The AMR Corporate Communications Failure:
Several industry public relations experts point to the AMR Corporate Communications response to the major cancellations disaster as an example of what NOT to do. Here is a sampling of articles from various sources:
Crisis Communications and American Airlines
By Kathy Bloomgarden, CEO of Ruder Finn, one of the world's largest public relations firms.
In the past weeks and months, the airline industry has had to address a series of challenges that left managers little time to execute, and almost no room for communications mistakes.
Consider American Airlines, which faced communicating with hundreds of thousands of customers whose flights were canceled while the airline performed emergency safety inspections. Under a harsh spotlight, the company had to juggle operations management, media relations, and, of course, the ubiquitous apology.
The highly technical nature of the FAA complaint, combined with the emotion and personal reaction we all have to travel snags, compounded by the sheer number of flights canceled, left very little breathing room for American's management team. Observing American's unenviable position has led me to the following lessons on how to communicate today during a crisis, especially when it extends over several days:
Communicate right away, do it sincerely, and do it from the top.
People want the facts, they want a meaningful apology, and they want to hear from someone in a top position. But internal pressures often delay leaders from reaching out directly to the public. Saying "I'm really, really sorry" can be a welcome band-aid for wounded customers, but it can become more of a twisted dagger -- say for families spending their holidays at airport motels -- if it comes too late.
More so, jaded customers are increasingly expecting meaningful actions to address their inconveniences. And when customers don't receive the treatment they expect, the damage they inflict can be near-instant. People will blog their opinions within seconds of forming them, spinning their own experiences out into the world well ahead of the corporate PR machine. For example, even one generally sympathetic blogger lamented, "Because American canceled all its flights out of Salt Lake City, all American employees went home, so there was no one there to help with my ticket." Not exactly the image American was looking for.
Some of American's "valued customers" received apology emails from Dan Garton, Executive Vice President of Marketing. The apology would have been much more effective coming personally from the CEO, rather than a marketing manager who probably had very little to do with the decisions that affected so many customers. And when CEO Gerard Arpey did eventually apologize three days into the crisis, it wasn't soon enough.
Take a personal tone and focus on what's relevant.
Clear, consistent, and compassionate language is paramount. While American succeeded in some areas of communicating their case, they were not always strong or specific enough. As another blogger said of CEO Gerard Arpey's apology, "he didn't apologize for the inconvenience to customers, just for his failure to ensure safety standards are met."
American's choice of language has been described as "sanitized." Consider, for example, alerts on the American Airlines website announcing, "Aircraft Inspections Affect Some AA Travel." One executive cited handing out press releases as a way of reaching people on the ground. Another apology email to customers was sent en masse, losing the personal touch with phrases like, "If in your travels you were among the many who have been personally affected." This kind of tepid and generic approach rarely satisfies anyone.
Communicate with your customers wherever your customers are.
American's relatively level stock price last week attests to effective communications with the financial market. However, as Roger Frizzell, American Airline's VP of corporate communications, told PR Week, stranded passengers are "probably the one audience we had trouble reaching." Those weary travelers may represent a small percentage of the total population, but in terms of the long-term strategy of the airlines, they are a critical audience; their treatment could affect a much broader swath of customers and potential customers in this connected world.
Ensuring that you deliver the facts and resources customers need is, of course, essential. But understanding and engaging with individual customers online -- both through relationships with the blogging community and by making individual posts to blogs -- is also paramount.
The news world is becoming increasingly fragmented and personal. Becoming adept in providing information quickly through both official and unofficial channels is critical to balancing any adverse news coverage. It is also fundamental to reaching customers and stakeholders -- and protecting the company's reputation and brand.
Kathy Bloomgarden is co-CEO of Ruder Finn, one of the world's largest public relations agencies, and the author of Trust: The Secret Weapon of Effective Business Leaders.
American Airlines' Reputation Crisis
American Airlines has received a lot of negative attention recently.
In January a snowstorm in Chicago caused the cancellation of numerous flights. This week the airline cancelled over 3,000 flights (more than 600 today alone) to conduct wiring checks on the planes, stranding more than a quarter of a million passengers.
