Following is a chapter from the PR NEWS special report on the 12 Hottest (and 7 Not So Hot) Campaigns of 1997. Unfortunately for Trans World Airlines, it fell into one of the seven "not so hot." Its handling of the aftermath of the July 1996 crash of Flight 800 was nothing short of bad crisis communications.
The following is a review of TWA's handling of the crisis from a PR perspective. We based our opinion on several factors: the effectiveness of its spokespeople, the timeliness of the message, the impact on employees, and media reaction.
It's a sure bet there's nothing worse for any company than to suddenly be associated with the tragic, catastrophic loss of human life. And though the odds are with us as we fly the friendly skies, the airline business has a unique challenge when it comes to recovering from the aftermath of passenger-aircraft disasters.
When Trans World Airlines Flight 800 erupted into a ghastly fireball minutes after takeoff from New York's Kennedy International Airport on July 12, 1996, the financially-troubled airline instantly became the only link between hundreds of families and their loved ones who perished onboard the Paris-bound 747 jet. But criticism of TWA from the surviving relatives of Flight 800's victims was soon to follow.
"When you're dealing with a large loss of life it doesn't matter what you do, you'll be criticized," TWA Media Relations Director John McDonald told PR NEWS.
Maybe, but there are a few proven methods airlines can use to avoid the intensely publicized rebukes lobbed at TWA since the Flight 800 crash. "You should try to be empathetic and put yourself in the shoes of those families," said Marcia Scott, Valujet Airline's director of corporate communications.
Effectiveness of Spokespersons
The "divisive and exclusionary" actions concerning memorial services and identification and release of victims' remains have certainly made the employee-owned airline look insensitive and uncaring. Worse yet, the American and French groups set up by victims' families also say TWA has refused to offer discounted fares to help families attend events such as February's viewing of wreckage in the NTSB hangar. Many relatives cannot afford full-price fares to New York.
The airline's PR staff (at least 18 of them) seem coldly selfish when justifying their position. "We have expended millions of dollars on behalf of these families, and airfare to the [NTSB hangar] tour is not something included in that," TWA spokesman Mark Abeles told the Associated Press on Feb. 10, 1997.
Ron Whittington, an Atlanta corporate communications consultant who has spent the past decade as a PR consultant in the transportation industry, warns TWA should be more mindful of how that attitude comes across to the public. "Considering all the expenses they've already incurred, what's a few thousand dollars more?" he said.
Timeliness of Message
As the FBI and National Transportation Safety Board worked to resolve the mystery of why the aircraft exploded, victims' relatives on both sides of the Atlantic quickly incorporated U.S. and French non-profit organizations to initiate liability claims against TWA and Boeing - the maker of the doomed airliner - and to respond publicly to new developments and statements by the airline.
Meanwhile, TWA began to orchestrate memorial services for victims - something even Vice President Al Gore says should be handled by an entity other than the airline company. Additionally, TWA allegedly neglected to involve or notify either of the families' associations, leaving the latter duty to the press and to the NTSB. Bad move.
"All these hundreds of people who have already suffered unbearably are being re-victimized by TWA," wrote Families of TWA Flight 800 Association, Inc. Director John Seaman in the group's monthly newsletter published on their Web site (http://members.aol.com/hseaman275/families.html).
Impact on Employees
Sources at TWA say 25 percent of Flight 800's passengers were either TWA employees, retirees or family members. "It's a devastating thing," said McDonald of the effect the crash has had on TWA employees.
McDonald said that TWA workers hope the disaster wasn't caused by a mechanical failure they could've prevented (the families note the advanced age of the aircraft in their lawsuits). But, he indicated that even if the FBI and NTSB prove a missile or a bomb downed Flight 800, it likely won't let TWA off the hook. "No matter what, TWA is going to end up on the hook," said McDonald. "It's inevitable when a plane crashes."
Media Reaction
The national news media has consistently given the families entwined in this tragedy the floor, allowing them to speak out and make it crystal clear to the American public that their feelings matter. Others have also been given voice.
So how does TWA explain away the months of bad press? By fingering the New York news media and its "volatile market," suggesting - absurdly - that coverage of the crash off Long Island would have been more positive (with regard to TWA's efforts) if it had been largely covered by the aviation beat reporters they know and love.
According to McDonald, aviation reporters understand these messy things better than the metro desk reporters who raced to the scene on July 12.
"[Metro reporters] are used to seeing a body with bullet holes in it and a cop who points at a suspect and says 'that's the guy who did it.'"