ASSESSMENT OF JETBLUE’S RESPONSE TO THE FEBRUARY ICE STORM Prepared for Kim Smith Vice President of Customer Relations JetBlue Airlines Prepared by Student 1 July 27, 2007 July 27, 2007 Kim Smith Vice President of Customer Relations JetBlue Airlines Dear Kim: Here is the report that you requested on JetBlue’s response following the February ice storm incident as viewed by the consumer. Your fears are unfounded; despite the February ice storm and its complications for the airline, JetBlue still remains number one in its class for customer satisfaction. Although airline research, customer surveys and blog sites are not 100% accurate, these mediums enable us to gain insight into the reactions of angry passengers to determine if the efforts you made following the ice storm will satisfy the customer to the extent that they will want to patronize JetBlue in the future. JetBlue’s quick response to angry outcries from customers has led you to another winning survey. The Customer Bill of Rights, profuse apologies to the passengers, free transfers and refunds gave JetBlue to edge once again in customer satisfaction. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to work on this assignment. If you have any questions about the report, please call any of us at 1-800-444-6666. Sincerely, Student CONTENTS PAGE Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………. iv Introduction……………………………………………………………………………....1 Assessment of JetBlue’s Response to the February Ice Storm…………………………..1 What was the Incident……………………………………………..……………..…... 1 What was the Public Response………...……………….…………..………................2 What were the Controllable and Uncontrollable Factors……..…………..………….. 3 What was JetBlue’s Response…………………………………………........................4 How has JetBlue’s Customer Image Been Affected by the February Ice Storm Incident? …………………………………................................................................... 5 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..... 9 Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………..10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURES 1. “Passenger Revolt” Blog Analysis……………………………………………………6 2. 2007 Passenger Revenue Miles Percentage Increase Percent from 2006…………….8 TABLE 1. Passenger Revenue Miles…………………………………………………………….8 iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report provides an analysis and evaluation of the current and prospective public responses of JetBlue Airways following the effects of a northeast ice storm that caused delays, cancellations, and a public relations nightmare in February 2007. The research draws attention to what consumers were feeling before the ice storm and also gives an insight to what their reactions were after the ice storm. JetBlue was considered different from other airlines because of their customer service, low fares, and unique attributions but this incident cost them a lot of money to make the customers happy. Based on the research that was performed by this watchdog group, we feel that JetBlue could have handled the situation at hand better. Not all of the right steps were taken to ensure that the customer was happy, and that should be priority number one. The way in which JetBlue came up with the Customer Bill of Rights was spectacular though. The Bill of Rights shows that the company is trying to make better after all the mistakes that were made. iv ASSESSMENT OF JETBLUE’S RESPONSE TO THE FEBRUARY ICE STORM INTRODUCTION This consumer watchdog group was contacted by Kim Smith, the VP of Customer Relations at JetBlue Airways. The project at hand refers to the recent northeast ice storm in February of 2007 and how it has affected public responses to the airline. The group is assessing the responses before and after the ice storm to see what kind of an impact has been on the public in the current situation. JetBlue Airways hopes to keep a good public image and wants to ensure that the steps they followed were appreciated by their consumers who were affected by the ice storm delays WHAT WAS THE INCIDENT? The crisis began Wednesday, February 14, 2007 when an ice storm took the Eastern United States by surprise. The majority of airlines responded by canceling more flights earlier, sending passengers home, and resuming their schedules within a day or two. JetBlue, however, cancelled only a handful of flights, assuming that the weather would clear up and it would be able to continue its flights based on forecasts that they received. This decision was made to honor the airline's policy of doing whatever it can to ensure a flight is completed, even if it means waiting for several hours. The decision was also made with hopes that the company’s revenue would keep flowing in and