United breaks guitars

The moral of the story is – don't treat your customers like crap.

It's a simple rule but one that gets violated ad nauseam by companies that think that no one is paying attention.

United learned this recently thanks to the simple – but probably commonplace – destruction of an expensive guitar owned by a musician on his way from Chicago to Nebraska. I'm not going to link to it since it seems as though everyone has seen it.

I am going to link the BrandWeek article about it, offering 'brand lessons' from this episode. Now I admire the article's premise – there are things that can be done to mitigate these backlashes. A company is only as strong as their employees and when employees screw up – and they do – amends must be made.

But people can tell the difference between employee screw-ups, such as the case of a baggage handler training for a javelin event, and company policy, which stonewalled this musician for nine months, leading him to record and post the first of three videos designed to slaughter the company and increase his band's exposure ten-fold.

One piece of advice from the article was that United should record an apology, donate to various charities, give him a new guitar, and do other things showing that United is 'sincere.' Problem is I don't believe any of these gestures show sincerity. United hasn't apologized for the policy that is at the root of his problem. So those gestures are just that – gestures. The average person believes that the only reason United is sorry is that they got caught. Which is why I believe there is so much momentum behind this video. He speaks for millions of people who have been left holding destroyed baggage with little recompense other than a contrite 'sorry but we're not responsible for something that is in our care.'

Running an airline is expensive, especially now when margins are thin and the economy is weak. There will always be those trying to game the system to their advantage, which is why the policy exists. But rigidity breeds contempt and the public's love for the 'glamor' of flying is at record low levels, thanks to the various cuts and cope-outs practiced by many airlines. No airline is operating from a groundswell of high public opinion.

Episodes like these illustrate the old adage that started this post – don't treat your customers like crap.