Critically speaking, compared with the officially indifferent reply to the UA3411 violent incident in 2017, the response from United Airlines (UA) to Dave Carroll’s video is unexpectedly timely and witty. But unfortunately, with the development of social media, these industrial giants cannot benefit from the asymmetry of information by bribing those traditional media and selectively disclose those insignificant but preferable details. Those shocking videos can go viral in the worldwide when the public relation department all fall asleep and they can only be caught unprepared, which is strikingly similar to the situation that those customers could make no adequate defence to those unfair treats.
The positive aspects of the UA’s response to this public relation crisis can be concluded as four. Initially, it is essential that UA possesses its own mechanism to propagate their brand on social media. Just because of this mechanism, UA discovers Carroll’s video and complaints from a relatively small number of tweeters at top speed. Secondly, when their staff notice the possible tsunami-like odium, they report the condition to the company, luckily, the media relations team wisely takes it seriously and start to contact Carroll under the corporation from the customer solutions department. Thirdly, UA humorously joins the conversation about this video and publishes their apology and dealing process. Fourthly, UA not only prefers to avoid the image of unprofessional and bewildered enterprise, but also would like to maintain the effective communication with the public, but wretchedly, they fail at last.
As for the negative aspect, generally it is also fourfold. At the very beginning, when they fail to reach Carroll immediately, they should check the relevant records from the customer service timely. Most valuable details about Carroll’s experience are mentioned in the song. It is not so difficult to unearth the truth. More details should be given to the public not just a simple line. Then, when faced with those criticisms from the public, UA misdoes again and even aggravates the public anger because of its selective blindness and ignorance. UA is trapped by a misunderstanding about the selective overlook which benefits it a lot during the old days. Previously, in case they receive some complaints from customers, they can pretend that they do not know. Currently they can still pretend that they are innocent while everyone knows, but evidently those had-enough customers will disgust about their presumption or foolishness. Thirdly, UA still would like to seek assistance from those traditional media as its old companions and underestimate the credibility of those social media among the public. Last but not the least, there is no detailed disclosure to conclude this issue in the end. UA fails to state its difficulties about the moral hazard they cope with, in case they change their standards. This company does not know how to take advantage of the empathy from the public, by pointing out the root causes.
Definitely, I would response differently. At the very beginning, I would prefer to disclose the details of this issue as many as possible. It can avoid the rumours. I would explain why the customer service department made that decision according to our current standards. Moreover, I would like to conclude the issue in the end to regain the trust from the public. According to the Exhibit 1, Southwest always possesses the leading advantage due to its witty communication mechanism with customers. These selected airlines are all older. Except UA, most of them know how to attract customers by the influence of social media. If JetBlue is introduced to the comparison, the inferiorities are more obvious. But after so many troubles of UA, I can’t refrain myself from questioning UA. Maybe it is not related to the old school.