Common Practice

Recently I wrote an article about the importance of protecting your brand due to the PricewaterhouseCoopers debacle at the last Academy Awards. Yet we have another great example of damage to a brand in one swift ‘blow’.

I refer to the United Airlines incident wherein a passenger was forcibly removed from a plane full of customers. Unlike the Academy Awards incident, which was human error, this issue has arisen from a ‘common practice’.

It is the ‘common practice’ of the airline to overbook their planes. This is actually common across most airlines. Due to ‘overbooking’ the plane the airline needed to remove passengers to provide airline staff a seat on the plane. When enough volunteers were not forthcoming to vacate the plane the airline chose random customers to be removed forcibly by law enforcement. Is that really necessary? In fact, is this ‘common practice’ a practice they should continue?

The fallout has been damning due to the bloodied passenger’s removal being captured on video and plastered across social media. Other airlines are utilising this incident in their own marketing, mocking United Airlines. The share price has fallen, the passenger will more than likely sue and how many of those passengers will fly United Airlines again?

It is a great example of ‘this is how we have always done things and this is how we will continue to do them until such time as it hurts us in some way’. Why was there no-one looking at this ‘common practice’ thinking there may be some risk here? What could go wrong? Obviously, the airline took their passengers for granted, did not consider why a person chose that flight and the commitments they need to meet at the other end and what it could mean for them if they don’t. This act isn’t due to weather or mechanical issues. This was a chosen way to act. A process. A ‘common practice’.

What ‘common practices’ do you have in your business that could damage your brand and business? What don’t you see?