its customers would remain happy. Following this plan, outbound flights were sent to the runway at JFK at about 8 a.m., and prepared to take off as soon as the weather let up, while incoming flights arrived and filled up the gates. Contrary to the improved weather conditions they were expecting, the freezing rain and sleet continued. This posed as a problem because under federal aviation guidelines, planes cannot take off in ice pellet conditions. To make matters even worse, the planes and equipment started to freeze to the tarmac (Bartholomew). JetBlue's slow response to such a severe storm ended up trapping over one-thousand passengers on nine planes, which sat idle on taxiways at John F. Kennedy International Airport for six or more hours. The problem seemed to stem from the fact that the company had too many planes on the ground and not enough gates for them to park at, and as a result several flights sat for excessive amounts of time before being deplaned. By late afternoon on Wednesday, JetBlue’s management finally gave up hope of flying the planes that were sitting on the runway and called in buses to transport passengers back to the terminal. This resulted in quite the chaotic scene because many of the airport terminals, particularly the JFK hub, were already filled with impatient passengers still expecting to get on flights (Bartholomew). 1 2 The company had not anticipated the severity of their decision to keep with their schedules despite the storm, as the effects of this disaster spilled over into the remainder of the week. On the following Saturday night, the airline announced that the 23 percent of flights it had canceled on Saturday and Sunday would also be canceled Monday. This confusion, as well as broken promises, led to heated "exchanges between customers and employees," causing the airline to call out security personnel (Reed). Throughout the week, the company subjected its customers to “unacceptable delays, flight cancellations, lost baggage, and other major inconveniences.” Also, several thousand customers were stuck for hours, even days in some cases, inside JetBlue's terminal, where access to food, water, and clean restrooms quickly became scarce (Reed). Overall, the storm disrupted the movement of aircraft, and, more importantly, upset the movement of JetBlue's pilot and in-flight crewmembers, who were depending on those planes to get them to the airports where they were scheduled to serve its customers. Basically, the main problem involved JetBlue's communication system. According to David Neeleman, founder and CEO of JetBlue, "the storm had left a major portion of the airline's 11,000 pilots and flight attendants far from where they needed to be to operate the planes, and JetBlue lacked the trained staff to find them and tell them where to go. Prior to that week, JetBlue had never had so many people out of position." Usually, during disruptions, off-duty crews call into headquarters to give their location and availability to work. But given the number of flights affected, phone lines were tiedup and calls couldn't get through (Bailey). Another major problem that resulted from the storm involved the company's reservation system. Apparently it became so inundated that customers were unable to get through to agents to check on the status of a flight (Bailey). Passengers that were bumped off planes or that had arrived at airports to find their flights had been cancelled could only rebook their flights by calling the JetBlue reservation office. At this time, JetBlue did not offer its customers the option to rebook their flights through its website or using airport kiosks. Then, even after expanding their reservation system to accommodate up to 950 agents at one time, the company could barely find enough employees to staff the phones and who were knowledgeable of the system’s functionality. In the end, it was until almost an entire week that passed by before JetBlue's operations returned to normal. They finally realized that they needed to reset their operation by canceling a portion of it. This allowed crewmembers to get their FAA-mandated rest time, while simultaneously allowing the company to reposition their aircraft in the cities where they were needed for a successful return to service. By the end of the week, a total of about 1,200 flights were canceled and the airline faced an expense of $41 million dollars due to lost revenue, extra costs, and vouchers for free travel (Reed). WHAT WAS THE PUBLIC RESPONSE? One of the first responses that were brought to the attention of this watchdog group was a website dedicated to all JetBlue facts. This website would be www.jetbluehostage.com. Everything that a consumer wants to know about what happened during the ice storm and what is going on now within the JetBlue company is available on this website. 