A Wren Says

On Monday, I suggested that if I were an airline, I would send a special thank you to fliers who have endured the extreme TSA wait times with the partial shutdown of the U.S. federal government. Well, maybe I’m a psychic, or maybe it’s just good business. On Wednesday, I received an email from Delta thanking customers for sticking with them throughout this difficult time.

Perhaps it seems like an unnecessary email. It wasn’t their fault. Why should they have to acknowledge it? But if you really think about it, it was their problem. It was a situation that affected their customers. It was an event that affected their systems. It was in that sense their crisis to manage.

When it comes to crisis management, you have to expand your idea of what a crisis is. A crisis doesn’t have to be something bad that happens to you directly. It doesn’t have to be a mistake that you or a member of your team have made. It is just an event that impacts your brand, image, and/or operations. This was certainly a massive event that affected how airlines did business and potentially how people viewed air travel. They had to respond.

Now, whether or not this was the best response is a different question. But that will remain to be seen as things go back to normal at airports across the country. At least for now.