FAIL. FAIL. FAIL.<br />American Airlines
meets Mr. X (and learns about that InterWeb thingy)<br />A tragic tale of really, gosh-awful dumbness – in which a plucky young blogger and a well-meaning employee meet the collective ignorance of a flailing corporate behemoth.<br />

Special note to American Airlines
Employees<br />WELCOME & WARNING: The sad tale in this deck is important for you to read, and contains constructive feedback on your brand and Web site, and a few tips to make it better – at no charge to you or your organization – from professionals who normally charge significant per diems for such advice.<br />But please note: commenting on it may be hazardous to your career. <br />Don’t believe us? Read on!<br />

Prologue: the world has changed<br
/>American Airlines, you’re probably feeling smug about the “United Breaks Guitars” flap, in which musician Dave Carroll had a guitar broken by United baggage handlers while he watched, then, after a year fighting for money to fix it, he posted a funny video on YouTube, which wasviewed more than 5 Million times, causing United to capitulate – and fast! <br />So congratulations American, you don’t break guitars.<br />But even worse: you mishandle humans.<br />(And you missed the point…)<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo<br />

In which a 22-year old
blogger has a bad customer experience with American Airlines.<br />FAIL. FAIL. FAIL.<br />Chapter 1: how it all began<br />

1: Thebad customer experience.<br />Early
in 2009, 22 year-old user interface designer and blogger Dustin Curtis had the “horrific displeasure of booking a flight” on AA.com and got really mad. <br />The Web site was (is) a classic “wall-of-noise” mess that throws every possible option on the screen at once. <br />It’s also looking dated, with some truly tacky stuff (check out that snowglobe)!<br />But the worst part is this: <br />The site breaks a basic brand promise by making it hard for human beings to do what they came to do…<br />…which makes humans angry.<br />How angry? Read on.<br />The November 9 version of AA.com(not much different from the one that confounded Mr. Curtis in April)<br />

Chapter 2: anger<br />In which
the 22-year old blogger reacts with a touch of bile.<br />FAIL. FAIL. FAIL.<br />

2: The blogger reacts<br />Dustin
Curtis blogged about the experience on May 18, 2009. <br />The post was brief and not heavy on detail. Also, as you can see here, the tone was not terribly diplomatic – either toward American Airlines leadership or the Web design team.<br />But the guy was angry, his point was valid, and more: <br />He moved from criticism to constructive problem solving with the goal of helping youimprove the user experience.<br />And he did this for you for free.<br />Screen caps from DustinCurtis.com<br />http://dustincurtis.com/dear_american_airlines.html<br />

FAIL. FAIL. FAIL.<br />Chapter 3:
free design (!)<br />In which the 22-year old blogger spends a few hours offering a possible solution (which is pretty good – even if mildly naïve).<br />

3: The design pro gives
away free time to American Airlines.<br />Here’s what this 22-year-old designer came up with in a few hours. Not perfect, but to my eye, it’s clean, clearly organized, tastefully designed, and most importantly customer focused.<br />So the kid has a good eye and some smart ideas.<br />He also might be a bit naïve to assume that things that seem so small can be changed quickly in a big organization.<br />But then, everything looks small from 30,000 feet… Right American Airlines?<br />The mock-up by Dustin Curtis<br />http://dustincurtis.com/dear_american_airlines.html<br />

3b: American Airlines, at this
point, you had three options:<br />Engage the guy in dialogue - possibly through communications staff, or better yet, through mid-level functional staff who can help him understand your side of the story. (A not-terrible-idea – at least he can’t claim you’re not listening.)<br />Give the guy a small contract to come up with a few more concepts, and a bigger contract if he ends up helping you. (A great idea – nothing shuts up a critic like your name on his resume.)<br />Ignore the criticism and the potential solutions he offers and just hope like heck that he goes away. (A really, really profoundly dumb idea…)<br />Guess which one you picked?<br />

FAIL. FAIL. FAIL.<br />Chapter 4:
response<br />In which the corporation inadvertently makes itself seem more human… <br />…for just… a… moment.<br />

4: A human from American
responds<br />A few days later, DustinCurtis.com posted this follow-uppost to his blog.<br />Surprise! A designer at American Airlines responded withan e-mail that does five things:<br />Confirms that his concerns are valid, and in fact shared by many inside AA;<br />Gently reminds him that “simply doing a home page redesign is a piece of cake” – and such thinking is going on at AA.com;<br />Explains the challenge – the amount of organizational effort to get the site changed; <br />Asks for patience on behalf of his whole company andlets the blogger know that positive changes are under way; and finally,<br />Succeedsin getting Mr. Curtis to adopt a more respectful tone and target his criticisms.<br />Corporate communicators: Study this letter - a classic example of how communications should be: articulate, humble, and breaking through the party line with a human voice. <br />

4b: The blogger changes his
tune<br />At this point, American Airlines should have been relieved that the blogger has been largely talked down from his soapbox, and more constructive dialogue is taking place.<br />Or at least that’s what a smart company would have done….<br />

FAIL. FAIL. FAIL.<br />Chapter 5:
dinosaurs on a plane.<br />In which American Airlines proves that they just totally don’t get it. Like, at all.<br />(Oh, and that pesky blogger comes back with a vengeance.)<br />

5: This time, it’s personal…<br
/>The intro to the November 4 post on DustinCurtis.com says it all.<br />http://dustincurtis.com/incompetence.html<br />

Surprised? Don’t be.<br />Sadly, American
Airlines isn’t the last dinosaur. <br />They’re out there, hiding in hierarchical “Lost Valleys” around the world, pretending with their pea-sized brains that they can throttle and control communications the same way they did (or thought they could) in the Jurassic era. <br />But they can’t. The world has changed. <br />

Surprised? Don’t be.<br />And the
new masters of the planet have opposable thumbs. And emotions. And big brains. They talk to each other; they form families and tribes.<br />And they don’t bother trying to control the message. <br />Instead, they listen, and build the conversation in ways that are real, helpful, and yes human.<br />Want evidence?<br />You’re reading this aren’t you?<br />

How to be human in
five easy steps<br />Don’t pretend to be perfect. You’re lying. We know.<br />Listen (critically) to critics. They usually see you better than you do. Then conscript the helpful critics as team-mates, or call them out if they’re just snipers.<br />Speak Human, not “Corporatese”.<br />Encourage your people to speak Human, and teach them to find the opportunities and boundaries for themselves (and share that with everyone)<br />To clobber your competitors, be more human, more generous, listen harder, and build real human relationships with your customers, influencers, staff, and yes, even the competition. <br />

If you’re with us, and
you think 1) Mr. X was unjustly fired, and 2) American Airlines deserves a bit of “United Breaks Guitars” treatment over this, link it, forward it, Tweet about it, blog about it or…<br />What do you think?<br />FAIL. FAIL. FAIL.<br />Please leave your comments at one of the blogs below: <br />www.begtodiffer.com/long-live-mrX<br />www.dustincurtis.com/incompetence.html<br />