Southwest Air Responds to Kevin Smith

Low-Cost Carrier Solves Issues through Twitter

Southwest Airlines have been known as the "low cost carrier with no frills" but in February 2010, Southwest had a huge issue with one of its flyers.
 

After being seated, director and actor Kevin Smith (Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob) was told that he would need to evacuate the full flight because he was a "safety risk" to other passengers, due to his weight.
 
Smith had previously bought two plane tickets when traveling Southwest to be comfortable but never expected to be humiliated and actually kicked off a flight. He immediately took to Twitter, with his 1.6 million followers, and his own personal blog to rant about Southwest.

Post on twitter: Dear @SouthwestAir - I know I'm fat, but was Captian Leysath really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?

Southwest immediately responded to Smith acknowleding the humiliating experience.

I've read the tweets all night from @thatkevinsmith - He'll be getting a call at home from our Customer Relations VP tonight.

Objective: Southwest is actively listening to their customers to cut complaints and keep current customers happy. They fully understanding that keeping existing customers is much cheaper than acquiring new ones. By keeping an active presence online through outlets such as Twitter, they are able to listen to complaints and react in real time.

Target Audience:

• Any existing customer who wants to be connected to Southwest via social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, or their blog.
• Their purpose for being connected could be to ask questions or complain about an issue.

Issues/Opportunities: The opportunity that Southwest has by being online is solving problems in real time rather than losing customers to unresolved issues.

Strategies: Since Southwest is known for their low-cost flights with no frills, its imperative that they have a presence online through Twitter to keep an open connection with their customers

Tactics: Shielding themselves from potential tragedy online is Southwest's tactic to keep their customers happy

Measurement: A great measurement for them is to see how many issues have been resolved and how many of those customers continue to fly with Southwest

In this particular case with Southwest, they went above and beyond to make sure they made this situation better. They not only placed Smith on a later flight at no cost but also gave him a $100 voucher when he landed.

Also, due to the overwhelming outrage on Twitter, they went as far as posting a personal apology to Kevin Smith on their personal blog. All of this could not be possible if they did not have the real time connection to their customers.

Lesson Learned: Monitoring and managing online presence is a crucial ingredient for excellent customer service!

Stefy x0x
@stefyyleon