Airlines and social media: dialogue waiting to happen

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Social media means that airlines just have another place where they can be raked over the coals. We complain to ticket agents. We complain to gate agents. We complain to customer service reps. And now, we can complain to the world, thanks to the likes of Twitter. I, for example, follow @DeltaSucks, though there hasn’t been any action on it in several months. I don’t just listen, though. When I’m stuck in an airport, I tweet relentlessly, and I know I’m not alone.

So, what’s an airline to do about this? And Facebook? And YouTube?

The attack is coming on all fronts, and an industry that’s been beaten up so severely and so often has few options. For now, the response is limited to tweeting fare deals, but obviously, that does little to address the continued stream of negative exposure to which the airlines are subjected.

When in doubt, the philosophy on social media complaints appears to be silence. Continental and American Airlines wouldn’t comment on recent tweets from disgruntled fliers, according to a Reuters report. They are monitoring and claim to be responding, but that’s about all. Billy Sanez, who manages social media for American’s parent, AMR, believes that these platforms make it easier to open a dialogue with passengers … but where is that dialogue?

When I got pissed off at JetBlue a year ago, I wrote about it on my personal blog and heard nothing from JetBlue. But, I did hear from other passengers … one of whom was afraid to say too much because he was still in transit and didn’t want to risk angering the airline. This level of paranoia may be extreme, but the implication is clear: passengers could find even a small blog, but airlines are squandering a chance to really engage the people who pay their bills.

Christi Day, who takes care of Twitter and Facebook for Southwest Airlines, told Reuters, “The main thing that our customers need to know is that we hear them.” But, again, there is no discussion of what the airline is doing about it.

Customers finally have a voice, and as we saw with “United Breaks Guitars,” it can get pretty loud. While the airlines may be listening, we’re still waiting for the second half of “dialogue” to happen.

“New” Delta Still Blames “Old” Weather

by Iva Skoch on

It was supposed to be a relaxing weekend with a group of dear friends in Maine. It sure didn’t start out that way…

On Friday afternoon, we get to JFK airport to be told by a Delta representative that our flight was canceled.

“The weather,” says the rep as if that answers everything.

“The weather? Why don’t you just wait for the weather to get better rather than canceling?” I say.

“I don’t know. It’s the pilot’s decision,” she says.

“It seems odd. It is gorgeous in New York, Boston and Maine,” I say.

“Sorry. The computer says the weather is bad.” Says the rep. She was done with us. No offer to put us on a different flight, compensate us, nothing.

Well, if the computer says the weather is bad, then it must be bad. Still, something tells me that “the computer” also finds it convenient to cancel flights and then blame the weather to avoid having to compensate travelers. This is not the first time Delta has been accused of doing this.

I will spare you the details of our adventurous trip up to Maine but I will mention that they finally put us on an alternative flight to Boston instead (somehow, the weather for that flight was OK) and a shuttle from there to Portland, ME. Needless to say, the weather was great throughout this entire trip.

I was shocked how poorly Delta treated us. They basically kept saying “Well, it’s the weather, there is nothing we can do.” I know for a fact that there are things they can do. So can I. Never flying Delta again is step one. (Unless, of course, I get a personal apology letter from Delta’s CEO, like Bruce Nussbaum from Business Week did. Yeah, right.)