What’s Up With JetBlue Lately? — Part II

November 2, 2009 | Uncategorized

About a week-and-a-half ago I posted What’s Up With JetBlue Lately?, in which I lauded JetBlue on its state-of-the-art terminal at JFK, but also raised a few questions regarding the direction in which I see the company going. One of the things I mentioned was an FAA safety violation, putting an infirmed person in a seat in an exit row.

I lodged a complaint via the company’s website and later brought it to the attention of JB’s corporate communications staff. The following are the exchanges of emails that ensued, posted without editing or further comment, from which you can draw your own conclusions:

My original message to JetBlue (sent, as directed by JB’s staff) via the “Speak Up” link on its booking website:

On flt 1309 — JFK to IAD — on Sept 29 the woman sitting next to me in the exit row (I was in seat 12D) was handicapped. Unfortunately her hands were deformed to a point where she was unable to hold things (she was unable to hold the cup of ice brought to her by the attendant and dropped it on the floor) and required a wheelchair to both board and deplane. Why was she permitted to sit in the exit row?

Jim Ferri

Two days later I received the following email from JetBlue’s Customer Service:

Dear Mr. Ferri,

Thank you for contacting JetBlue Airways regarding the guidelines for emergency row seating and the customer sitting in this row. We appreciate the opportunity to respond.

Emergency doors are often heavy and awkward to lift, push, pull and maneuver when opening. For the safety of all customers, federal regulations require that the customer seated in an emergency exit row be able to assist the crew in the event of an emergency.

All customers sitting in the exit row must be willing and able to meet the following exit row requirements:

15 years of age or older
able to read, understand and give instructions in English
free from any condition that would prevent you from performing the required duties
willing and able to assist in case of an emergency.

We ask the customer questions upon check-in to make sure they qualify for the emergency row. Airport Customer Service crewmembers will make the final decision in determining who will be seated in exit row seats, even when seats have been assigned prior to arrival at the airport. We will forward your concerns to our Inflight Leadership Team.

We assure you, Safety is our first priority to our customers and our crewmembers. We appreciate your feedback and look forward to welcoming you onboard a future JetBlue flight.

Regards,

Carolyn
Customer Commitment Crew
JetBlue Airways

On Friday morning I then contacted Jenny Dervin, JetBlue’s Director of Corporate Communications by telephone, explained the whole thing (and the FAA violation) and forwarded via email the Customer Service reply. I explained I would be posting another blog on the subject today and requested the company’s comments both regarding my original communication to customer service and the safety issue as soon as possible.

On Friday after noon I received the following email from JetBlue:

Hi Jim,

Thanks for giving us the opportunity to respond, but more importantly, thank you for the information.

As for the pro forma response… well, I can tell you that sometimes our goal of responding with relevant information in a very timely manner may inadvertently create the impression that we haven’t responded directly enough to the information given.  I apologize for that.  I will verify with our Customer support center, but in my experience, the information they receive is typically forwarded to the proper operational leaders as data points to motivate action.  I will make sure they receive the feedback that the responses they give can be a little more detailed and responsive.

Thank you again for the information, both of your flight experience and our response to it.

Please don’t hesitate to call me if I can be of any assistance.

Best,

Jenny

As I said, what’s up with JetBlue lately?

Has anyone else encountered similar Customer Service situations with the airlines?

Jim Ferri