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Navigate home Schedule week 1 Texts Brummett, Barry. Rhetoric in Popular Culture. 2d ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006 . Ball, Cheryl E. and Kristin L. Arola. ix Visual Exercises. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004. Class handouts and online resources as assigned |
The Problem
Here's the deal. Unless you haven't watched TV since mid-February, you know that on Feb. 14, JetBlue ended up with thousands of passengers trapped at New York's JFK airport, the hub of its operations. This became continuous TV fodder because it was a slow week for news and New York's got lots of camera crews. Inexcusably, JetBlue let its problems repeat like a bad pastrami sandwich: it had up to 5,000 angry customers at JFK's Terminal 6, some of whom were stuck there for days. There were also 2,500 pieces of misplaced—and oh-so-telegenic—luggage.
A storm on Valentine's Day whirled snow and ice through JetBlue's hub, New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, leaving the airline's passengers stuck for hours inside planes waiting for take-off, according to news reports. JetBlue had to cancel about a third of its flights through the President's Day weekend, Morgan Stanley says. The cost was steep: $4 million in overtime and other expenses, $10 million in passenger refunds, and $16 million worth of vouchers for future travel, according to news reports.
On Feb. 17, JetBlue, still reeling from a snowstorm that forced hundreds of Valentine's Day flights to be canceled or delayed, called off another 266 flights scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
The 133 flights canceled for each day represent 23 percent of JetBlue's schedule, the airline said in a statement.
The decision, which will allow the airline to reposition crews and aircraft, means that at least 861 flights have been canceled by the carrier since a midweek snowstorm.
All JetBlue flights were canceled in and out of 11 airports: Richmond; Pittsburgh; Charlotte, N.C.; Raleigh/Durham, N.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Austin; Houston; Columbus, Ohio; Nashville; Portland, Maine; and Bermuda. JetBlue said affected customers will receive full refunds or credits and may rebook their flights anytime through May 22.
Officials also warned that additional cancellations are possible and advised travelers to call ahead before heading to the airport. Affected customers may receive refunds or rebook their flights, the airline said.
JetBlue's problems began Wednesday, when its operations at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport were overwhelmed by the storm. With dozens of grounded jets and not enough gates to unload passengers, some flights were stranded on the tarmac for up to 10 hours.
JetBlue is the biggest carrier at Kennedy Airport, with about 200 departures a day.
The airline said it tried to get its system back to normal by selectively canceling flights Thursday and Friday, but long delays continued because of constraints.
By Feb. 20, nearly a week after more than 500 JetBlue passengers were stranded on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport for more than six hours, the Forest Hills-based airline began the process of attempting to repair its badly damaged public image.
A spokesman for JetBlue Airways said Tuesday the airline was "100 percent operational," meaning it was back on track following a chaotic six-day stretch that saw the cancellation of more than 1,000 JetBlue flights.
In addition, JetBlue spokesman Sebastian White said that by the end of Tuesday hundreds of unclaimed bags would be reunited with their owners.
The bags, which belonged to customers who checked into flights that were eventually canceled, were piled outside JetBlue's Baggage Services Office Sunday, a clear indication of just how bad things had gotten for the discount airline.
Besides the cancellations - which included all flights to 11 mid-market cities during the three-day holiday weekend - hundreds more flights were delayed following the Valentine's Day snowstorm.
The storm wreaked utter havoc on JetBlue's operations, inconveniencing thousands of passengers and it remained to be seen if JetBlue, which had been lauded for its customer service, would recover.
Beleaguered passengers said they were frustrated and shocked by the extent of the delays.
"I didn't take time off work to sit in an airport-this is ridiculous," said Caroline Thomas, a Brooklyn resident who was supposed to go Nashville Friday morning. Her flight was delayed, then canceled. JetBlue cancelled all flights to Nashville over the holiday weekend, leaving Thomas in the lurch. She said Sunday afternoon that her planned vacation would likely have to be scrapped.
In an interview with The New York Times Monday (Feb. 19), David Neeleman, JetBlue's founder and chief executive officer, said he was "mortified and humiliated" by the situation that unfolded at JFK.
The Solution?
The events that unfolded involving JetBlue’s failure that played out between February 14 and February 22 is an example of an everyday text. The second part of that text includes the responses of JetBlue to what happened. If you were part of a response team at JetBlue given the responsibility of deciding how to respond to the passengers and the public in a rhetorically effective way, what would you do?
Questions to get started – What’s at stake? Who is involved? What is the current and future context? What are the goals?
JetBlue's Responses
Letter to passengers and as paid advertsement in major newspapers
Customer Bill of Rights
YouTube message