This time is undoubtedly a major credibility crisis of China Eastern Airlines, and the starting speed and handling skills of crisis public relations are very important. However, it is disappointing that in the whole crisis public relations process: the lies are vulnerable, the truth appears too late, the compensation scheme is sincere and powerful, and it is not the first time that China Eastern Airlines has similar incidents. ...
It can be said that so far, the naive crisis public relations technique has brought no less negative impact to China Eastern Airlines than the incident itself.
China Eastern Airlines Crisis Public Relations Review
First stage
If China Eastern Airlines admits that the flight turn-back caused by human factors on April 7 is a watershed, March 31~ April 6 can be said to be the first stage of China Eastern Airlines' crisis public relations.
At this stage, the average score of China Eastern Airlines crisis public relations is only 33 points, which is far from "passing".
Reaction speed: 70 minutes
As soon as the return flight happened, China Eastern Airlines immediately released the "weather cause theory" to the public, claiming that the local weather was not suitable for landing, and the crew made a decision to return, which temporarily calmed the mood of the affected passengers.
On the surface, the public relations department of China Eastern Airlines responded quickly and quickly. We have no intention to discuss the moral responsibility of China Eastern Airlines in issuing this false statement, but even from the perspective of crisis public relations, China Eastern Airlines obviously did not make preparations before issuing the statement. As a result, passengers quickly learned from the news media that while China Eastern Airlines was flying backwards, the flights of Air China and China Southern Airlines with the same conditions were taking off and landing normally, which accumulated more serious consequences and stimulated the public's desire to seek the truth.
Crisis assessment: 30 points
If the first exposure of the South China Tiger incident was Zhou Zhenglong's bad luck, then the second exposure of the fake South China Tiger video planned by the director of Hunan Pingjiang Tourism Bureau was a complete decision failure-when the word "South China Tiger" has been directly linked to "counterfeiting", the probability of similar lies being exposed can be said to be 100%.
The author thinks that the crisis public relations of China Eastern Airlines are quite similar to the two South China Tiger incidents.
In fact, the crisis of China Eastern Airlines is not the first time: on October 9, 2007, on the route from Beijing to Lijiang via Kunming, more than 40 domestic and foreign passengers were stranded at the airport, wasting as long as 12 hours. China Eastern Airlines claimed that the flight delay was caused by "mechanical failure", but it was soon revealed that the real reason was the temporary transfer of the plane. Although this incident came to an end after a tug-of-war, and each passenger was compensated 2000 yuan, the public has seriously questioned the integrity of China Eastern Airlines.
Under this premise, in the face of crisis, if China Eastern Airlines lies again, the chances of being questioned and exposed will greatly increase. However, the crisis public relations staff of China Eastern Airlines did not make a correct assessment of the situation, but once again habitually used the trick of lying, and the effect was not good.
Support/remedial measures: 0 point
As mentioned above, the lie of "weather reason" can only achieve temporary soothing effect and is easy to be exposed. If China Eastern Airlines insists on this trick, it must make a series of preparations and follow-up remedial measures for "lying". For example, ask peers not to comment on this incident; Quickly use company advertisements, social contacts and other resources to send communication letters to climate monitoring departments such as the National Meteorological Observatory and the Central Meteorological Observatory, requesting cooperation; Or cooperate with some aviation experts to explain on the spot, so that reporters can feel the original intention of China Eastern Airlines not landing easily, in order to ensure the safety of passengers. ...
However, China Eastern Airlines did nothing. They thought that after the weather was announced, they could sit back and relax.
stage Ⅱ
On April 6, China Eastern Airlines apologized for the collective return flight of 18, and announced the investigation on April 7, admitting that it was a man-made fact. This is the beginning of the second phase of crisis public relations.
Reaction speed: 30 minutes
From March 3 1 to April 7, it lasted for more than a week, and the voice of doubt was endless. In fact, the truth has gradually surfaced. I have to say that the attitude of China Eastern Airlines has changed too slowly.
What's more, the premise for China Eastern Airlines to admit the facts is based on the premise that the Civil Aviation Administration investigates and announces the truth. Then, this time, China Eastern Airlines even lost the "impression points" of "actively admitting mistakes".
Apologize attitude: 50 points
A few days before and after admitting human factors, China Eastern Airlines apologized to the public. But the apology is limited to the return flight itself, and there is no apology for deceiving the public before.
The management who was dismissed for this matter is only two responsible persons in Yunnan, and it does not involve senior personnel, nor does it involve the initiator of concocting public relations lies.
The apology is only halfway through, and he can only be given 50 points.
Handling method: 30 points
Looking at all kinds of public relations measures taken by China Eastern Airlines in the event of returning home, its social credibility has actually fallen to the bottom. Therefore, at this time, China Eastern Airlines can say that it is useless to say anything. In this case, the only thing that can be saved is to talk less and do more, and show sincerity with practical actions.
For the victims of the incident, the compensation mechanism should best reflect the sincerity of China Eastern Airlines' apology. However, the "compensation standard" set by China Eastern Airlines turned out to be "the highest 400 yuan/person".
China Consumers Association pointed out that "China Eastern Airlines violated the Consumer Protection Law and was suspected of defrauding consumers". How sincere is 400 yuan's compensation alone? Last year, passengers stayed 12 hours, and lost 2000 yuan/person. This time, there were passengers stranded for 22 hours, but the highest compensation was only 400 yuan/person. What is the standard?
At the same time, it is reported that the QAR data on the return flight is strangely lost. Regardless of whether the data disappeared due to human factors or not, the spokesman of China Eastern Airlines was full of lies and set such unreasonable compensation standards, but this happened. The public's first reaction must be "China Eastern Airlines is cheating again" or "China Eastern Airlines sold the data in order to shirk its responsibility for compensation" ...
Obviously, in the second stage of crisis management, China Eastern Airlines still failed.
The original artificial return flight only involves the discussion of rights protection and compensation between consumers and airlines. If we can handle this matter simply and sincerely from the beginning, China Eastern Airlines will only lose some compensation.
However, improper crisis public relations treatment has brought fatal damage to the goodwill of China Eastern Airlines. Once the public's trust in airlines is completely lost, who wants to give their lives to such companies?
It is understood that many passengers have boycotted China Eastern Airlines, and many people said that they would not take China Eastern Airlines flights when purchasing air tickets.
The crisis public relations of China Eastern Airlines not only failed to protect the interests of airlines, but also caused more serious secondary damage to them.