Embarrassing headlines, humiliating social media posts and newsreaders laughing at you.
It’s fair to say that Monday proved to be something of a PR nightmare for British Airways.
The airline found itself at the centre of a media and social media storm after it emerged that its flight from London to Dusseldorf ended up more than 500 miles from its planned destination in Edinburgh.
The humbling error was reportedly caused by the pilot and crew being given an incorrect flight path.
Here are some of the headlines the blunder generated:
DUSSELDORKS BA flight to Germany lands in Scotland Metro
D’OHSSELDORF Dozy pilot heading for Germany lands passenger jet in Edinburgh by mistake Edinburgh Evening News
British Airways takes passengers on a magical mystery tour The Times
UNEX-PLANE-D British Airways flight from London to Dusseldorf ended up in Edinburgh after huge blunder The Sun
BA passengers board plane to fly to Dusseldorf, but the pilot takes them to Edinburgh Daily Mail
The PR nightmare continued on social media where the airline was sent a ‘Geography for Dummies’ book by Ryanair on Twitter - a move which was to later backfire on the Irish airline - and was the subject of some Specsavers mischief.
Hey @British_Airways, we have a present for you 👀 pic.twitter.com/m3K9ZNk0Ew
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) March 25, 2019
Should've gone to Düsseldorf? #Shouldve https://t.co/XXSCbZou3R
— Specsavers (@Specsavers) March 25, 2019
Even BBC newsreader Simon McCoy struggled to contain the laughter as he introduced the story.
So glad it was Simon McCoy who got to break the news of the Düsseldorf flight mishap pic.twitter.com/9dC3lgGXSL
— BritishTelly (@TellyBritish) March 25, 2019
In short, it seems that almost everyone has been having a good laugh at BA’s expense.
So how did the airline handle the situation?
Well, it issued a pretty bland statement which other than a brief apology really said very little.
It said: “We are working with WDL Aviation, who operated this flight on behalf of British Airways, to establish why the incorrect flight plan was filed.
"We have apologised to customers for this interruption to their journey and will be contacting them all individually."
What could it have done differently?
Well, there are a few things wrong with the statement. For example, it doesn’t feel particularly meaningful or human.
But also, crucially, it lacks any humour.
Now, I know that responding to negative news stories and crisis media management incidents with humour is a brave approach.
But it can also be a great way to manage bad news.
Of course, a decision has to be made about whether humour is appropriate in each situation, how it sits with the brand image (arguably trickier if you are the flag carrier airline) and there needs to be a good understanding of the brand’s audience.
And there are clearly some crisis media management situations, such as when someone has been injured or there has been financial damage, when being funny must obviously be avoided.
But if your customers are laughing at you and the situation, as many of the passengers on this flight appeared to be, then that is a good indication that humour may be appropriate.
@British_Airways can you please explain how can my morning flight taking off from LCY to Dusseldorf land in Edinburgh 😅? While an interesting concept, I don't think anyone on board has signed up for this mystery travel lottery... #BA3271 #frequenttravel #britishairways
— Son Tran (@sontrantuan) March 25, 2019
A great example of a brand which has done this well is KFC when it ran out of chicken – not dissimilar in terms of embarrassment to flying to the wrong airport – last year.
How the Colonel handled the chicken crisis like a pro
Its clever and bold use of humour helped turn around a potential brand reputation nightmare. This approach showed a human and personable side to the organisation and it was cleverly mixed with praise for staff who worked to keep the restaurant up and running, reassurance and commitments to quality.
Even its full-page newspaper apology adverts contained humour.
Another example of good use of humour came when the American Red Cross found itself dealing with a rogue tweet.
An employee had sent out a tweet about a booze-fuelled night on the organisation’s account rather than her personal one.
The charity deleted the post and put out a tweet of its own saying: “We’ve deleted the rogue tweet but rest assured the Red Cross is sober and we’ve confiscated the keys.”
Similarly, when Greggs found that an offensive logo started appearing on its Google search results, together with a damning description of its clientele, its social media team used humour to diffuse the story.
Hey @GoogleUK, fix it and they're yours!!! #FixGreggs pic.twitter.com/d5Ub7qtrLG
— Greggs (@GreggsOfficial) August 19, 2014
I’m not suggesting that British Airways needed to go as far as these examples, but a little humour – whether it came in its official response or on social media where most of the jokes were being made at its expense– would have added a human touch to its handling of the story.
It could, for example, have issued something similar to Edinburgh Airport, which seemed to get the tone of the story right. It said: “We’re a welcoming airport that is always happy to greet visitors from all over the world to our fantastic city, but this was a surprise for us as well as them.”
Sometimes when the world is laughing at you just have to laugh it off.
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