United's Fiasco

Several times in life we fail to appreciate something going right, until it goes completely wrong. A prime example of this situation is when United Airlines had “thunderclouds of bad PR.” Dave Carroll, a country singer that gained fame through this fiasco, had his Taylor guitar destroyed by the baggage handler’s of the airline. After a failed attempt to receive any reimbursement for the guitar from the airline, he wrote a song about the situation, and ended up causing severe damage to the United name.

I believe possibly one of the biggest mistakes the airline made was failing to create good communication internally. The public relations department did a poor job of talking with the customer service department. As a PR professional, one should be aware of everything going on within the company- whether it is good information or bad. Thus, it is essential to communicate with public relations so they have a chance to “spin” the situation and avoid as much negative media exposure as possible. The PR representatives of United should have heard about this incident directly after it occurred. They should have contacted Dave Carroll and negotiated an agreement of some sort. I am sure that if United had been more concerned about the situation of a country singer’s broken guitar, versus saving $3 thousand, the United brand would have suffered little or no damage.

The most ironic thing to me, is the fact that Carroll warned United that if he did not get reimbursed that he was going to write a song about his bad experience with their airline, yet they still did not satisfy their customer’s needs. The public relations department should have been well aware of the social media, and the harm that a simple song could bring to their company. In fact, Carroll released the song on Monday, by Tuesday there were 2 million views, and within the next two days United had lost $180 million in the stock market!

Carroll’s song was everywhere in the media. He actually became famous because of this song! PR professionals should know better than anyone, the power that Web 3.0 can have on individuals. The social media influences everyone. People can interact with other people and connect on several sites such as, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, etc. People who work in public relations use these tools to promote a company, and thus are well aware of the fact that one single post, message, or song, can be seen by millions of people in just a short period of time. To me, it seems to be like a domino affect. If one person watches a YouTube video and writes “United Breaks Guitars” on their Facebook wall, others will follow. It is quite a simple concept to understand; yet the affects are obviously devastating if one overlooks them- especially in the field of public relations.

I think United Airlines should take full responsibility for what happened to their company. Their unprofessional means to handle bad situations certainly became known to all of America. United appeared to be a company that cared little about it’s customers or their belongings. It not only cost the airline $180 million, but also a reputation known across the social media as “United Breaks Guitars.” I am sure that United will think twice before they deny their customers reimbursement for broken items. In fact, I am quite positive that their PR professionals must be working overtime now to make up for the fiasco. We should never underestimate the influence that a broken guitar, poor communication, terrible PR, and the social media can have on a company.