To add to the airline's misery, its pilots union went on the offensive as the Allied Pilots' Association took out a big ad in USA Today to attack the airline's management. The ad links to a new site called Tell Your AA Story, which claims to be "produced by a group of concerned American Airlines employees."
The site encourages passengers and employees alike to share their stories of dissatisfaction with the union and with American Airlines management, although it warns:Note: your message will be sent to AA management, but we cannot guarantee that they will read, much less respond, to your concerns.
Double trouble. The airline is facing a major reputation crisis. So what is American Airlines doing to address the situation?
Offline Response
According to PR Week, the company has mobilized its entire communications team (a whopping seven people) and prioritized "direct engagement with passengers on the ground." In addition:
* AA held multiple press conferences for reporters, one of which included a b-roll of an inspection of an American Airline plane, as well as photos demonstrating the wiring in question.
Ok, to be honest I'm not sure American could have come out on top in terms of the passengers at the airport. I'm not convinced that handing out press kits is the way to go though, especially when the releases don't fit the messaging that your VP of communications is using:
So far, so good. Helping reporters to understand what's going on is a good idea.
* [American Airlines' VP of corporate communications Roger] Frizzell acknowledged, however, that the person waiting in the airport doesn't care why the planes were grounded, just that his or her life was disrupted, so the company needed to address that in its communications.Again, good. They understand that excuses won't cut it. Another note in the story, though, made me raise my eyebrows.
* Frizzell told PR Week that American "passed out press releases to consumers waiting in the airport to keep them informed."
Wait, what? That's your idea of direct engagement?
These inspections were necessary to ensure compliance with a Federal Aviation Administration directive related to the bundling of wires in the wheel well of the MD-80 aircraft.
Online Response
The company's website doesn't put the best face on the situation, either.
There is a (understated) message at the top of the American Airlines homepage: "Aircraft Inspections Affect Some AA Travel." The content of the next page, though, does very little to convey any sense of caring about its customers. Apart from a perfunctory message at the top, the rest of the page is very functional and to-the-point. "Sanitized is the word I'd use. The page shows customers how to get a refund, how to re-book and how to get to the company's press releases.
Say what you will about how JetBlue handled its crisis last year, it did provide a somewhat personal response through a video message by its CEO David Neeleman. It wasn't the best response in terms of the execution or timing, but the right idea was there.
American Airlines, on the other hand, has done little in this area. It wasn't until yesterday that CEO Gerard Arpey apologized for the debacle - three days after it started. Even then, as others have pointed out, he didn't apologize for the inconvenience to customers, just for his failure to ensure safety standards are met. What's more, his apology doesn't appear anywhere on the American Airlines website.
Overall, their online reaction gets a failing grade from my perspective.
Conclusion
American Airlines is in a tough position. This isn't a crisis that communications alone can solve. Also, to be fair, they've done several things right:
* Focusing on the customers on the ground
However, there are a lot of things they could do better:
* Multiple press conferences
* Educating reporters about the situation
* Keeping people up-to-date with what's happening.
* Find a more personal, less sanitized way of keeping people on the ground informed
* Make sure everyone is singing the same tune
* Make the website about the people, not just the process
* Get out there sooner
* Have the CEO apologize for what matters to customers
* Put the CEO's apology up on the website.
Airline Bungles Its Blunder: How American Made A Problem Worse
April 13, 2008
Filed under: Uncategorized — markcarpenter @ 10:34 pm
Tags: airlines, crisis management, flight delays, public relations, travel
I'm sitting in the Chicago airport reflecting on another airline blunder I got caught in. If you've watched the news at all, you know that American Airlines cancelled thousands of flights last week in order to catch up on some routine maintenance of some planes. I was scheduled to fly on American from Salt Lake City to Chicago on Thursday with my son's high school band and orchestra tour. The group was scheduled on three different flights, two on American and one on Northwestern. Wednesday morning, American announced that the early flight we were on was cancelled. The tour group scrambled to reschedule people on three other flights getting to Chicago within a day of the original schedule. Then a few hours later, American cancelled the other flight for our group, sending us into scramble mode again. The end result for our group was that instead of all of us arriving in Chicago within a few hours of each other on Thursday afternoon, students were spread across seven flights arriving from Thursday afternoon to late Friday night. I got to escort a group of 13 teenagers from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles and on a red-eye to Chicago arriving at 5 a.m. on Friday. I'm still a little bleary eyed.