3 The first passenger reaction was from a man who was visiting New York for the first time when his flight got canceled and he had to stay in JFK. It seems that the customer service agents who were trying to help the stranded consumers did not really care what was going on in the airport. A customer service representative needs to be helpful and friendly; otherwise complaints are going to arise. That would be problem number 1; customer service was failing at their number 1 priority, the consumer. If this group was part of what happened in February of 2007, we would not be happy to see other flights taking off as usual while sitting and waiting in JFK for our flight that has been canceled. The cancellation of all the flights and leaving the one incoming flight on the runway was not a good choice to make for whatever reason it may be. What was offered to the consumer might have seemed like it was worth it, but when a consumer spends $1000 or more to find another flight and hotel accommodations, the company should know that there is a huge problem on their hands. JetBlue needs to understand that the travelers “stranded” on their planes for several hours did not understand what the hold up was for. Certain travelers were going on their honeymoons and then got off the plane to not go anywhere. When a passenger sees that there are other planes taking off in the same airport, it can become a bit discouraging. JetBlue did not properly handle the situation at JFK airport, the Customer Bill of Rights they made can be useful, but it will not make up for the stress and aggravation of being stranded on a plane. In order to maintain a professional look in a business the customer needs to be met completely. It seems as though the customer service representatives were not very willing to help people in the airport. This problem might have been caused because their leaders did not really know what was going on as well. Poor communication skills can severely damage a company’s image to the public. The customers who were dissatisfied with the ability of JetBlue let everyone knows it. Also, since they will probably not fly JetBlue again, they will also inform all friends and family members the same thing and JetBlue will loose out. WHAT WERE THE CONTROLLABLE AND UNCONTROLLABLE FACTORS? JetBlue airlines did not properly prepare for the ice storm that hit in February of 2007. The ice storm that hit caused many flyers to be stranded on the runway, as well as, in JFK airport. JetBlue was such a success before this ice storm because they had low costs for flying and they would hardly ever cancel a flight due to the weather conditions. But, in this situation, JetBlue should have taken into effect that the weather conditions were worse than they imagined. Though it is good to have an airline that cares so much about its passengers; JetBlue should not have tried so hard to accommodate during an ice storm. If the airline had taken into effect that the weather conditions were bad and consequently were not letting up, they should have canceled flights earlier in the day. By canceling the flights earlier, passengers would not have been stranded in the airport in hopes that would soon be on the next flight available. 4 The inability to cope with rescheduling so many flight crews proves to be a weakness for JetBlue airlines. At a time where more workers were needed to help accommodate passengers, JetBlue did not properly schedule their workers. The end cost that the company paid to unhappy passengers would have been less if they had just added more workers to help ease the situation. To have cancellations through Friday after the storm is considered to be unacceptable. Passengers from JetBlue flights were watching as other flights took off, but their flights were all still grounded. JetBlue should have paid more attention to the details of the weather and canceled flights earlier. The systems that JetBlue uses are not up-to-date. There was no system in place for the many stranded flight crews to call in to be rerouted. Only after the ice storm was it decided that a new system would be in order for the company. Before this ice storm though, what were crews to do if something was happening on the runway. Sitting on the runway for 11 plus hours does not seem like it would be the right decision to be making. The amount of money that JetBlue accumulated in such a short period of time, they should have been able to install a proper system in case of an emergency. A couple of the more uncontrollable factors that JetBlue had to deal with were the frozen equipment. The ice storm hit