Delta Airlines faced a tough crises when it charged returning US soldiers for excess baggage, and when the Youtube video of this went viral, they dealt with it on their blog. We analyze how they did.

1. Delta Airlines Charging US Army for excess baggage What went wrong, and lessons learnt from the crisis http://www.SimpliFlying.com

2. Chapter 1 What went wrong? Delta Airlines charges $2800 in baggage fee from returning US soldiers http://www.SimpliFlying.com

3. Excess bag fee justified for returning soldiers? Staff Sgts. Fred Hilliker and Robert O’Hair of a Reserve unit in Georgia, posted a video on Youtube outlining their plight of being charged for bags. O’Hair explained that the unit showed up with four bags each but were told they could only bring three each and would have to be charged $200 for the fourth. The final tally came to more than $2,800, according to O’Hair. He said there’s a contract between the U.S. government and Delta that allows them to bring up to four bags. He goes on to say that the fourth bag contained a weapons case. (A Delta rep says the contract does not allow soldiers to carry an extra bag.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX8luPQZ2I0&feature=related

4. Chapter 2 The Impact and Anger The video goes viral, reaching over 200,000 views on YouTube within a few hours of posting http://www.SimpliFlying.com

5. The news spread like wildfire… Delta received 3.5X as many mentions on Twitter as all other US airlines combined, on 8 June 2011, and 8X their normal mentions!

6. Top influencers tweet about it too

7. Mostly negative comments across the board The story peaked between 4pm-5pm ET on June 8, 2011, with over 800 Twitter mentions an hour

8. Anger vented on multiple online forums

9. Chapter 3 Delta Responds A blog post goes Live at 5:09 pm, followed by a Tweet by @DeltaAssist, immediately revising policy http://www.SimpliFlying.com

10. Delta posted a response through a blog post Despite a public apology and policy change to accommodate more bags, emotional comments were received, almost all negative

11. The response was personal

12. Top influencers tweet again… This time, about the apology…

13. Chapter 4 Analysis of the crises handling Despite the emotionally-charged discussions, Delta did probably the best job they could http://www.SimpliFlying.com

14. First, let’s understand…

15. American Airlines Flight 24

16. Why Delta did the best job they could This was a Bizzarecrisis – Unexpected and something Delta probably never thought of This was a baggage policy all airlines in the US followed, not just Delta (and most changed it following Delta) Delta was fast in responding – within 2 hours of the topic peaking on traditional and social media The response was not through a press release, but done on a blog – which is indeed the appropriate response to a YouTube video Delta made sure that the response was personal, with the author relating personal stories An Update was provided on the blog itself, based on the initial comments received The detractors weren’t providing constructive feedback. Most were emotional rants, hence didn’t need regular responses

17. In Conclusion Recognizing the fact that Delta didn’t expect a response to a policy that’s existed for a long time, especially the response being so emotionally charged, they’ve probably done best job they could in managing this crisis by releasing a statement on the blog, and keeping it personal. What do you think? Let’s discuss on Twitter (@simpliflying) and in comments.

18. As the expert puts it… “Never let a good crisis go to waste. Communicate and take action when the whole world is watching!” - Rahm Emanuel http://www.SimpliFlying.com

19. Data Analysis courtesy of… Airline Twitter Sentiment Analysis Tool http://www.SimpliFlying.com

20. For more case studies, visit SimpliFlying.com World leaders in helping airlines go social http://www.SimpliFlying.com