JetBlue was founded with the goal of "bringing humanity back to air travel" and has promoted the most unusual ideas to improve the customer experience. JetBlue has primarily targeted the low-cost air travel market by offering the lowest fares in the industry while still ensuring customers have quality and memorable moments. For example, unlike other airlines, JetBlue had only one class of service, suggesting equality among all humans. All seats were made of leather with extra legroom and TV screens fitted for each customer. The airline also ranked first for best customer experience due to its reliability. To ensure the JetBlue experience, the airline adopted a number of strategies, such as hiring highly motivated, non-unionized staff and making flight cancellation a measure of last resort in the popular belief that “passengers would rather arrive at their destination late than than to have their delay." canceled flights”, demonstrating human understanding. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay What challenges did the airline face in managing the customer experience as the airline grew rapidly, and how did it respond? Rapid growth meant the airline's operations became increasingly sophisticated, which made a change in strategy imminent although management did not realize it. For example, prioritizing delayed takeoffs over flight cancellations has earned the airline numerous awards for best customer experience. However, with an expanded fleet and consequently a greater number of daily flights, such disruptions often resulted in significant setbacks. This is exactly what happened during the ice storm of February 14, 2007, when instead of canceling flights scheduled for the day, JetBlue decided to wait and hope that the storm would calm down in time for flights to take off and, in in turn, earning an excellent reputation among other airlines who had already canceled their flights. As it turned out, the long wait ultimately left nine planes full of passengers stranded on the tarmac, and more than 30,000 passengers were left helpless at airports across the country. This had a knock-on effect that saw over a thousand flights canceled over the next six days and losses worth $17 million in revenue and $24 million in compensation vouchers. The crisis brought significant changes to the airline's operations, the most notable being the replacement of chief operating officer David Barger with Russell Chew, who had respectable experience in the aviation industry having held a similar role at the FAA and as CEO of the American Airlines. Airline systems operations center. Other changes included recognition of the vital role of early flight cancellations which changed the airline's approach from reacting to problems by doing heroic stunts to preparing for disruptions. The airline also adopted IROP integrity where flight planning was computerized. The system also incorporated a cancel bank that could be activated when a packet of ten or more cancels was issued. What exactly went wrong? Why? Who or what was responsible? The crisis was caused by the acceleration of the weather, from snow turning to rain to ice pellets. When it became apparent that the planes would not take off. 1-33.