Problems at Jet Blue

The primary problem with jet blue stemmed from management's primary response to weather related problems which was not a surprise. Management opted to take a chance and lost with trying to get passengers in the air in an impossible situation. It was taking a gamble and losing terribly. Their lack of preparation ultimately trickled down to having a huge IT backlash. With having to re-book so many passengers at one time, it became an impossible scenario for Jet Blue's IT department. They became overwhelmed with all the calls coming in from irate customers who had to wait up to 11 hours on the runway.

The IT department, however, should have already had a system in place for information look up regarding passenger luggage information and locations. Their bag and scan programming came too late. This is one of the problems which should have been averted if a system were already in place to ease some of the irate passenger's concerns, but only added to the frustrations experienced.

Things I would have done differently would have been to already have a back-up plan in case of any emergencies. I do not think I would solely rely on an at home working situation for the reservations department, but would have had an actual physical place where reservations can be made. An on-line reservations service should have been implemented with its launch. This airline had many airlines as examples of how others ran their businesses, all of them have an on-line booking and reservations system in place. Having this system in place would have alleviated some of the airline's re-booking problems with having to speak with a live representative.

References

Chapter 8: Organizational Information Systems.