JetBlue Breaks Odd Social Media Silence on Steve 'Take This Job And ...' Slater

When JetBlue flight attendant Steve Slater slid down that yellow plastic slide and into the nation's heart, he created some serious turbulence for his presumably-soon-to-be-former employer.

JetBlue, one of the earliest proponents of transparent online communication with customers via Twitter, Facebook and blogs, mostly kept quiet online as millions upon millions of its potential customers discussed the incident using those same networks.

As of Tuesday, the company's Facebook page lacked any reference to Mr. Slater, and as AdAge noted, its handful of tweets on this red-hot topic consist mostly of terse statements like "an investigation is ongoing" and "we will not comment."

That article pointed out that the FAA, Homeland Security, and possibly other agencies are investigating the incident, leaving JetBlue with precious little to say. However, Ad Age's article apparently coaxed a more direct mention from JetBlue of this incident on Wednesday, indicating that it probably could have said more, earlier, than it did.

The following post appears on a company blog that typically covers "weird" news related to flying:

It wouldn't be fair for us to point out absurdities in other corners of the industry without acknowledging when it's about us. Well, this week's news certainly falls into that category. Perhaps you heard a little story about one of our flight attendants? While we can't discuss the details of what is an ongoing investigation, plenty of others have already formed opinions on the matter. Like, the entire Internet. (The reason we're not commenting is that we respect the privacy of the individual. People can speak on their own behalf; we won't do it for them.)

While this episode may feed your inner Office Space, we just want to take this space to recognize our 2,300 fantastic, awesome and professional Inflight Crewmembers for delivering the JetBlue Experience you’ve come to expect of us.

Wait, so why couldn't JetBlue say even that until now? The important thing is that the company is now at least talking about how it can't really talk about this, which is a big improvement on just not talking about it. The first of 115 comments on that post, when it finally appeared, reads, "I love you JetBlue."

But if JetBlue really wants the love of the online masses, who continue to fete Slater through online groups like "Can Steven Slater Get More Fans Than Justin Bieber?" it only has one option, assuming the guy doesn't end up in Guantanamo over this: giving its errant flight attendant a stern talking-to, letting him keep his job, and putting him in charge of a new Politeness In The Skies initiative targeted at passengers and crew alike.

We excoriated BP a while back for failing to address its catastrophic oil spill on social networks for a full month, missing out on a chance to explain itself to an irate public, or at least to apologize. Compared to BP's public relations nightmare, JetBlue's issue is so trivial that the company might yet spin it around into an epic win, harnessing the sympathy millions have shown the air rager. As of now, this story has a hero in search of a villain, and JetBlue doesn't want to be it.

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See Also:

• BP's Social Media Campaign Going About as Well as Capping That Well
• JetBlue Shared Passenger Data
• JetBlue Customers Feel the Pain
• Army Admits Using JetBlue Data
• JetBlue 'Fesses Up, Quietly
• JetBlue Hopeful: Want Pass, Will Travel