United hit with another viral social media complaint, but responds quickly

A United Airlines passenger with a disability was so upset by her April 5 experience with the carrier that she wrote a letter. That scenario happens several times per day to nearly all carriers operating in the US. However, after writing her letter on April 10, Rachel D, as she signs, posted a copy of it to her LiveJournal account. LiveJournal is a popular blog site that allows users to create content communities, follow other user posts, and leave comments. In less than 48 hours, the article has generated 702 comments, and the consumer watchdog site consumerist.com had picked up the story.

In her letter, Rachel complains of poor treatment by United employees and staff employed by a third party service contracted to provide wheelchairs to United customers. She also relates a conversation she had with a United Customer Service Supervisor in San Francisco when she tried to complain about her treatment:

'"I won't apologize for [the employee's] actions and I'm not sorry for what happened to you. It's not in our contract to assist passengers with their luggage and we reserve the right to refuse assistance to anyone. If that's what you need, then perhaps in the future, you should make other travel arrangements."

Keep in mind, the letter is one person's telling of the story, and it's not up to the casual reader to determine what happened at San Francisco, and what needs to be done about it. That's between Rachel and United. What can be noted, however, is that United and other airlines have quickly had to grow accustomed to passengers airing complaints on social media, and those complaints go viral, reaching thousands of users worldwide in a short period of time.

United's examples, such as the passenger who posted a video to YouTube after United broke his guitar, and the passenger who was denied a First Class seat because he was wearing a tracksuit, whether true or false, regardless of who was right or who was responsible, have made one thing clear: social media underlines the need for airlines to remind employees that every customer has a powerful and public voice. Passengers have shown airlines that they will turn to social media when they feel frustrated or ignored by airlines, and choose to appeal to online communites instead.

Although blindsided by the United Breaks Guitars video, and chided by industry observers for not responding promptly to complaints, United has used social media to their advantage in this case. It's not clear when United received word of Rachel's post, but within 48 hours responses were posted on the airline's Twitter account:

What the customer describes is unacceptable. We are working to reach her to offer apology, & identifying the employees involved.

We take serving customers with disabilities very seriously. Trying to contact the customer to apologize & resolve. Thank you for feedback.

These responses are key to damage control when such a complaint has gone viral. United has responded to the complaint, without confirming or denying the account is true before it can be verified, has stated that if true, is not acceptable treatment. United also reinforces that it takes the matter seriously, provides an ambiguous update on their progress (privacy laws prohibit airlines from divulging specific details), and thanks users who have tweeted United with concerns.

Though United may not be as prolific as Southwest Airlines or JetBlue on Twitter, mainly using the application to promote fare sales, it takes a page from other carriers who have used Twitter to respond to viral web complaints. Here, United responds promptly, offering an apology for the situation without accepting or assigning blame, and let's readers know it takes the complaint seriously. It's all that can really be done in a social media sphere where silence is generally taken for indifference.

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