JetBlue's Cautionary Move May Cost Customers
Last week, JetBlue’s board of directors replaced its founder and CEO David Neeleman with the company’s COO David Barger.
The impassioned leader whose name is synonymous with the airline he started nine years ago, built an emotionally connected airline with a laser focus on the customer.
The change follows the February 14th disruption of JetBlue operations at Kennedy International Airport during a snow storm that left hundreds of passengers stranded for hours on airplanes sitting on tarmacs.
But customers' appreciation for the airline has already been sliding up, according to the New York Times, which reported last week that J. D. Power & Associates sees the airline's satisfaction scores climbing again.
This makes sense. I recently sat in a JetBlue terminal and was chatting with my fellow passengers. One man said because Neeleman immediately apologized after the storm, that made things right for him. The other passengers agreed.
I just hope that JetBlue isn’t making a mistake in squeezing out the vigilant Neeleman, who’s not only known for his vision of a non-conventional airline, but for elevating the company with customers by personally speaking to them to obtain feedback and then to deliver to their needs.
Newspaper reports say there are talks of JetBlue's board wanting to introduce first-class seating, which is one step closer toward making JetBlue like any other airline. Hopefully the company won't toss out Neeleman's model that was so successful in differentiating itself in the industry and building an emotional bond with customers.
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