TWITTER ME: How I Won A Social Media War
Lately, a lot of my peers have expressed their distrust or dislike of Twitter. It’s too much marketing output. It’s full of complaints or mundane updates. Well, I finally have a good story to win over and convert the crowds. The moral of the story being: Having an audience gets you what you want.
This is a principal we all know in theory but rarely get an opportunity to exercise in practice.
My husband and I had had a trip planned to California for months. The excuse was to see his movie “Below New York” play at the Newport Beach Film Festival. And of course, there would be some west coast brewery trips for the wife. As loyal JetBlue customers, each with our own mileage reward credit cards, we were able to book ourselves flights from JFK to LAX on flying points. Then came the curve ball: my husband needed to make a quick business excursion to Toronto beforehand, which meant we had to change our departure city from NYC to Buffalo.
We called customer service for advice a month before our trip. Should we pay for a flight change, or just book one additional one way flight from BUF->JFK and catch our original flight? The representative told us: neither! You can call JetBlue at midnight on the day of your departure and get a same day flight change for only $50! Pleased with this good advice, we took it.
24 hrs before our departure, now in Toronto with a rental car due back in Buffalo the next morning, my husband calls JetBlue to make sure there is availability for the flights we intend to take the next day. He explains the advice he was given, and is then told that he was misinformed. Same day flight changes can only take place from the same departure city, not a new one. This circumstance is going to cost us $650, which is well beyond our travel budget.
“But that’s not what your agent told us!”
“Sorry sir, there’s nothing we can do.”
Frustrated, he hangs up and tries again. This time JetBlue admits that there is a note on our record, stating that the agent we spoke to misinformed us at the time of our original inquiry. Yet we were not called back, or emailed, so that we could correctly address the issue. Their offer, to make things right, is to refund our flight points without penalty. After being told there is no other option, we take the offer and cancel our flights. And the Twitter fury begins:
@TheBlager: @JetBlue just ruined our vacation. Now I cannot see my husband @mattfinlin film at #nbff. #crushed
@TheBlager: .@JetBlue Admits their mistake that stymied mine and @mattfinlin vacation and does nothing to fix the problem.
@JetBlue: @TheBlager We’d like to hear more. Will you please leave us a note at
http://t.co/QslCTLgj@TheBlager: on your website ? You can call us we have been on the phone for hours. Check @mattfinlin Reservation and record.
At this point I am trying to fill out their stupid form, but they sent me the wrong link and I really start to lose it on them, tweet pounding with all my might. That’s when my husband’s cellphone rings.
It’s a public relations representative, and she would like to speak with me. She’s nice. She wants to make it all better. She books us new flights to LA, leaving from Buffalo, and returning to NYC. No extra charge. She gives us two flight vouchers for future travel. We’re elated - and of course we tweeted our praises.
