Initial Statement: American Airlines Got it Right

Yesterday an American Airlines employee violently took a stroller from a passenger holding her child which struck her and barely missed the baby. She was kicked off the flight while the male employee of AA remained.

Last week I wrote an article about the importance of the first statement you provide to the media during a crisis. United Airlines failed miserably when video appeared of a passenger being dragged off a flight. They tried to recover with several subsequent statements. I will restate that subsequent statements never carry the same weight as the first.

Another huge fail and poor judgement on behalf of an employee representing a large corporation. The difference in reaction to this case was AA's initial statement to the media.

Here were the tips I provided in my previous post when dealing with a similar crisis in the media:

• Accept full accountability w/heartfelt apology to the victim and passengers on board
• Safety is their number one concern. Actions not condoned by the organization
• Cooperating with investigation
• Implementing new protocols and mandatory training for all employees
• Re-assure incident will not happen again

Here is how American Airlines hit these points:

• Apologized and took responsibility for what happened to this passenger and apologized to other customers on the flight
• Stated the actions of this employee did not reflect their values
• Conducting an investigation
• Suspended the employee while they investigate

AA hit the most important bullet points in the first statement released to the media. The majority of the backlash in this situation is now directed towards the individual AA employee. The airline distanced themselves from the actions of the employee in their statement rather than defending him. They went a step farther and immediately did the right thing by the victim, providing her with first class accommodations for the remainder of her journey.

The best way to handle a crisis is to provide clear, concise training to all employees in advance to avoid the threat of reputational damage. This type of crisis could have been avoided. However once an organization finds themselves in this type of situation, it is best to carefully choose the words and overall message of the initial statement before releasing to the media. I cannot stress enough:

The INITIAL statement during a crisis IS THE MOST IMPORTANT!

Link to AA Story click here