without warning and the equipment on the runway was effected the worst. This problem was where the first string of delays came from. Also, the plane being grounded was not JetBlue’s fault. The weather conditions were not safe for flying; therefore no one was leaving the airport that night. It would have been crazy if they had tried to fly during an ice storm, why put that many people in danger. In conclusion, there were a lot of things JetBlue could have done better to in order the safety and well-being of their customers. A lot of controllable factors were at hand that should have been dealt with properly, but were not. It seems as though as soon as the ice storm hit, JetBlue did not know what to do and the whole company got scared. It is quite unfortunate that is was handled in the way it was, but hopefully the company will come back through the bad times. WHAT WAS JETBLUE”S RESPONSE? As a response to the events the occurred last February, JetBlue took several steps to mend the broken bonds between itself and its various stakeholders. In an effort to emerge as a more reliable and even more customer responsive airline, the company announced that they’d begun taking immediate corrective steps to regain customers' confidence. The corporate executives began putting a comprehensive plan in place to provide better and timelier information to their customers, more tools and resources for their crewmembers, and improved procedures for handling operational difficulties in the future. Only a week after the storm, JetBlue's commitment to their customers was accurately demonstrated when they launched their Customer Bill of Rights. This new feature provides real compensation to customers inconvenienced when flights are cancelled or delayed, and outlines specific amounts owed for a given hourly delay. As one member of JetBlue's Customer Communications department put it, "It's our way of letting customers 5 know that they can count on us, even in many situations that are beyond the control of our airline. It's our way of saying (that) we screwed up" (Jet Blue Finally Responds). The Customer Bill of Rights increases JetBlue's level of responsibility to customers tremendously. The Bill most importantly states that, "All customers whose flight is cancelled by JetBlue will, at the customer’s option, receive a full refund or reaccommodation on a future JetBlue flight at no additional charge or fare. If JetBlue cancels a flight within 12 hours of scheduled departure and the cancellation is due to a Controllable Irregularity, JetBlue will also provide the customer with a Voucher valid for future travel on JetBlue in the amount paid to JetBlue for the customer’s roundtrip." It also includes their commitment in dealing with departure delays, over-bookings, and ground delays. It assures customers that they will be notified of delays prior to scheduled departure, cancellations and their cause, and diversions and their cause. Furthermore, JetBlue testifies that it will deplane customers if an aircraft is ground-delayed for five hours. In addition to the key provisions of the JetBlue Customer Bill of Rights listed, the airline formed a customer advisory council, who is consulted with regarding ongoing improvement programs (JetBlue Announces the JetBlue Customer Bill of Rights). From an internal perspective, the company has also responded in several areas. They've taken various steps to make sure their processes and tools are up to par. These changes were communicated to their customers and investors through various media tools. For example, in addition to the large ads taken out in newspapers, the stakeholders were exposed to JetBlue’s apologies and promise for a better future through an e-mail from Neeleman, a video placed on YouTube, and an apology posted on its website. All three included a sincere apology for all of the holdups, delays, inconveniences, and cancellations that they imposed on their customers the weeks following the February ice storm (Halladay). Also, in the month following the catastrophe, the company welcomed a new addition to their team. Russell G. Chew took on the role of Chief Operating Officer, and imposed a few much-needed changes to the company's operations. He began by rewiring the airline's central nervous system, or the System Operations Control center, with new technology, policies and people. The first steps have been taken to allow customers who buy their tickets through the company's website to rebook themselves or get refunds in the event of flight disruptions. Also, new managers and procedures have been put into place at the airline’s major “choke point,” John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York (JetBlue Names Russell Chew