Angry with an airline? Don’t phone, tweet

Not so long ago, a man on a plane was served a sandwich he didn’t like. He used Twitter – the real-time personal news feed, if you didn’t know – to alert the world to his displeasure. An airline employee on the ground saw the tweet, relayed the message to a flight attendant who minutes later asked the man what could be done to assuage his disappointment.

Welcome to travel 2012 style, if you’re doing it right.

Once seemingly impenetrable behemoths, airlines have become remarkably accessible thanks to social media, especially in the real-time world of Twitter. Most, if not all, airlines have Twitter feeds that allow customers to converse and, more important, solve problems in real time, whether for a large issue (stranded in an airport) or small (a lousy sandwich).

Stuart Greif, vice president of global travel for J.D. Power and Associates, said the sandwich story, which he said he discussed with an executive of the airline involved, shows social media’s benefits for the travelers who are savvy enough to use them.

“If a customer has a problem, the fastest way to address it has become social media,” Greif said. “Younger generations might never call into a call center. They might always go online and address these things in real time.”

Another platform could one day overtake Twitter, but for now it is the primary tool for real-time reaction from an industry that triggers anxiety and frustration like few others. Go to any of the major airlines’ Twitter feeds, and you will see (often entertaining) exchanges with frustrated passengers.

“We consider Twitter the canary in the coal mine,” said Morgan Johnston, JetBlue‘s social media strategist. “It’s not always fun to be called out publicly, but if there’s something really wrong with our operation, it shows up a lot faster, and we’re able to fix it.”Among the most aggressive Twitter users has been American Airlines, which has sent more messages than any of its competitors and which recently expanded its Twitter coverage from 6am to midnight, up from 7 am to 8pm. The ultimate goal is staffing 24 hours a day, as several other airlines already do.

In our region, Qantas leads the way with 17,000 tweets published, though its social media strategy has occasionally backfired.

via Angry with an airline? Don’t phone, tweet.

Strange Random Anger Quote:

“Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.” ― Ambrose Bierce

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Is Bankruptcy ‘Business As Usual’ For Airline Industry? : NPR

As American Airlines struggled to keep up with its rivals in recent years, it could at least boast something that competitors could not: The Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier had never gone bankrupt. Not anymore.

On Tuesday, American‘s parent, AMR Corp., filed for bankruptcy protection, citing $10 billion in loses over the past decade. In a statement, it said it took the step in hopes of bringing down costs and emerging more competitive.

You might say it’s almost business as usual for the airline industry. United, Northwest and Delta have all taxied down the Chapter 11 tarmac. US Airways did it twice in as many years.

But David Arthur Skeel, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and an expert in corporate bankruptcy, remembers that things were different 20 years ago, when Eastern Airlines and Pan Am went belly up.

“If you contacted a travel agent, they would ask you if you were willing to fly on a bankrupt airline,” he said. “They don’t ask that anymore.”

Fading Stigma?

Skeel said it illustrates not only how commonplace airline bankruptcies have become, but also how the stigma of bankruptcy itself has all but disappeared. To be sure, Eastern Airlines and Pan Am ultimately liquidated; all the major airlines struggling today went through Chapter 11, allowing them to keep flying while they restructured debt and operations.

via Is Bankruptcy ‘Business As Usual’ For Airline Industry? : NPR.

Strange Random Airlines Quote:

This is a nasty, rotten business. — Robert L. Crandall, CEO & President of American Airlines.

Related articles

• American Airlines’ Bankruptcy: Who Loses? (forbes.com)
• American Airlines: grounded or just refuelling? (guardian.co.uk)
• American Airlines bankruptcy protection: analysts’ reaction (telegraph.co.uk)
• American Airlines Files for Bankruptcy, The only Major U.S. Airline that Didn’t File in the Aftermath of 2001 Islamic Attacks on USA (atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com)
• American Airlines parent seeks Ch. 11 protection (goerie.com)
• American Airlines: Bankrupt Companies Are Healthier Than They Used to Be (curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com)
• American Airlines files for bankruptcy, but analysts say it’s business as usual (100gf.wordpress.com)
• American Airlines timeline (seattletimes.nwsource.com)