How the service failure in the Airline industry occurred

. What was the service failure?

The service failure was related to flight cancelations due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 during the holiday season. Here, the omicron variant quickly permeated throughout the airline industry causing staffing shortages. In addition, adverse weather including severe snow storms also heavily disrupted service. According to the wall street journal, daily sick calls quintupled for JetBlue alone with more than 1000 flights cancelled daily for 13 straight days (Sider, 2021).

2. How did the firm respond to the failure?

JetBlue responded by offering higher pay incentives, which included double pay for employees taking on addition shifts. In addition, the airline has increased sign on bonuses to entice others to join the firm for longer periods of time. For pilots, the airlines have offered triple pay for those looking to take additional trips.

3. If you can tell what was the response? (i.e. new policy, new strategy, lost business, etc.)

The response was heavily centered around addition staffing, incentivizing additional shifts, and streamlining internal operations to lower cancellations. The firm has also mandating vaccinations across the entire organization in an effort to help lower service disruptions due to staffing.

4. Using your text, discuss what the best practice should have been to this service failure. What would you have done if you had been on the team addressing the failure?

The staffing policy and practices of JetBlue were correct and aligned with the industry as whole. Although controversial, mandating vaccinations provided an additional buffer to help lower business disruption for the firm. Adding hiring bonuses and other incentives helped to lower employee turnover, while also incentivizing additional work and employment.