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When Travel Goes Wrong: How Crisis Communication Works For Airlines

Traveling is usually associated with the happy feelings of going on vacation, going to visit family, or going to explore somewhere new. Unfortunately, the process of getting to the destination doesn’t always go so smoothly. When airlines experience delays, inclement weather, low staffing, government shutdowns, and global pandemics, airlines have to work quickly to relay these messages to their customers.

During the most recent government shutdown, airports across the nation experienced severe delays and cancellations. With 5.2 million people affected and over 9000 cancelled flights, United Airlines was heavily impacted by the FAA’s directive to cancel flights. These cancellations were exceedingly high, but they were similar to the numbers to the Covid-19 pandemic. During the time, United Airlines watched their nearly 600,000 daily customers dwindle down to about 10,000.

According to Campaign, United Airlines was one of the first airlines to release a statement to both workers and consumers about the gravity of the situation and what their plan was. This quick, direct communication was key in assisting them in moving forward with their loyal customers. They also were sure to give “generous and simple” refunds for these situations that were out of everyone's control.

United Airlines along with numerous other airlines like JetBlue and Southwest were sure to post on their social media accounts, specifically Instagram, as most of their consumers look to social media for big news. While it is deeply important to keep customers informed, it is equally as important to have good internal communications. This ensures that all staff are well informed early, that they feel respected by their corporation, and can assist in informing customers as needed.

While the pandemic was horrific for numerous reasons, in this case for airlines, it helped lay the groundwork for how airlines have responded to the government shutdown. According to the VP of communications for United, “There were important takeaways from that experience that set us up for success during this current crisis — the biggest being prioritizing internal communications — and we’ve retained that posture post-pandemic.”

Crises are bound to happen, and being able to pull from prior experiences and communicate quickly will help mitigate the situation. When all parties are handling the crisis well, getting information out through outlets that are accessible to all, and remaining level headed to make clear decisions, a corporation like United Airlines will make it through a crisis as best as possible.

Link to Article: https://www.campaignlive.com/article/airline-crisis-pr-3-ways-carriers-mitigated-government-shutdown-impact/1939738