Chief Operating Officer). Another major change motivated by the hiring of Chew involved adjusting the airline's mindset to infuse what he calls "corporate discipline." Apparently, their old philosophy placed the needs of several hundred people to get to their destinations ahead of the larger obligation of preventing delays from piling up and disrupting the carrier's entire operation, a situation that affects thousands (Reed). HOW HAS JETBLUE’S CUSTOMER IMAGE BEEN AFFECTED BY THE FEBRUARY ICE STORM INCIDENT? Three areas of research were used to gauge the JB efforts to remain a customer service airline and to determine if JetBlue’s response to the ice storm incident was accepted as adequate by JetBlue’s customer base. These three areas: blogs, analysis of Passenger Revenue Traffic Reports from January to June comparing JetBlue to 3 other major 6 airlines, and independent customer airline surveys were the basis of information for this assessment. BLOG Analysis Three webpage blogs were located: “Passenger revolt,” Posted by Brian Williams, Anchor & Managing Editor, dailynightly.msnbc.com “Critics, backers speak up on passengers' bill of rights,” http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/airline_ratings_and_performance/ “Continental, JetBlue again top J.D. Power ratings,” http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/airline_ratings_and_performance/ These three blogs sites offered a diverse sampling of opinions and suggestions from airline customers. The first site by Brian Williams’ “Passenger revolt” was used as a site to vent by many travelers although it is unclear how many of the entries were made by passengers directly affected by the February ice storm. The 266 identifiable entries were reviewed and categorized as a complaint, a comment that was generally positive toward JetBlue’s efforts and those that offered other suggestions or were otherwise irrelevant to the ice storm incident. “Passenger Revolt” Blog Analysis 133 Compliaints 73 Supportive Remarks 60 Neutral Comments Figure 1 Posted by Brian Williams, Anchor & Managing Editor www.msnbc.msn.com In the complaint category, 133 remarks voiced general complaints about the length of time the passengers sat in the aircraft. It is important to note that none of the complaints indicated that they were from any of the passengers that were in the aircraft during the ice storm. The 60 general comments were a variety of comments and some expressing the opinion that deregulation was the true cause of the airline’s problems, JFK airport was the cause, not JetBlue, etc. The 73 remarks categorized as favorable to the way JetBlue handled the situation. The entries on the site deemed irrelevant were unidentified entries made by people 7 repeatedly expressing their dislike for the inability to deplane and the airlines authority over the situation. These entries were not included in the analysis because many appeared to be duplicate entries. As the following graph indicates, the examination of the remarks classified as valid, indicated approximately one-half of the remarks were from dissatisfied potential passengers and the remaining one-half expressed favorable JetBlue response to the ice storm or felt that it was not JetBlue that was entirely to blame for the situation. The second blog site, Today in the Sky News and Analysis about airlines, airports and air travel, “Critics, backers speak up on passengers' bill of rights,” written by Ben Mutzabaugh, verbalizes opinions for a customer bill of rights and against a bill of rights. An editorial comment made by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram states, “it's time for Congress to step forward and tell airlines that they can't do it anymore. Voluntary selfregulation by the airlines has not worked." Mutzabaugh quotes an editorial from the Hartford Courant, "a federal 'bill of rights' for airline passengers would be an overreaction to an uncommon streak of bad luck that befell one discount carrier this past week." The summary of the Hartford Courant editorial stated that legislation and federal mandates for the airlines could make the situation worse. The last blog site article, Today in the Sky News and Analysis about airlines, airports and air travel, “Continental, JetBlue again top J.D. Power ratings” also written by Ben Mutzabaugh, confirms the JD Powers survey ratings that will be discussed further later in the report. Analysis of Passenger Revenue Traffic Reports Our research included a sampling of revenue passenger miles as reported by JetBlue and three of its closest competitors, American Airlines (AA), Continental Airlines and Southwest Airlines (SW). Passenger revenue miles (PRM) were collected for all four airlines from January 2006 to June 2006 and compared to January 2007 to June 2007. As indicated in the figure below, the following conclusions were made: 1. AA, although larger in volume than the other three airlines, is not performing as well as the same time period for 2006. The total percentage loss of PRM for the first six months of 2007 was -2.3%. 