Turning a Blind Eye to the Customer

The customer is always right.  A simple saw that’s certainly stood the test of time, but apparently not the test of USAirways, now embroiled in a public relations imbroglio that seems so easy to solve; but alas is mired in corporate complexities and now a crisis fall-out.

Having not sat on the plane or spoken to the parties involved, something I was empowered to do in my former life as a reporter, I can only formulate an opinion comfortably ensconced on the public relations sidelines on which I now stand.  That means reading a lot of coverage about this event, and applying simple rules of media and public relations that I have learned over my careers as a correspondent and now a PR guy here at Zeno Group.

Here are the reported facts:  A blind passenger on a USAirways flight was removed from the plane after engaging in what the airline says was a verbal altercation with a flight attendant.  At issue was the behavior of his service dog, Doxy, who apparently began to get a little restless as the plane was stuck on the tarmac for an hour.  When the attendant asked the passenger, Albert Rizzi, to keep his dog under the seat in front of him, as is airline protocol, he became “verbally abusive” and the plane then came back to the gate where he and Doxy were escorted off. 

OK, so if that’s where the story ended, then there’d be a kind of gray area as far as PR is concerned.  Who was right?  Who was wrong?  What really went down? 

But of course, I’m writing about this because that isn’t where the story ends.  Turns out the other passengers witnessing Mr. Rizzi’s ejection were so incensed by this turn of events that they became increasingly disruptive in their complaints to flight attendants, and anyone reading along on Twitter.  The vocal disagreements became so loud that the captain emerged from the cockpit, assessed the situation and promptly cancelled the flight, dismissing all the passengers from the plane, with USAirways arranging bus transportation for them from Philly to Islip, NY 

This is where questionable circumstances devolve quickly into PR nightmare and crisis communications.  If Mr. Rizzi and Doxy were merely dismissed and the flight went on its way, then fine.  Unfortunate, sure, but everyone moves on.  By virtue of the flash protest and passenger unrest in reaction to his dismissal, that suggests that USAirways might be in the wrong here, and might want to consider a conciliatory statement of some kind to put this all to rest.

Nope.  From USAirways:  "On flight 4384 from Philadelphia to Islip, Long Island a customer with a seeing eye dog was asked to keep his dog near his feet when the dog was walking up and down the aisle. The protocol for service animals is to keep them at foot of the passenger. When a flight attendant asked the passenger to keep the dog where it needed to stay for safety reason the passenger got verbally abusive. A decision was made to return to the gate to take the passenger and the dog off the plane. At that point, other customers were unhappy about the situation. The crew did not feel comfortable operating the plane so a decision was made to cancel the flight and U.S. Airways bussed the passengers to Islip NY."

Protocol this, rules that.  I get it.  But in the face of very different accounts from some of the other passengers on board (“Sophie B” on Twitter writes:  “blind man and his dog just got kicked off ‪@USAirways  after we've been on the tarmac  an hour, bc dog wiggled a bit. Whole plane outraged.”  In her next tweet:  “25 passengers will never again fly ‪@USAirways ‪@abcnews ‪@NBCNews ‪@CBSNews ‪#blindmankickedoffflight”), USAirways may want to consider a different approach.

How ‘bout::  “We certainly regret the circumstances and inconveniences this unfortunate incident created for all the passengers aboard flight 4384.  We are reaching out to all the parties involved to see how we can make this right, and we are talking internally to see how we can improve situations like this in the future.  Our passengers’ safety is always our top priority and we adhere to strict guidelines to ensure that.  Our captain made the best decision he could under the circumstances and we continue to work with all our employees to make sure they are as sensitive as they can be to all our passengers’ and their needs.”

I wasn’t on the plane, and I don’t pretend to understand the level of sensitivity or aggression or abuse or what the atmosphere was really like.  All I do know is that a blind guy was escorted from a plane for reasons the airline says are much different than descriptions from the other passengers on board, and now USAirways has a PR problem.  A big one. 

Right or wrong, in a circumstance like this, defer to that trite “customer is always right” thing, apologize for the inconvenience, take steps to do it better the next time, and move on.  PR 101.  Crisis Comms 101.  Media 101.  But apparently the folks at USAirways didn’t take any of those classes.  Hiding behind a “just the facts, ma’am/rules and protocol” statement only prolongs the news cycle, and lets pundits like me second guess the moves and motives.  Oh, and gives future customers a reason to take their business elsewhere.