Jet Blue Reminded Me To Be Human

I am always reminding my co-workers and blog readers that the most important thing to remember in social media is for you to “be human.” But sometimes I forget that it’s important to be human in real life too, not just in social media. Which is why when I flew Jet Blue from New York to Austin, I was amazingly reminded by two of their employees what it means to be human in your business.

I was in New York City with my co-worker, Julia, for the PR News Digital Summit, where we spent the entire day learning about best practices in social media. We arrived back at the airport and drove up to the Jet Blue terminal. We went to check in and I realized I was in seat 1C and Julia was in seat 25C, which is in the last row of the plane. Julia is pregnant, and wasn’t thrilled about sitting in the last row of the plane. When the man working the kiosks at JFK, Tyrone, came up and asked us if we needed any help. Julia explained that she was pregnant and wanted to sit next to me. Tyrone immediately grabbed both of our tickets and jumped behind the counter. He returned two minutes later and he had placed Julia in seat 1D, right next to me. When Julia thanked him for accommodating our needs he replied with a resounding, “no problem, you are the customer.”

When we boarded the plane we were already thrilled about our seats in the front row, but that was just the beginning of our great experience. The plane took off and we began to enjoy the free TV that Jet Blue provides. Julia wanted to watch Grey’s Anatomy, so she asked the flight attendant if they had ABC on the TV. The flight attendant, Rose, joked back that she didn’t know why they didn’t have ABC, but on Tuesday she had a few Dancing With the Stars enthusiasts who were pretty upset that they couldn’t watch their favorite show. Julia joked back that it wasn’t a big deal, but Rose was very empathetic about it, and she said she would make it up to us later. Once cabin service began, Rose offered us both a glass of wine for free. A simple gesture, but one that made us both feel like she heard what we were saying, and really understood us. That was enough for Julia and I to give Rose an A+ for her customer service, but it didn’t stop there. After cabin service was over, when the flight attendants usually sit down and relax, I saw Rose approach a man reading a book about Dyslexia. She then took the next 15 minutes to ask the man about his experience with Dyslexia, and then she shared her own story. It was truly amazing to see the human connection that she made with this passenger.

I’ve never flown Jet Blue before yesterday, and to be honest, since I used to live in Atlanta I have always been a loyal Delta flyer. But I’m not anymore. Two great customer experiences with Jet Blue employees have totally changed my loyalty, and now I will always try to fly Jet Blue.

My point isn’t to sound like a Jet Blue uber-fan, but to remind everyone that good brands hire people who are human. Good brands also give their employees the freedom to provide great customer service. They don’t teach their employees to say “sorry, that isn’t my job,” or “sorry, there isn’t anything I can do,” they teach their employees to provide great service that suits the individual needs of their individual customers.  In other words, they teach their employees to be human. And last night, a human experience was exactly what I needed.