JetBlue had its wings clipped late last month when it was revealed that the high-flying airliner gave records on more than a million passengers to a military contractor for use
in identifying terrorists. The New York-based carrier, which launched in 2000, has built up a positive reputation with the press and public alike through low fares and -- let's
face it -- satellite TV patched in to every passenger seat. What's next for the troubled airliner? PR NEWS asked Mike Paul, president of reputation management firm MGP &
Associates, who has provided PR for United Airlines in the past, whether JetBlue can recover from this major PR blunder.
PRN: JetBlue has acknowledged its mistake and publicly apologized. Will that be enough to contain the PR damage, particularly when you consider the inevitable lawsuits from
privacy groups and passengers?
Paul: What the airliner needs to do is take out full-page ads in The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal reiterating the apology, as well as on radio, TV and the
Web...More important is that when JetBlue executives are asked about the incident in the future they have to be willing to apologize time and again and not try to tuck it behind
them. Humility helps to rehabilitate such a problem.
PRN: How does a company come to violate its own disclosure rules?
Paul: Sometimes sales and marketing does one thing and legal is doing another, with the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. When a company grows as quickly as
JetBlue, it needs a PR team deep enough to stay on top of any potential problems within the organization. When you start to get mass, you're no longer a start-up company, but the
monster(s) you have been competing against.
PRN: JetBlue has declined to identify the executive or executives who released the passenger information and has stated that no one would be disciplined for the breach of the
company's privacy rules. Does that pass the smell test?
Paul: I don't have a problem with not releasing the name of the individual(s) responsible. It's the CEO who has to take full responsibility for a breach of trust. Rule No. 1 of
a communications crisis is that the person in charge needs to step up, and say, "The buck stops with me." Saying,"We are sorry, but..." is not an appropriate answer. An apology,
along with saying that measures are being put in place so that this type of thing will never happen again, is only the way to stop the bleeding. You have to back up your words
with action.