No one kicks a dead dog!!

Last year on Valentines day, Jet Blue (high value low cost airline in the US) reset their systems. As simple as it sounds, this was a major debacle from an operational standpoint. The airline just didn’t start-up like a well oiled machine. People were stranded at airports, missed meeting loved ones and the business media was quick to make this a chart topping news item….It took a total of 48 hours (I think it was more) to get the operations and passengers back on schedule.

The shares took a beating and so did the enormous goodwill and brand that JetBlue had built painstakingly over the last many years.

The management response however was classic….The CEO came up with something called a “Passenger Bill of Rights”. This document was made public in a matter of 72 hours. All the fares of stranded passengers were refunded. The bill of rights came up with suggestions and ideas to empower the customers.

In parallel, JetBlue made sure that all the media covering the debacle also applauded the Bill of Rights. Overnight the JetBlue stock rebounded and more importantly, JetBlue used a crisis it created in the first place to its advantage.

Something similar happened to United last year. I think there are still passengers trying to get out of the O’Hare airport. I for one, spent overnight in the airport doing the Tom Hanks in the Terminal routine by brushing and shaving in the airport and enjoying the luxuries of an early morning Mac Donald’s breakfast.

A more recent example to share is Netflix. I have been using the service for the last 3 years and they are simply awesome! Great service, excellent value, super movie collection and a very engaging online experience sum it up for Netflix.

Thestreet.com reported a crash in the Fulfillment system in Netflix and as a result the customers did not receive CD’s. I realized that I was also a day delayed in the delivery of the dvd’s. Everyone from bulge bracket analysts to national reporters wrote about this mishap and how some other online media delivery systems are better.

Two things to clarify here….1. Netflix online delivery model has taken off and for sure they have a winner again. 2. In all these years of service if the system blipped just once, I must say the reliability is state of the art.

The moral: great management’s use the brickbats thrown at them to reinforce the foundation of their enterprise.