Part 1
Jet Blue’s problems were caused majorly by a poor technological system to handle the emergency. The company which had been in operation since 2000 had posted profits of over 2.4 billion in 2006 and was operating 500 flights to 50 different cities every day. This shows that the business approach taken by management was working. Jet Blue had a policy of ensuring that a planned flight went through as soon as it was possible. In the face of cancellations by all the other airlines, Jet blue hoped that this move would have helped many of its customers had the weather improved.
The online reservation system Navitaire had no rebooking option for those customers who wanted to change their flights (Rainer, & Turban, 2009). The only option available was to call the reservation office. The bad weather and the huge traffic from other customers worsened the problem. Also, the system could only handle 650 which was a small number under emergency situations. The luggage tracking system was also poor because it had option for tracking the number, ownership and location of lost luggage (Rainer, & Turban, 2009). In all these situations, management acted promptly and had the reservation system upgraded to handle 950 agents at a time and also had a luggage tracking database created.
Part 2
The management of Jet Blue cannot be put at fault for the failure of the technological system in place. The system was working properly and therefore management could not undertake to fix a system that was not faulty.
The technology in its design should have had provisions for handling emergency situations and additional traffic whenever it occurred (Nicholas, & Hidding, 2010). Navitaire should have been able to double its traffic when the need arose. Poor telephone network is almost always inevitable in storms. Even airline could not reach headquarters to give details of their location and availability.
During the crisis, management moved swiftly to correct the problems brought about by technological failure. The reservation system was expanded; customers could now rebook from airport kiosks. The luggage-tracking problem was also fixed within days and agents could now track the location of their clients lost luggage.
Part 3
In conclusion, the situation Jet Blue found itself into could have been averted had the reservation system had the capacity to allow passengers to rebook their flights easily. More passengers would have been able to reschedule their flights and stay home away from the confusion at the airport. The system should have had more options other than calling the reservation office. An online option and the airport kiosks should have been available to customers.
The lack of proper database for tracking lost luggage was also another major issue. Lost luggage could not be immediately located and identified. Another issue was the lack of a proper database for keeping track of off-duty airline staff. Busy telephone lines during the storm made it impossible for the staff to reach their headquarters. Management handled all these problems swiftly and undertook all the changes and adjustments that were necessary with the help of the system developers. Management also developed a customer bill of rights which promised them certain basic rights while using the airline’s services. From this experience the management learnt valuable lessons on technology may not be able to match up to emergency situations. They learnt to expand the capacity of their systems to future emergencies.
Nicholas, J. & Hidding, G. (2010). ‘Management principles associated with IT project
successes. International Journal of Management and Information Systems;
Fourth Quarter 2010, 14 (5): 147-156
