JetBlue horrors
After talking to people at airports and getting no where, I called JetBlue’s customer service line yesterday. The guy I talked to, and his manager, both told me they couldn’t do anything for me, but if I wrote in directly to JetBlue, they could investigate the matter further and possibly offer me some recompense.
For those of you unfamiliar with what happened, the story is told in the complaint letter I sent to JetBlue:
Prior to departing Washington DC, we were informed the flight had been delayed. The ground crew told us we might miss our connecting flight in New York, but we would probably be okay. We were asked if we wanted to take the chance. Since my wife (Ashley) and I both had work the following Monday morning in Las Vegas, and since the crew was telling us we would probably make the connection, we decided to take the chance.
When we arrived at New York, we were told our plane had left about five minutes before we got there. We were then told that “since we had been warned,” we would have to find our own accommodations for the night. While we found this ridiculous, perhaps the most irksome part of the whole situation was that we both had to miss work the following day!
I understand that unexpected delays come up — weather, air traffic control, etc. — but as these things come up so regularly, a professional commercial airline should come to expect them and understand how to deal with them. Yes, our flight left DC late, but would it have been so hard for the connecting flight to wait an extra 15 or 30 minutes? That kind of lateness can easily be made up on a transcontinental flight. Or perhaps arrangements could have been made to have us fly a different airline? A so-called “customer friendly” company such as JetBlue should be able to work something out to please its customers.
My wife and I will be moving to the DC area soon. Since both our families live on the West Coast, flying will likely become fairly frequent for all of us. As things stand at this point, I can’t say I will want to use JetBlue, and I will certainly advise my family against it if this is how its customers are treated.
This is the response I received:
Dear Mr. Robison,
Thank you for your email regarding your JetBlue flight on May 31. We regret to hear that you and your wife were not able to connect to your flight due to our delayed flight to Washington/Dulles (IAD). We know your travel plans were important and we understand your frustration at missing your connection.
When we have flight delays, we strive to let our customers know of their options prior to boarding the flight. Our records indicate that you were informed the connection had the possibility of being missed in IAD. We expect and even demand that our crewmember offer the best in service at every point. Please be assured we have forwarded your comments to our leadership.
Although we strive for the highest level of customer service, that does not always constitute a refund, compensation, or fare adjustment. We must respectfully deny your request for compensation.
We hope you will offer us another opportunity to welcome you onboard and look forward to sharing a comfortable JetBlue experience with you and your family.
I guess we’ll be avoiding JetBlue from now on. I’d recommend everyone else do the same.
June 4th, 2009 at 8:20am
So what was your other option from DC? They told you that the flight was delayed and asked if you wanted to risk it—if you would have chosen NOT to risk it, what would they have done? Did they even give you an option?
June 4th, 2009 at 2:48pm
Stay in DC another night. I’m not sure if they would’ve paid for it or not, though. According to JetBlue’s “customer bill of rights” (which should just be called the “what we fall back on in order to deny you service”), anything that is out of JetBlue’s control (weather, air traffic control, etc.) is not their responsibility. It’s basically a big blanket for them to not take responsibility for issues.
June 4th, 2009 at 6:58pm
Wow that really sucks. Usually, after people make such complaints, a company will give SOME kind of offer to a customer! If not a partial refund, at the very least a discount voucher for the next flight or something! (Not that you would use them again because of that, but still, it’s more than nothing.) I can’t believe they just came out and said, “We must respectfully deny your request for compensation”, and then still ask you to fly with them again. Ridiculous! I had a rather pleasant experience with them so I am saddened to hear you guys were treated so poorly. Thanks for the heads up! I am ALL about excellent customer service and any company should know that the most effective form of advertisement is word of mouth, good or bad.
June 7th, 2009 at 6:28pm
SouthWest holds flights all of the time. We were in Salt Lake this last Christmas waiting for take off and they came over the speaker and said:
“We have to sit here at the gate because a flight was late taking of from Spokane and this is their connecting flight to Las Vegas. We don’t want those passengers to miss their connection.”
So we waited for 15 minutes. Three people (3!) arrived and boarded. Nobody made a fuss, nobody cared, and we all made it to Vegas in a timely manner. Everybody was happy! =D
So JetBlue needs to take a lesson from SouthWest and hold their flights for a reasonable amount of time. So I’ll agree to boycotting JetBlue with you. =]