Brand Love Hate

Is It No Longer OK to be Computer Illiterate?

"But you said you would help me! Would you help me, please?!"

Those were the words of a man checking in at JFK just after me on a recent business trip. His attire said "businessman" but his tone said "desperately afraid of computers." JetBlue at JFK now requires passengers to check in via their kiosks rather than with the ticket desk personnel. The process (to me) is incredibly simple - swipe any credit card for the kiosk to get your name, confirm the flight destination and number of bags, then take your bags and the freshly printed boarding pass to a human employee.

But the man behind me in line was very intimidated by the kiosks and was literally begging the one JetBlue employee standing by for help. Her job is not tech support, but rather kiosk police - she makes sure no luddites try to get in line without first making friends with the kiosk. So as the passenger whined for help, she tried to shout him instructions while directing other customers to their own PCs.  The entire experience was very uncomfortable, and as I tried to both watch and walk to my gate, I wondered - is it even OK to be computer illiterate anymore?

This reality at JFK told me no - anyone paying to fly JetBlue is expected to be able to use a kiosk to check in, without tech support. In business it's not that different - if an employee can't forward an e-mail or set up an appointment in Outlook, that reflects poorly on his or her personal brand. Almost every job description includes "proficiency in Microsoft Office," but what does that really mean? And is an expectation of computer literacy fair? In business, yes, but in life?

The Rise of JetBlue

Knowledge@Wharton has an interesting piece on JetBlue that talks about what it does differently than other airlines and how the flight 292 event this year affected its brand.

The Customer Experience

Kelly Goto has a good column on MarketingProfs today - Brand Value and the User Experience.  Includes offline (JetBlue), online (AOL) and in-between (TiVo) experiences.

JetBlue Flight 292 Incident

I fly JetBlue out of JFK when I can (to Florida and California to date), so I was pretty concerned about the incident this past week with JetBlue flight 292's landing gear.  What does something like that say about JetBlue maintenance, or the safety of its aircraft?

But then some of the details started to come out about how the pilot handled the situation, namely an audio recording (via Adam Curry) of him talking through the situation live.  This is great audio - the pilot's clear concern for the passengers is amazing - he knows LAX has the runways and life support needed to handle a dangerous landing.  After listening to the clip, I came away admiring his effort and feeling good that JetBlue has pilots like that flying its planes.

Then today on MediaPost (sorry, registration required), Shelly Palmer talked about how JetBlue took care of the passengers, putting them up in nice hotels and transporting them via limo.  In a tough and scary situation like that, JetBlue certainly could have done worse (it is considered a "low-fare" airline), but it took care of its customers and tried to convert a very negative experience into a more positive one.

None of this makes the flight 292 incident not scary or troubling, but it sounds like JetBlue did the right things to stop it from becoming even worse.  My perception for sure improved as I read and listened to the details of the day and the value JetBlue placed on its customers.