Wednesday, February 21, 2007

So....Where's My Free Whatevs With That Apology?

No, I wasn't sitting on the tarmac for 18 billion hours on Valentine's Day, but if you're sending me an apology, Jet Blue, I'd certainly like to see some free crap. And another thing, please tell me why I can't seem to gather up enough Jet Blue points for a free friggin' flight? I fly you guys 10 times a year, here, there, and everywhere, yet I don't qualify for a two-second flight across my apartment. Why do business travelers get all the perks when they're not even footing the bill for the tickets in the first place? Why does Doodlecat's ticket cost the same as mine, and she has to fly under the seat without her own proper seat? Now send me some crap and I'll stop all this. Maybe.

Dear JetBlue Customers,

We are sorry and embarrassed. But most of all, we are deeply sorry.

Last week was the worst operational week in JetBlue's seven year history. Following the severe winter ice storm in the Northeast, we subjected our customers to unacceptable delays, flight cancellations, lost baggage, and other major inconveniences. The storm disrupted the movement of aircraft, and, more importantly, disrupted the movement of JetBlue's pilot and inflight crewmembers who were depending on those planes to get them to the airports where they were scheduled to serve you. With the busy President's Day weekend upon us, rebooking opportunities were scarce and hold times at 1-800-JETBLUE were unacceptably long or not even available, further hindering our recovery efforts.

Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for the anxiety, frustration and inconvenience that we caused. This is especially saddening because JetBlue was founded on the promise of bringing humanity back to air travel and making the experience of flying happier and easier for everyone who chooses to fly with us. We know we failed to deliver on this promise last week.

We are committed to you, our valued customers, and are taking immediate corrective steps to regain your confidence in us. We have begun putting a comprehensive plan in place to provide better and more timely information to you, more tools and resources for our crewmembers and improved procedures for handling operational difficulties in the future. We are confident, as a result of these actions, that JetBlue will emerge as a more reliable and even more customer responsive airline than ever before.

Most importantly, we have published the JetBlue Airways Customer Bill of Rights—our official commitment to you of how we will handle operational interruptions going forward—including details of compensation. I have a video message to share with you about this industry leading action.

You deserved better—a lot better—from us last week. Nothing is more important than regaining your trust and all of us here hope you will give us the opportunity to welcome you onboard again soon and provide you the positive JetBlue Experience you have come to expect from us.


Sincerely,


David Neeleman
Founder and CEO
JetBlue Airways

1 comment:

Teri said...

gee, they are becoming like all the other airlines, imagine that. Big A-HOLES!

Anne, sorry to say, don't hold your breath on this one. I think you have to fly every week and across the globe to get free stuff.