Big Six airlines fail crisis management 101
Joe Brancatelli
A little perspective on some of what's happened during the past few months.
Event: US Airways doesn't warn fliers in advance of a tricky computer conversion planned for a relatively slow travel weekend in early March. The computer work is a disaster and the US Airways system is fouled up for days. In the early hours, US Airways publicly denied there was a problem. It then blames the long lines of frustrated travelers on heavy passenger volume. It even initially refuses to waive change fees and other charges for passengers who missed flights due to the computer collapse. The airline eventually issues a whiny, niggling apology.
Aftermath: Many elite members of US Airways' Dividend Miles program are defecting to other carriers. US Airways stock (LCC), selling just north of $50 a share on the last market day before the computer merger, now trades in the $30 range. The US Airways brain trust, once touted as movers and shakers in an upcoming Big Six consolidation, has been exposed as operationally incompetent.
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/b...anagement_N.htm
Joe Brancatelli
A little perspective on some of what's happened during the past few months.
Event: US Airways doesn't warn fliers in advance of a tricky computer conversion planned for a relatively slow travel weekend in early March. The computer work is a disaster and the US Airways system is fouled up for days. In the early hours, US Airways publicly denied there was a problem. It then blames the long lines of frustrated travelers on heavy passenger volume. It even initially refuses to waive change fees and other charges for passengers who missed flights due to the computer collapse. The airline eventually issues a whiny, niggling apology.
Aftermath: Many elite members of US Airways' Dividend Miles program are defecting to other carriers. US Airways stock (LCC), selling just north of $50 a share on the last market day before the computer merger, now trades in the $30 range. The US Airways brain trust, once touted as movers and shakers in an upcoming Big Six consolidation, has been exposed as operationally incompetent.
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/b...anagement_N.htm
