An Economist writer who was lucky enough to stay with relatives during the snow-driven Christmas flight cancellations says the airlines could have communicated better and he offers a half dozen ways they could have improved their public relations:
1. Let passengers know in advance about delays. Please add information on not only where but why.
2. Be sure technology is resilient enough when the web site can’t take information about substitute flights.
3. Be sure you (airlines) have emergency phone support, instead of recorded messages they “can’t answer" your call.
4. Implement some sort of automated rebooking. “Rebooking passengers automatically, while leaving them the option to change the booking themselves, would reduce the anger and the load on phone lines quite a bit.”
5. Put up an FAQ. “Every airline should have a bad-weather FAQ posted at the top of its web site’s homepage, and particularly on the mobile web version.”
6. Use social media better. “The stellar performance of JetBlue suggests that making a real effort, rather than a half-hearted one, will reap rewards.”
By David Wilkening
