The recent cancellation of hundreds of flights by Southwest Airlines put a major airline—again—in the public spotlight for how it responded to a crisis. It also underscored the lessons business leaders can learn about the best practices for communicating about and managing crisis situations.
Best Practices
Although the details of each crisis will always be different, there are often broad themes and issues that companies and organizations should address in every crisis situation.
In responding to this crisis, Southwest Airlines appeared to do the right things at the right time for the right reasons. On their website and in media interviews the company:
Apologized for the flight cancellations and delays
“Southwest Airlines extends a tremendous apology to our Customers and Employees for the flight cancellations and delays which occurred over the weekend and on Monday,” the airline said in a statement on its website Tuesday.
One news outlet reported that, “In previous statements, the company apologized for delays and blamed the cancellations on weather and “other external constraints, which left aircraft and Crews out of pre-planned positions to operate our schedule on Saturday.
“Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly told CNBC the company hoped to return to normal services by Wednesday and apologized for the delays.
Provided an explanation for and updates about the situation
According to one news organization, “Southwest has blamed air traffic control issues and bad weather for the ‘operational challenges’ that resulted in the weekend cancellations. Southwest issued a statement to NewsNation on Tuesday, saying that the flight schedule was ‘more normal.’”
Discussed the steps that were taken to restore service
The company said on their website that, “Southwest Teams have been working diligently to restore stability to the network, and we are experiencing less disruptions on Monday. We hope to restore our full schedule as soon as possible. As a note, the operational challenges were not a result of Southwest Employee demonstrations.”
Helped to manage expectations
The company explained that, “As we complete efforts to stabilize our network, Southwest expects a more normal operation on Tuesday with approximately 90 system-wide cancellations out of the airline’s almost 3,300 flights scheduled for the day.”
Told customers where and how to go for assistance
According to their website, “If Customers require assistance from Southwest, they can utilize one of the airline’s self-service options for convenience or Contact Us via one of the methods listed on Southwest.com.”
Denied rumors about the cause of the flight cancellations and set the record straight about what prompted the situation
As reported by the Star Tribune, “Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King said there was no evidence that would indicate the disruptions were caused by any sort of employee protest over vaccinations.”
When, Not If, A Crisis Strikes
Crisis situations are a fact of corporate life—it is not a matter of if they will have a crisis, but when and how it will strike.
Southwest and other airlines could consider posting on their websites and social media pages a standing statement about their general policies and procedures for responding and managing crisis situations, their commitments to the flying public and emphasize that they have crisis management plans in place for any eventuality (if in fact they do.).
Letting the public know that they are prepared and have crisis management plans in place could help Southwest —or any airline—bounce back faster from a crisis and help restore their image, reputation and credibility.
Advice For Business Leaders
In any crisis situation, it is important to:
- Explain the cause of the crisis
- What steps you are taking to deal with the situation
- Manage expectations about when the crisis will end
- Immediately respond to rumors or allegations about the crisis
- Learn from the crisis and do what you can to avoid repeating it
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October 13, 2021 at 09:54PM
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What Southwest Airlines Got Right In Flight Cancellation Crisis - Forbes
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