American Airlines exhibited one of the common business problems I see today – and one that public relations professionals have to manage in crisis mode. The problem was not WHAT they did. The maintenance of airplanes is important; I support it wholeheartedly. The problem was in HOW they did it. By announcing flight cancellations within hours of scheduled flight times, American left thousands of people across the country stranded in airports and scrambling for flights on other carriers. If they had announced the flight cancellations a day or two in advance of the scheduled flights, people would have had more alternatives for travel plans.
Sometimes business leaders make tough decisions with an attitude of "well, this has to be done" mentality. While that is often true about WHAT has to be done, HOW it is done is equally – and sometimes more – important to key publics. The approach American took shows a distinct lack of interest in their travelers' needs. It's just a business decision that "has to be done." If more consideration was given to the impact on travelers, maybe the implementation would have been different. What might have happened (yes, this is pure speculation) if American Airlines had given customers three or four days notice that flights would have been cancelled. Sure, people would have been put out. Sure people would have complained. Sure, people would have been scrambling to change travel. But they wouldn't have been doing it while stuck in an airport.
The capper for me was when I was checking in on my re-arranged United Airlines flight to Chicago by way of Los Angeles. United personnel needed a code from American to finalize my reservation. But because American cancelled all its flights out of Salt Lake City, all American employees went home, so there was no one there to help with my ticket. Again, it doesn't seem they were thinking of the customer.
Lest this become just a diatribe against American Airlines, make this application in your public relations roles. When tough business decisions have to be made, be the one who raises the question, "Which of our key publics is impacted, and how can we minimize that impact?" By doing so, you can make the tough decisions with reduced impact on your organization's reputation.
As a post script, I just got back to Salt Lake City – but my luggage didn't. American Airlines left my luggage in Chicago. When we asked about it, they immediately were able to tell me the bag was still in Chicago, but they weren't able to tell me why it didn't get on the plane. Hmm. I'm seeing an uncomfortable trend in the treatment of customers.
American Airlines comms target those on the ground
Rose Gordon
April 11, 2008
FT WORTH, TX: American Airlines prioritized direct engagement with grounded passengers in the wake of canceling of 3,079 flights over the past four days.
The company enlisted its seven-person communications team, as well as other staffers, to inform the public of the reasons behind the delays and options for getting to their destinations, Roger Frizzell, American Airline's VP of corporate communications and advertising, told PRWeek. He added that American passed out press releases to consumers waiting in the airport to keep them informed.
During the last four days, 300 of American's MD-80 fleet were grounded due to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandate for further work and inspection related to the bundling of wires in the aircrafts' wheel wells. The Fort Worth-based airline expected to return to normal operations by Saturday evening, April 12.
Calling it "probably the single largest cancelation" in the airline industry, Frizzell said his internal communications team and AOR Weber Shandwick have put all their focus on the issue, delivering communication messages to consumers, the government, and investors, in addition to giving talking points and news to employees.
AA held multiple press conferences for reporters, one of which included a b-roll of an inspection of an American Airline plane, as well as photos demonstrating the wiring in question.
Frizzell likened the scope of the department's response to the cancelations it experienced directly after 9/11.
"While 9/11 was just a tremendous crisis... this had its own unique issues, and, in some cases, was even more intense, especially when you consider that never at any time [in this case] was safety an issue," Frizzell said.
The incident comes a month after FFA concerns over inspections grounded a handful of Southwest planes.
American believes the planes were safe to fly and that it had already complied with a previous FAA order that gave it 18 months to address the wiring concerns.
Frizzell acknowledged, however, that the person waiting in the airport doesn't care why the planes were grounded, just that his or her life was disrupted, so the company needed to address that in its communications.
"To be very honest, if you're at the airport that's probably a very difficult situation," he said. "That's probably the one audience we had trouble reaching."