2. Continental shows a 5.5% increase in PRM for the first six months of 2007. 3. SW shows a 5.5% increase in PRM for the first six months of 2007. 4. JetBlue, despite a difficult February with a PRM growth of only 3.2%, has had the highest increase in PRM among its competitors, ending the first six months at 10.6%. 8 2007 Passenger Revenue Miles Percentage Increase Percent from 2006 Figure 2 Table 1 Traffic Reports 2006 to 2007 Month over Month Comparison Comparing JetBlue to 3 Major Competitors Revenue Passenger Miles 2007 Continental 2006 Continental Continental 2007 AA 2006 AA AA 2007 SW Airlines 2006 SW Airlines SW Airlines 2007 Jet Blue 2006 Jet Blue Jet Blue January February March April May June Six Month 3,357,564 3,194,291 3,836,162 3,821,308 3,949,056 4,110,835 22,269,216 3,203,670 4.8% 3,019,661 5.8% 3,745,395 2.4% 3,629,997 5.3% 3,627,338 8.9% 3,885,939 5.8% 21,112,000 5.5% 10,902,283 11,032,336 -1.2% 9,732,313 9,862,884 -1.3% 11,933,218 12,100,872 -1.4% 11,547,599 11,936,076 -3.3% 11,888,216 12,244,325 -2.9% 12,223,629 12,662,133 -3.5% 68,227,258 69,838,626 -2.3% 6,330,979 6,109,365 7,532,224 7,382,832 7,820,858 8,238,474 43,414,732 5,971,187 9.6% 5,964,090 5.6% 7,264,211 4.4% 7,074,152 3.7% 7,406,651 2.4% 7,518,453 6.0% 41,198,744 5.4% 1,938,919 1,790,979 8.3% 1,739,500 1,685,746 3.2% 2,261,011 2,059,294 9.9% 2,265,164 2,028,929 11.6% 2,218,108 1,897,356 16.9% 2,251,964 1,997,663 12.7% 12,674,666 11,459,967 10.6% Independent Customer Airline Surveys The third research medium we examined was two independent industry surveys, Consumer Reports and J.D. Power. The well-known Consumer Reports National Research Center conducted a survey reporting 23,000 participants commenting on of 31,455 U.S. domestic flights. The survey covered consumer areas of interest such as attendant service, seating, on-time status, and check-in procedures. 9 The Consumer Reports survey, conducted in early February and then repeated on a smaller scale in April made this statement. “Our researchers also conducted a smaller, follow-up survey in April, soon after the highly publicized, weather-related blunders of JetBlue in mid-February and USAirways in March, which left thousands of their passengers stranded and fuming. We found that JetBlue’s blues seem to have had little effect on the airline’s overall levels of satisfaction; it remained among the top-rated carriers in our second survey.” These survey results were also found on several other web sites such as Modbee.com. The second survey, taken by J.D.Power was originally published June 19, 2007 in Business Travel News and reported on the CNN Money.com webpage. The survey reported 9653 replies from passengers who had flown on an airline in the past year and covered areas of importance to passengers such as cost, service, and reservations. The 1,000-point rating scored JetBlue at 810 points which significantly beat out its closest competitors, Frontier, Southwest and AirTran and Continental Airlines. According to Linda Hirneise, Power and Associates executive director of the travel practice, "Although the airline fell prey to severe weather delays in February 2007, they have been able to retain feelings of goodwill among their passenger base. JetBlue continues to lead in satisfaction with low-cost carriers by a significant margin." CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Based on our research, we feel that JetBlue could have handled the situation at hand better. Not all of the right steps were taken to ensure that the customer was happy, and that should be priority number one. This is obvious from the reports of JetBlue's slow response to such a severe storm ended up trapping over one-thousand passengers on nine planes, which sat idle on taxiways at John F. Kennedy International Airport for six or more hours. JetBlue should keep in mind that passengers are people who need to be informed. In order to maintain a professional look in a business the customer’s needs to be met completely. This means helpful, reliable information and service from anyone who wears the JetBlue logo. There have been many positive outcomes from JetBlue as a result of this incident. The JetBlue Customer Bill of Rights has been well received. Customer Bill of Rights increases JetBlue's level of responsibility to customers tremendously. Also, in the month following the catastrophe, the company welcomed Russell G. Chew who took on the role of Chief Operating Officer, and imposed a few much-needed changes to the company's operations including the rewiring the airline's central nervous system or the System Operations Control center, with new technology, policies and people. The first steps have been taken to allow customers who buy their tickets through the company's website to rebook themselves or get refunds in the event of flight disruptions. Also, new managers and procedures have been put into place at the airline’s major “choke point,” John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York (JetBlue Names Russell Chew Chief Operating Officer). 