How I brought United Airlines to its knees—the power of social media Susan Janett Social Media Specialist and PRO$ Program Director Warm Thoughts Communications Waiting at the gate for my United Airlines (United) flight to Nashville for the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) conference, I suddenly heard my name called over the loudspeaker. “Susan Janett. Would Susan Janett please come to the counter.” My first thought was, “This can’t be good.” It wasn’t. I was scheduled to arrive in Nashville, TN at 10:00 am, plenty of time to get to the convention center where I was scheduled to lead the workshop on social media for propane companies. I had been working on the "Little did I realize that I would become the lesson." presentation for days, hoping to reward the audience with a much better understanding of the growing importance and power of social media. Little did I realize that I would become the lesson. “I’m sorry, Ms. Janett, but we are overbooked. We offered $500 travel comps to get folks to give up their seats and board a later flight, but had no takers. So unfortunately, we are removing you from this plane and will book you on the next connection out.” I did the math, and it didn’t add up. “That means I won’t get there until 3:30. I’m speaking at the convention at 2:00. Surely there must be something you can do to keep me on this flight or get me on another airline?” Nope, nothing. The attendant kept repeating, “We’ll have you on the next flight out, which arrives at 3:30.” She wasn’t listening to a single word I was saying. Many of you have been in this position before— whether it was with an airline, phone company, car dealership, you name it. It’s a feeling of anger, frustration, disbelief and desperation that feeds a feeling of powerlessness. However, we now live in a world where the consumer has a lot more power to influence. In the age of social media, companies are more vulnerable to suffering consequences when they fail customers. Of course, this is a double edged sword, as I was prepared to tell the audience in Nashville. Good companies can cultivate consumer loyalty and use it to promote their brand to the marketplace. However, negative reviews and complaints, often ill-founded, can also serve as a detour sign around your company when potential customers look you up online. In my case, there was nothing ill-founded about this. They had sold me the ticket. They certainly would have charged me an enormous penalty had I asked to change the flight on my own, but they thought they were immune to any backlash. They were wrong. What they didn’t realize is that I have more than 4,000 social media followers and, as a consultant to fuel companies on digital and social media, I certainly understand how the game is played. So I tweeted out the following message, and also posted it on my Facebook page: “Thank you #United for overbooking my flight from Newark to Nashville and bumping me, despite my having booked over a month ago. And a special shout-out to the #attitude at the departures desk who couldn’t care less that I will now likely MISS my 2pm #SpeakingEngagement at the #NPGASoutheastern ICM/September/October 2016 25
ICM September-October 2016
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