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JetBlues eventual recovery was of little solace to communications system. Many ticketholders were
passengers who were stranded at the airport for days and unable to determine the status of their flights because the
missed reservations for family vacations. Overall, more phone lines were jammed. Some callers received a
than 1,100 flights were cancelled, and JetBlue lost $30 recording that directed them to JetBlues Web site.
million. The airline industry is marked by low profit The Web site stopped responding because it could not
margins and high fixed costs, which means that even handle the spike in visitors, leaving many passengers
short revenue droughts, such as a four-day shutdown, with no way of knowing whether they should make the
can have devastating consequences for a carriers trip to the airport.
financial stability. JetBlue lacked a computerized system for recording
Throughout the debacle, JetBlues CEO David G. and tracking lost bags. It did have a system for storing
Neeleman was very visible and forthcoming with information such as the number of bags checked in by a
accountability and apologies. He was quoted many passenger and bag tag identification numbers. But the
times, saying things such as, We love our customers system could not record which bags had not been picked
and were horrified by this. Theres going to be a lot of up or their location. There was no way for a JetBlue
apologies. agent to use a computer to see if a lost bag for a
Neeleman also admitted to the press that JetBlues particular passenger was among the heap of unclaimed
management was not strong enough and its communica- bags at airports where JetBlue was stranded. In the past,
tions system was inadequate. The department JetBlue management did not feel there was a need for
responsible for allocating pilots and crews to flights was such a system because airport personnel were able to
too small. Some flight attendants were unable to get in look up passenger records and figure out who owned
touch with anyone who could tell them what to do for leftover bags. When so many flights were canceled, the
three days. With the breakdown in communications, process became unmanageable.
thousands of pilots sand flight attendants were out of JetBlue uses several applications provided by
position, and the staff could neither find them nor tell outsourcing vendor Sabre Airline Solutions of
them where to go. Southlake, Texas to manage, schedule, and track planes
JetBlue had grown too fast, and its low-cost IT and crews and to develop actual flight plans. Sabres
infrastructure and systems could not keep up with the FliteTrac application interfaces with the Navitaire
business. JetBlue was accustomed to saving money both reservation system to provide managers with information
from streamlined information systems and lean staffing. about flight status, fuel, passenger lists, and arrival
Under normal circumstances, the lean staff was times. Sabres CrewTrac application tracks crew
sufficient to handle all operations, and the computer assignments and provides pilots and flight attendants
systems functioned well below their capacity. However, access to their schedules via a secure Web portal.
the ice storm exposed the fragility of the infrastructure JetBlue uses a Navitaire application called SkySolver to
as tasks such as rebooking passengers, handling bag- determine how to redeploy planes and crews to emerge
gage, and locating crew members became impossible. from flight disruptions. However, JetBlue found out
Although Neeleman asserted in a conference call that during the Valentines Day emergency that SkySolver
JetBlues computer systems were not to blame for its was unable to transfer the information quickly to
meltdown, critics of the company pointed out that JetBlues Sabre applications. And even if these systems
JetBlue lacked systems to keep track of off-duty flight had worked properly together, JetBlue would have
crews and lost baggage. Its reservation system could not probably been unable to locate all of its flight crews to
expand enough to meet the high customer call volume. redirect them. It did not have a system to keep track of
Navitaire, headquartered in Minneapolis, hosts the off-duty crew members. Overtaxed phone lines
reservation system for JetBlue as well as for a dozen prevented crew members from calling into headquarters
other discount airlines. The Navitaire system was to give their locations and availability for work.
configured to accomodate up to 650 agents at one time, JetBlues response to its humiliating experience was
which was more than sufficient under normal multifaceted. On the technology front, the airline
circumstances. During the Valentines Day crisis, deployed new software that sends recorded messages to
Navitaire was able to tweak the system to accomodate pilots and flight attendants to inquire about their
up to 950 agents simultaneously, but that was still not availability. When the employees return the calls, the
enough. information they supply is entered into a system that
Moreover, JetBlue could not find enough qualified stores the data for access and analysis. From a staffing
employees to staff its phones. The company employs standpoint, Neeleman promised to train 100 employees
about 1,500 reservation agents who work primarily from from the airlines corporate office to serve as backups for
their homes, linking to its Navitaire Open Skies the departments that were stretched too thin by the
reservation system using an Internet-based voice effects of the storm.
Chapter
Essentials
2:of
E-Business:
MIS Additional
How Businesses
Cases Use Information Systems 773
JetBlue attempted to address its customer relations and Sources: Doug Bartholomew and Mel Duvall, What Really Happened at JetBlue,
Baseline Magazine, April 1, 2007; JetBlue Cancels Hundreds of Flights,
image problems by creating a customer bill of rights to The Associated Press, accessed via www.nytimes.com, March 16, 2007; Susan Carey
enforce standards for customer treatment and airline and Darren Everson, Lessons on the Fly: JetBlues New Tactics, The Wall Street
Journal, February 27, 2007; Eric Chabrow, JetBlues Management Meltdown, CIO
behavior. JetBlue would be penalized when it failed to Insight, February 20, 2007; Jeff Bailey, Chief Mortified by JetBlue Crisis,
provide proper service, and customers who were The New York Times, February 19, 2007 and Long Delays Hurt Image of JetBlue,
subjected to poor service would be rewarded. JetBlue set The New York Times, February 17, 2007; Susan Carey and Paula Prada, Course
Change: Why JetBlue Shuffled Top Rank, The Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2007;
the maximum time for holding passengers on a delayed Coreen Bailor, JetBlues Service Flies South, Customer Relationship Management,
plane at five hours. The company changed its operational May 2007; Thomas Hoffman, Out-of-the-Box Airline Carries Over Offbeat
philosophy to make more accomodation for inclement Approach to IT, Computerworld, March 11, 2003; and Stephanie Overby, JetBlue
Skies Ahead, CIO Magazine, July 1, 2002.
weather.
An opportunity to test its changes arrived for JetBlue Case Study Questions
just one month after the incident that spurred the 1. What types of information systems and business
changes. Faced with another snow and ice storm in the functions are described in this case?
northeast United States on March 16, 2007, JetBlue 2. What is JetBlues business model? How do its
cancelled 215 flights, or about a third of its total daily information systems support this business model?
slate. By canceling early, management hoped to ensure 3. What was the problem experienced by JetBlue in this
that its flight crews would be accessible and available case? What people, organization, and technology
when needed, and that airport gates would be kept clear factors were responsible for the problem?
in case flights that were already airborne had to return. 4. Evaluate JetBlues response to the crisis. What
In the wake of its winter struggles, JetBlue was left to solutions did the airline come up with? How were
hope that its customers would be forgiving and that its these solutions implemented? Do you think that
losses could be offset. Neeleman pointed out that only JetBlue found the correct solutions and implemented
about 10,000 of JetBlues 30 million annual customers them correctly? What other solutions can you think
were inconvenienced by the airlines weather-related of that JetBlue hasnt tried?
breakdowns. On May 10, 2007, JetBlues Board of 5. How well is JetBlue prepared for the future? Are the
Directors removed Neeleman as CEO, placing him in the problems described in this case likely to be repeated?
role of non-executive chairman. According to Liz Roche, Which of JetBlues business processes are most
managing partner at Customers Incorporated, a customer vulnerable to breakdowns? How much will a
relationship management research and consulting firm, customer bill of rights help?
JetBlue demonstrated that its an adolescent in the air-
line industry and that it has a lot of learning and growing
up to do.