10 Another major change motivated by the hiring of Chew involved adjusting the airline's mindset to infuse what he calls "corporate discipline." Apparently, their old philosophy placed the needs of several hundred people to get to their destinations ahead of the larger obligation of preventing delays from piling up and disrupting the carrier's entire operation, a situation that affects thousands (Reed). All of the changes have strengthened JetBlue Airlines. There is no dispute that JetBlue has grown from this incident and has become a better, more efficient business with flying public as its number one concern. We concur with the quote from Consumer Reports, “We found that JetBlue’s blues seem to have had little effect on the airline’s overall levels of satisfaction; it remained among the top-rated carriers in our second survey.” JetBlue remains number one among customer satisfaction. 11 WORKS CITED American Airlines Corporation. “Press Releases.” American Airlines Traffic Reports. 13 July 2007. <http://www.aa.com/content/amr corp/press Releases/main.jhtml > Bailey, Jeff. “JetBlue’s C.E.O. Is ‘Mortified’ After Fliers Are Stranded.” 19 February 2007. The New York Times. 17 February 2007<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/ 19/business/19jetblue.html?pagewanted=1&ex=1188709200%26en=6c9059cd47 de6c41%26ei=5087%26excamp=mkt_at4> Bartholomew, Doug & Mel Duvall. "What Really Happened At JetBlue." 5 April 2007. Baseline. 20 July 2007. <http://www.baselinemag.com/print_ article2/0,1217 ,a=204500,00.asp> “Best airlines for today’s busy skies.” Consumer Reoprts.org 13 Jul 2007. <http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/travel/airlines-7-07/overview /0707_ air_ov_1.htm>. Continental Airlines. Investor Relations Financial & Traffic Releases. 13 July 2007. < http://www.continental.com/web/en- US/content/company /investor/news.aspx>. Halladay, Hal. “JetBlue Uses New Media to Reach Customers.” 23 February 2007. Know More Media. 20 July 2007. <http://www.knowmoremedia.com/2007/02/jetblue _uses_new_media_to_reac.html> "JetBlue Announces the JetBlue Customer Bill of Rights."20 February 2007. JetBlue Investor Relations. < http://investor.jetblue.com/phoenix.zhtml ?c=131045 &p=irol-newsArticle&ID=965052&highlight > JetBlue Corporation. “Press Releases.” JetBlue Traffic Reports 13 July 2007 < http://investor.jetblue.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=131045&p=irol-news&nyo=0>. "Jet Blue Finally Responds." 19 July 2007. <http://jon8332.typepad.com/force_for_good/ crisis_communications/index.html > “JetBlue, Midwest Airlines tops in Consumer Reports survey.” Newspaper Enterprise Assn. 13 Jul 2007. < http://www.modbee.com/business/story/13768549p14349915c.html>. "JetBlue Names Russell Chew Chief Operating Officer ." 7 March 2007. JetBlue Investor Relations. 18 July 2007. <http://investor.jetblue.com/phoenix.zhtml ?c=131045&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=971589&highlight> JetBlue Tops J.D. Power Passenger Survey. 3 Jul 2007. CNN Money.com. 13 Jul 2007. <http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeed s/articles /newstex/VNU-001117903394.htm>. 12 Mutzabaugh, Ben. “:Today in the Sky News and Analysis about airlines, airports and air travel - Continental, JetBlue again top J.D. Power ratings.” USA Today.com.15 July 2007 <http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/airline_ratings_and_performance/>. Mutzabaugh, Ben. “Today in the Sky News and Analysis about airlines, airports and air travel -Critics, backers speak up on passengers' bill of rights.” USA Today.com. 15 July 2007 <http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/airline_ratings_and_performance/>. Reed, Dan. "JetBlue Tries to Bounce Back From Storm of Trouble." 7 June 2007. USAToday. 17 July 2007. < http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2007-06-06new-blue-usat_N.htm > Southwest Airlines. “Press Room.” News Releases. 13 July 2007. <http://www.south west.com/about_swa/press/prindex.html>. 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