Joanna (@joannajones1 on Twitter), who was in London for a shopping trip, was informed by Easyjet personnel that she could not board the flight from Gatwick unless she could provide proof that her dog Orla was indeed a guide dog. Distressed, Joanna turned to Twitter for help:
Literally hundreds of angry messages and their re-tweets were posted to Twitter in the space of a couple of hours, with tones ranging from disgust "Disgusted with @easyjet for not letting Tweep @joannajones1 and her GUIDE dog Orla onto a flight tonight from Gatwick to Belfast. Appalling!" - @sheilamcwade (39 retweets), to direct accusations of discrimination.
Easyjet, it became clear yesterday, was following procedure under CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) rules on allowing passengers to travel with assistance dogs, the company's social media response, or lack thereof however, left Joanna distressed and unclear on what to do and many other customers shared the view.
Eventually, once documentation proving that Orla was indeed a guidedog was received by Easyjet, the company moved Joanna on to the next available flight, free of charge. Only then did the Easyjet PR team make a public response on Twitter "Pleased to report @joannajones1 is rebooked unfortunately she did not have correct paperwork earlier." - Unfortunately their response was perceived to be too little, too late, with users condemning it as the #worstapology ever and the Easyjet bashing continued into the night, and Monday morning. The episode even warranted coverage on The BBC, The Guardian, and across online channels.
But from a social media reputation perspective, what could (or should) Easyjet have done differently? The first lesson is that a timely response, acknowledging the issue and explaining what was being done to resolve it would have gone a long way. Although Easyjet is required to follow procedure, a simple tweet response apologising for the inconvenience and distress caused to Joanna, would have quickly assured those following the situation that Easyjet were in fact, concerned about the welfare of the passenger in question and seeking further clarification.
It was also pointed out by Joanna, when trying to find out more information via the Easyjet website, that it is not user friendly for the visually impaired, and that there is no standard documentation proving guidedog ownership. This is an opportunity for Easyjet- acknowledging the feedback and inviting Joanna or suitable industry body to work on improving the user experience for passengers in a similar position.
Once again, Twitter proved to be a platform where the smallest voice can be amplified quickly to reach a big audience. No brand is safe - but procedures can be put in place where gripes and misunderstandings are rectified and, handled well, it is possible for a negative to be turned into a positive.
Ritika Verma, Intern, Yomego (www.yomego.com)