 11 million jobs and constituted 9 percent of the US gross domestic products, saw more than 80,000 jobs eliminated during the two months immediately following the attacks. In fact, only three airlines managed to turn a profit in 2001—the low-cost carriers southwest AirTran and Jetblue.

Due in large part to its size and flexibility Jetbule continued to impress in the year that followed in 2002, advertising age crowned “Jetblue the Marketer of the Year” claiming that the company’s branding efforts gave it a singular identity in a crowded and often confusing marketplace. Jetblue flights were among the most in-time in the industry in 2003, the same year the airline filled most of its available seats on planes- two feats that rarely of hand in hand by mid -2004, the company had turned a profit for more than 16 consecutive quarters.

Although Jetblue reported a net loss of $1 Million in 2006, primarily due to soaring jet fuel expenses. The company’s operating revenue totaled $2.36 billion, which constituted growth of nearly 39 percent over the 2005 fiscal year. By 2007, the airlines’s growing fleet of jets served 52 destinations with more than 575 daily flights. Even though an increasing number of critics forecasted growing pains for Jeblue after its meteoric rise, the love affairs between the upstart airlines and its faithful customers appeared to be as strong as ever.

The prefect Storm

Valentine’s day 2007 got off to an inauspicious start in the New York Metropolitan area. Bleak gray skies blanketed the region and weather forecasters warned of a wintry mix of precipitation. Jetblue officials at JFK international Airport gambled that temperature would warm up enough to change the snowfall and icy slush into rain. Six Jetblue planes- four bound for domestic destinations, one headed for Aruba, and another for Cancun, Mexico – were loaded early in the day with passenger’s luggage and cargo. The planes pushed back from their respective gates and waited for word of a break in the storm. Meanwhile, several inbound flights landed taxied and filled most of the airline’s dedicated gates.

With no end to the freezing rain in sight, Jetblue and airport officials hatched a plan to allow planes stranded on the tarmac to ferry back and forth to the few remaining open gates for offloading. This strategy failed, however, when the runway equipment used to tow the planes froze to the ground. Asa jetblue , spokesperson would explain to a local newspaper. ‘we had planes on the runways, planes arriving and planes at all our gate .. we ended up with gridlock.

Meanwhile, almost all of the other airlines operating at JFK had called off their flight earlier in the day. Scores of Jetblue passengers in the terminal waited in vain to board flight that would inevitably be canceled. “ we thought there would be these windows of opportunities to get planes off the ground and we were relaying on those weather forecasts, “said Sebastian White, a corporate communications manager at JetBlue. Freezing rain continued to fall, entombing hundreds of passengers inside JetBlue planes that were stranded on the runways at JFK. The worst, however was yet to come.

On the Ice

Deteriorating weather conditions at JFK and flaring tempers both inside JetBlue’s terminal and abroad its planes exacerbated the company’s crisis. Nine of the airline’s jets sat idle on the tarmac for more than six hours before passenger were successfully offloaded and taken to the terminal. Passengers aboard one JetBlue flight that landed at the airport were trapped inside the plane for a full nine hours.

Tensions inside th planes ran high during thr seemingly interminable ground delays the airline’s pilots tried to provide frequent updates and apologies, while crew members in the cabins dud their best to appease restless customers with snacks and beverages. It was not until 3:00 pm on Valentine’s day that JetBlue officials at JFK finally called the port authority of New York and New Jersey to request buses that the airlines could use to shuttle passengers from the stranded planes back to the terminal.

The crisis took a particularly troubling turn at Newark liberty international airport on Feb 15. Several passengers became unruly upon learning of additional flight cancellations, promoting JetBlue ticketing personal to call in the police for protection. JetBlue customers found little solace by calling the airline’s reservation hotline or visiting jetblue.com. by Friday, February 16 many callers who dialed the company’s telephone number were greeted by a recorded voice that said” we are expressing extremely high call volume, we are unable to take your call additionally, JetBlue’s Website listed flight as on schedule for departure, when the carrier had already cancelled many of those flights. Wide speared instance of lost baggage would only further infuriate JetBlue customers whose travel plans were disrupted by the Valentine ’s Day storm. JetBlue soon discovered that many of its planes and flight crews scattered across the rest of the country were out of place due to the disruptions at its New York hub. The carrier was forced to cancel more than 250 of its 505 daily flights schedule for valentine’s day. JetBlue called off 217 of its 562 schedule departures for February 15 as well.

“we had a problem matching aircraft with flight crew” said Jenny Dervin, JetBlue’s Director of Corporate, communications company leaders quickly settled upon a strategy designed to “reset” the airline’s operations “sometimes in the afternoon of Feb 16th, it just fell apart “said Dervin. The folks running the operation were just exhausted. We said “let’s stop the madness” the plan to rest operations came at a steep price. JetBlue was forced to cancel approximately 1,200 flights between February 14 and February 19.

