Southwest Airlines and the FAA are currently in hot water with the US government, and air travellers in general, over concerns about Southwest’s aircraft inspection processes and how well the Federal Aviation Administration is doing their policing job. They are currently in the midst of congressional hearings to determine what went wrong, who was at fault, and all of the usual questions. The key points seem to be:
1. Southwest Airlines did not follow inspection regulations (at least not to the letter)
2. Some ATA inspectors seem to have not policed the inspections as they should have.
3. There are suggestions that Southwest Airlines attempted to influence the inspection process.
4. There are claims that people who tried to complain about problems or make protests were suppressed and possibly disciplined or fired as a result.
So far, there’s a statement about this issue on the Southwest Airlines homepage and on their blog (read the comments).
A search on Southwest Airlines for the past 24 hours using Google Blog Search provides 386 hits. Haven’t read them all, but the first few pages look pretty negative.
Southwest Airlines seemed to be enthusiastic and active in the use of their blog to promote their company and get the whole “conversational marketing” thing going. In their own way, they seemed to be trying to use social media to engage customers.
So far, I have to give them a minor amount of credit for leaving commenting open on their blog so people can vent. That does not excuse shoddy business and safety practices at all, but they aren’t completely retreating into Fortress Southwest either.
Will Southwest respond as a typical publically-traded company in this kind of potentially huge disaster? Will they use social media to try to work their way out of this jam? Will they collapse completely?
Here’s an opportunity for a large, well known company to use Web 2.0 as a part of their recovery strategy. Will they seize the opportunity?
Could social media help the FAA or the government in general during this controversy?
Hard to say how this is going to work out.
First of all, it’s most likely that it’s the decision of the marketing team to use social media.
If things get worse and the mainstream press pick up on the comments on their ‘blog, chances are the more senior staff at Southwest Airlines will step in and shut the door to that particular experiment.
Though for me, this isn’t so much an experiment in social media for business, but more an example of brand management after the fact…
@Wayne – my point is that the blog comments are part of social media and how long/if commenting stays open will give an indication of the company’s thoughts on, and commitment to, social media.
If you think Southwest is going to “shut the door” because of some negative comments, you haven’t been paying very close attention for the last two years.
From what I have read, Southwest was never “unsafe” but, rather, out of compliance. There is a difference!
Southwest’s capacity and loads increased in March, despite this story, which makes me think that most people realize that Southwest is probably still as safe, or safer, than the rest.
@AnotherView – there certainly can be a difference between being unsafe and out of compliance, but compliance is normally seen as staying within a tolerable range of “safe” or approved behaviors or activities. Anything outside of that range is considered risky, even if it’s not filing paperwork to prove that you’re being diligent.
Good point about Southwest’s capability and loads increasing. However, I suspect a fair amount of that activity had already been arranged prior to the mid-month grounding of planes in March and some people just won’t cancel a flight. This week is when the stories are starting to emerge about the depth of the issues with the FAA inspections.
I don’t think Southwest will shut the door solely because of negative blog comments. My point is that Southwest would prove to be an interesting, timely case study on how companies use social media in times of crisis. Keeping blog comments open is a positive sign.
The other thing, of course, is that Southwest Airlines probably wasn’t the only airline that wasn’t doing the best job at inspection compliance.
When you’re part of a business that occasionally gets its customers killed, you don’t get to roll the dice on safety. This is a v. big deal for them, at a time when it’s incredibly hard to run any airline. I can easily see this taking them down.
They’ve made a profound and impressive commitment to social media, tho. Not just a “marketing department” thing. This is going to be very interesting.
@Sonia – I think if the inspection controversy takes down Southwest Airlines, they won’t be the only airline to fall, because I highly, highly doubt that they are the only airline that cuts corners on safety, paperwork, and inspections. You and I agree about Southwest’s commitment to social media, which is why I think they make a better case study than, say, United or American. Or Air Canada, for that matter.
If the Reagan administration and 911 had not done enough damage to the airline industry, this they may never recover from. With the FAA now bearing down on them and oil prices the way they are, the airline industry is in for a long haul.
Studied as a case history at Harvard, Southwest Airlines is the most successful airline in the history of aviation, and they can’t afford to do their inspections? I think not.
In the end it will come down to three or four surviving airlines.
@Lisa – consolidation of the larger players seems inevitable unless they continue to go into bankruptcy protection and re-emerge, ready to plunge back into the muck again.
Ok, Wayne Smallman called it first. Southwest has “shut the door” on the blogs… or maybe has taken the night off. I think you are right Wayne, Southwest doesn’t like bad press.
@Lisa – the blog is still up and you can still comment on it, although comment moderation is enabled.
Well Brain, this is very interesting as at 11:04 pm last night when I blogged you there were no comments past 2:18 pm. Now there is a blog from Gary Kelly, CEO and Vice Chairman, Southwest Airlines “Posted by: flyer” | April 7, 2008 at 7:41 pm.
I think it is interesting for your study here that they did seem to take the night off.
@Lisa – yes, their activity bears watching
[...] week ago I wrote about the Southwest Airlines inspection controversy which had also embroiled the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) in a series of Congressional [...]
“From what I have read, Southwest was never “unsafe” but, rather, out of compliance. There is a difference!”
Planes that should have been inspected were found to have skin cracks. While the top didn’t blow off (like Aloha) how much cracking is safe?
@CMac – I’m with you