Yes, they offered $5,000 cash. They also offered something else.
For the passengers who survived the emergency landing on Southwest Flight 1380 this week, on which Jennifer Riordan died, the flight must have been a horrifying experience.
The pilot and copilot have had been hailed as heroes, and Southwest CEO Gary Kelly was praise for the fast apology and condolence statement he offered via video. But you can imagine that the airline might want to continue to respond to the affected passengers quickly.
Apparently, it has. Even as the federal investigation into the incident continues, Southwest reportedly sent letters with personal apologies and quick compensation to passengers from Flight 1380 just a day after the emergency.
Obviously, any big company that faced a debacle like this needs to do something similar and quick. Many do, but only in exchange for people offering to drop all claims against the company (more on whether that's happening here, in a second).
But there's something interesting in how Southwest handled the issue--a combination of what they offered, and how they worded the apology letter, as reported, signed by Kelly:
We value you as our customer and hope you will allow us another opportunity to restore your confidence in Southwest as the airline you can count on for your travel needs. ... In this spirit, we are sending you a check in the amount of $5,000 to cover any of your immediate financial needs.
As a tangible gesture of our heartfelt sincerity, we are also sending you a $1,000 travel voucher...
Our primary focus and commitment is to assist you in every way possible.
What leaps out at me is, oddly, the smallest financial part of the compensation: the $1,000 travel voucher. (Although, it's funny: psychologically people sometimes put a higher subjective value on a tangible thing valued at a certain amount, then they do on cash.)
Even in the wake of tragedy, Southwest is taking steps to try to keep these customers--as customers.
As some commenters have pointed out, while the uncontained engine failure aboard flight 1380 was terrifying for passengers, and resulted in loss of life and injury, it's by no means the first time a flight suffered a similar catastrophe and ultimately landed.
Commercial airlines like a 737 are designed to be able to fly with one of the engines disabled, and professional aircrew train and drill on what to do in this kind of situation. The emergency was deftly handled by Captain Tammie Jo Shults and first officer Darren Ellisor.
Part of why this story was so widely reported however, is that passengers were immediately sharing it on social media. One passenger famously paid $8 for inflight WiFi even while he thought the plane was going to crash, so that he could broadcast on Facebook Live what was happening and say a farewell to friends and family.
So, connect this to the travel vouchers. Beyond taking a step toward repairing the relationship with these passengers, what better PR result could Southwest hope for than some positive travel experiences and social media posts from one of them, as a result?
I wouldn't expect Southwest to articulate this rationale; that would actually undercut it. And, I do have a couple of other questions about how this all works, for which I've reached out to Southwest for answers. I'll update this post when I hear back.
For example, I would assume that the family of the passenger who died on the flight, Jennifer Riordan, would be treated differently, and maybe also the seven passengers who reportedly were injured.
There's also the question of whether these are really just goodwill payments, or a way to quickly settle 100 or more potential claims against the airline. If it's the more traditional, transactional legal strategy of just trying to settle claims quickly, then that undercuts a lot of this.
However, I'm judging based on the experience of one passenger, Eric Zilbert of Davis, California, that this might not be the case. Zilbert reportedly checked with a lawyer before accepting the compensation," to make sure I didn't preclude anything." Based on the lawyer's advice, went ahead and did so.
Of course, this doesn't mean every passenger is happy with the gesture. For example, Marty Martinez of Dallas, the passenger who became famous after he livestreamed the emergency landing over Facebook Live, said he's not satisfied.
"I didn't feel any sort of sincerity in the email whatsoever, and the $6,000 total that they gave to each passenger I don't think comes even remotely close to the price that many of us will have to pay for a lifetime."
Even so, Southwest sort of got what they'd probably like to see in his case, anyway: a tangible demonstration that despite the experience aboard Flight 1380, he's willing to fly with the airline again.
The proof? He gave his quote to an Associated Press reporter, the account said, "as he prepared to board a Southwest flight from New York."
The pilot and copilot have had been hailed as heroes, and Southwest CEO Gary Kelly was praise for the fast apology and condolence statement he offered via video. But you can imagine that the airline might want to continue to respond to the affected passengers quickly.
Apparently, it has. Even as the federal investigation into the incident continues, Southwest reportedly sent letters with personal apologies and quick compensation to passengers from Flight 1380 just a day after the emergency.
Obviously, any big company that faced a debacle like this needs to do something similar and quick. Many do, but only in exchange for people offering to drop all claims against the company (more on whether that's happening here, in a second).
But there's something interesting in how Southwest handled the issue--a combination of what they offered, and how they worded the apology letter, as reported, signed by Kelly:
We value you as our customer and hope you will allow us another opportunity to restore your confidence in Southwest as the airline you can count on for your travel needs. ... In this spirit, we are sending you a check in the amount of $5,000 to cover any of your immediate financial needs.
As a tangible gesture of our heartfelt sincerity, we are also sending you a $1,000 travel voucher...
Our primary focus and commitment is to assist you in every way possible.
What leaps out at me is, oddly, the smallest financial part of the compensation: the $1,000 travel voucher. (Although, it's funny: psychologically people sometimes put a higher subjective value on a tangible thing valued at a certain amount, then they do on cash.)
Even in the wake of tragedy, Southwest is taking steps to try to keep these customers--as customers.
As some commenters have pointed out, while the uncontained engine failure aboard flight 1380 was terrifying for passengers, and resulted in loss of life and injury, it's by no means the first time a flight suffered a similar catastrophe and ultimately landed.
Commercial airlines like a 737 are designed to be able to fly with one of the engines disabled, and professional aircrew train and drill on what to do in this kind of situation. The emergency was deftly handled by Captain Tammie Jo Shults and first officer Darren Ellisor.
Part of why this story was so widely reported however, is that passengers were immediately sharing it on social media. One passenger famously paid $8 for inflight WiFi even while he thought the plane was going to crash, so that he could broadcast on Facebook Live what was happening and say a farewell to friends and family.
So, connect this to the travel vouchers. Beyond taking a step toward repairing the relationship with these passengers, what better PR result could Southwest hope for than some positive travel experiences and social media posts from one of them, as a result?
I wouldn't expect Southwest to articulate this rationale; that would actually undercut it. And, I do have a couple of other questions about how this all works, for which I've reached out to Southwest for answers. I'll update this post when I hear back.
For example, I would assume that the family of the passenger who died on the flight, Jennifer Riordan, would be treated differently, and maybe also the seven passengers who reportedly were injured.
There's also the question of whether these are really just goodwill payments, or a way to quickly settle 100 or more potential claims against the airline. If it's the more traditional, transactional legal strategy of just trying to settle claims quickly, then that undercuts a lot of this.
However, I'm judging based on the experience of one passenger, Eric Zilbert of Davis, California, that this might not be the case. Zilbert reportedly checked with a lawyer before accepting the compensation," to make sure I didn't preclude anything." Based on the lawyer's advice, went ahead and did so.
Of course, this doesn't mean every passenger is happy with the gesture. For example, Marty Martinez of Dallas, the passenger who became famous after he livestreamed the emergency landing over Facebook Live, said he's not satisfied.
"I didn't feel any sort of sincerity in the email whatsoever, and the $6,000 total that they gave to each passenger I don't think comes even remotely close to the price that many of us will have to pay for a lifetime."
Even so, Southwest sort of got what they'd probably like to see in his case, anyway: a tangible demonstration that despite the experience aboard Flight 1380, he's willing to fly with the airline again.
The proof? He gave his quote to an Associated Press reporter, the account said, "as he prepared to board a Southwest flight from New York."