“Kennedy” panelists react to Southwest Airways canceling and delaying 80% of flights throughout Christmas vacation.
After days of widespread flight cancellations that left hundreds of consumers stranded throughout the U.S. over the vacations, Southwest Airways says it expects operations to be again to regular on Friday. However restoring the once-beloved service’s good identify will doubtless take lots longer.
“There isn’t any query the airline has misplaced the religion and belief of many air vacationers — lots of whom are nonetheless sitting in airports,” says Kelcey Kintner, a disaster response professional and senior vp at international public relations agency Pink Banyan.
A traveler waits outdoors the Southwest Airways baggage workplace at Oakland Worldwide Airport in Oakland, California, Dec. 28, 2022. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg through Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
Kintner instructed FOX Enterprise that it’s protected to say fewer folks will fly Southwest across the holidays subsequent 12 months after this debacle, mentioning that the airline additionally canceled hundreds of flights over a four-day span roughly a 12 months in the past.
She says Southwest leaned too closely on the climate as an excuse at first of this 12 months’s disaster however has now moved to a simpler technique by admitting it fell quick.
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CEO Bob Jordan has apologized for the chaos, Kintner famous, however acknowledged that whereas he mentioned a whole lot of the precise issues in a video message days after the meltdown started, there was an absence of an emotional connection.
Southwest Airways CEO Bob Jordan speaks on the state of the airline amid hundreds of flight cancellations over the previous week.
“He wanted to faucet into and specific what it felt prefer to be a guardian who had been entertaining a toddler in an airport for 3 days, a senior whose bag was misplaced with their medicine inside, and the vacationers and workers who could not get to their locations to see their households,” Kintner mentioned of Jordan, saying the CEO missed the mark and got here off as too stiff and formal.
“An apology solely actually works if it feels very genuine and heartfelt,” she mentioned. “However this video will not make or break Southwest. The way forward for the airline relies on the actions taken within the aftermath of this mammoth disruption of service.”
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The query now’s: How does Southwest win clients again?
Kintner says the corporate has to place motion behind its phrases by refunding vacationers and getting them to their locations, whereas additionally making it as much as their extremely annoyed workers.
A Southwest staffer kinds baggage tags at Los Angeles Worldwide Airport, Dec. 28, 2022, in Los Angeles. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Instances through Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
The PR professional says Southwest has to get severe about fixing its operational challenges in order that the airline can deal with extreme climate and different service disruptions, or else it is going to be limitless fodder for social media and late-night exhibits.
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She mentioned the airline additionally want to speak very authentically and transparently with the general public and its employees.
“Some clients won’t ever e book on Southwest once more, but when the corporate handles this proper shifting ahead, they’ll slowly recuperate,” Kintner mentioned, including, “However it’s not going to be straightforward.”