David Neeleman cited multiple operational failures that compounded the crisis. Among the primary culprits. Inadequate communication protocols to direct to the company’s 11,000 pilots and flight attendants about where to go and when an overwhelmed reservation system and a lack of cross-trained employee who could work outside their primary area of expertise during an emergency.

We had so many people in the company who wanted to help who weren’t trained to help” Neeleman said, we had an emergency control center gull of people who did not what to do. I had flight attendants sitting in hotel rooms for these days who couldn’t get a hold of us. I had pilots e-mailing me saying “ I’ am available, what do I do ?

The cancellations during the five-day period cost the airline an estimated $20 million in revenue and an additional $24 million in flight vouchers given to customers who were impacted by the disruptions. Within days of the storm, JetBlue lowered it’s operating margin forecast for the fiscal quarter and the year, investors immediately responded by selling off their shares of Jet blue Stock. As the losses mounted, Neeleman became obsessed with finding a way to restore JetBlue’s sterling reputation and winning back disillusioned customers.

Misery loves coverage

Call it the perfect storm , the imperfect storm, the valentine’s day massacre’ said one JetBlue vice president” regardless of the label that the public affixed to the crisis, jet blue officials knew the media interest in the story would be sky high . The company’s corporate communications department fielded roughly 5000 telephone.

Inquired from the media between Feb 14 and Feb 19, JetBlue’s reputation as a successful and offbeat upstart airline only seemed to invite sensational newspaper headlines during the crisis. The New York post published an article under the banner “air Refugees in New JFKoas, hordes camp overnight before JetBlue says: Tough luck, no flights. A New York Times story entitled “long Delays hurt image of JetBlue” similarly predicted reputational damage for th carrier as a result of the crisis. The headlines of a Newsday article asked the question virtually every industry observe wanted to know: Can JetBlue recover?. for their part, angry JetBlue customers provided plenty of material to reporters in search of a sound bite.

Congress Comes Calling

Just days after JetBlue’s operational meltdown at JFK, members of Congress began calling for legislation designed to prevent air travelers from being held captive inside grounded airplanes for excessive amounts of time. Many suggested that the implementation of an industry-wide passenger bill of rights would be necessary to spur major airlines to action. Legislators argued that a bill of rights would entitle passengers to receive standardized compensation from carriers that fail to meet certain service levels, such as a flight that remains on the runway for hours after pushing back for departure.

With all eyes on the embattled company, JetBlue leaders knew they had to choose their public relations battle carefully. Leaders recognized that the company was at a crossroads. One option was to place a greater emphasis on the winter storm’s role in the operational problems at JFK and across the country. The strategy of redirecting blame had certainly worked for others airlines in the past, after all the public generally accepted that weather was a frequent cause of air travel disruptions.

The corporate communications team at JetBlue’s queens-based headquarter also debate whether to put David Neeleman on the televisions news and talk show circuit. Neeleman suggested gambit that was likely to garner much needed positive attention for the beleaguered airline but would also commit the company indefinitely to millions of dollars in potential losses. Neeleman’s idea was a JetBlue Airways customer Bill of rights that would specify in no uncertain performance standards.

Members of Neeleman’s executive team met the idea with skepticism. The ongoing costs associated with such a groundbreaking program would be unpredicted at best and staggering at worst. as the weekend progressed, Neeleman faced countless questions and staunch objections from the heads of Jet Blue’s legal, finance, flight operations, government affairs, and marketing teams, to name a few no other airline has ever committed to something like this, they argued.

Conclusion

Neeleman, who was known for personally answering every customer letter or e-mail he received , viewed the customer bill of rights as absolutely vital to resorting JetBlue’s image. He contended that th bill of rights would reaffirm the public’s perception that JetBlue viewed air travelers as human beings not cattle to be shipped from point A to point B . this is going to be a different company because of this Neeleman said” it ’s going to be expensive . But what’s more important is to win back people’s confidence.

And he promised that he would reveal JetBlue’s redemption plan to the world by Monday, Feb 19 if a customer bill of rights was going to be part of that plan, the CEO still had to convince many influential people inside the company.

Case Questions :

How could JetBlue have better communicated with its internal stakeholders across the country on Valentine’s day and during the days that followed to enhance its image with customers ?

Should be corporate communications team at Jetblue have arranged for CEO David Neeleman to appear on the national television news and talk show circuit following the crisis ? what might be the potential benefits and risks to the company’s reputation?

Would you recommend a corporate advertising program for JetBlue ?

If implemented, how would you market th JetBlue Airways Customer bill of right to external and internal stakeholder ? How would this effect JetBlue’s Reputation ?