2011 Annual Review - Qantas
2011 Annual Review - Qantas
2011 Annual Review - Qantas
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<strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Review</strong> <strong>2011</strong><br />
49<br />
CASE STUDY<br />
SOCIAL MEDIA<br />
Twitter, Facebook & YouTube<br />
The eruption of<br />
Chile’s Puyehue<br />
Cordón Caulle volcano<br />
in June <strong>2011</strong> rapidly<br />
became a problem for<br />
<strong>Qantas</strong> and Jetstar.<br />
The resulting ash cloud drifted over<br />
Australian and New Zealand airspace,<br />
circumnavigating the globe twice and<br />
shutting down major ports for days at<br />
a time. Thousands of <strong>Qantas</strong> and Jetstar<br />
flights and tens of thousands of passengers<br />
were disrupted, leading to unfortunate but<br />
unavoidable congestion on phone lines to<br />
our call centres.<br />
It was an immense customer service task,<br />
with customers across Australia, New<br />
Zealand, Central and South America<br />
being provided with food, transport and<br />
accommodation. Getting the balance<br />
right between resuming scheduled services<br />
and clearing the backlog of passengers<br />
affected by cancelled flights was vital.<br />
Social media channels like Twitter, Facebook<br />
and YouTube proved crucial in helping us<br />
get timely, accurate information to customers.<br />
We posted the latest operational updates<br />
on Twitter and Facebook and provided links<br />
to the major disruptions and flight status<br />
pages on the <strong>Qantas</strong> and Jetstar websites.<br />
We were also able to help individual<br />
customers find out about specific flights.<br />
<strong>Qantas</strong> Group policy is not to fly through<br />
areas of volcanic ash where the density of<br />
the ash is unknown – as was the case with<br />
the Chilean volcano. With many customers<br />
asking for more detail about our approach,<br />
we filmed and posted a video on YouTube<br />
featuring <strong>Qantas</strong> Chief Pilot Peter Wilson<br />
and Head of Integrated Operations Alan<br />
Milne discussing the risks of volcanic ash<br />
and how the <strong>Qantas</strong> Group was responding.<br />
The feedback on <strong>Qantas</strong>’ use of social<br />
media during the disruption was excellent,<br />
and the Group plans to bolster its resources<br />
further with the employment of dedicated<br />
social media employees in the customer<br />
care department. Social media can only<br />
complement, never replace, the essential<br />
customer service work done by airport and<br />
call centre staff, but it is a powerful new<br />
customer communication tool.
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