Dive Brief:
- United Airlines has found itself in a reputation management situation after an incident last weekend when it prevented two teenagers traveling on employee passes from boarding their flight because they wore leggings, per the Sacramento Bee. The airline cited a dress code policy for its complementary tickets that prohibited the girl’s attire.
- As the news became public United faced an intense social media backlash, particularly on Twitter.
- Earlier this month the Chicago Business Journal reported that the airline was the best loved brand out of around 60 global carriers in the 2017 Airline Report from NetBase, and came in second in social media behind only JetBlue.
Dive Insight:
Given the beating United Airlines began taking on social media over the weekend, it will be interesting to see if it can translate some brand love and social media juice highlighted in the NetBase report into damage control for the brand’s reputation.
For its part, the airline quickly realized it had a public relations issue on its hands with Twitter the flashpoint and began taking steps to mitigate the issue pointing out the unique circumstances around why the teenagers weren’t allowed to board their plane and why that particular dress code issue wouldn’t impact regular travelers. Even so, barring teens from flying over leggings wasn’t a good look for the brand and its response reflected that recognition.
All brands should have social media policies in place to handle reputation management and other brand crisis scenarios. Having a strong and positive social media rapport in advance, as United seems to have had in place according to the NetBase report, should give marketers a leg up when working to set the record straight and ease consumers concerns about a brand.