Street Smarts: Learning From JetBlue

One day flying JetBlue, I found myself being served by David Neeleman, the airline's founder. When was the last time you met your customers and asked how you could better serve them?

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Among the many hazards of business success is this one: The bigger your company gets, the less contact you have with some of the most important people who have helped get you there, namely, your customers. You just can't spend as much time with them as you did in the early days. There are always more pressing matters--problems to solve, financing to arrange, people to hire, deals to make. You increasingly count on employees to handle the day-to-day relationships with customers, while you become more and more removed from them. It's a process that can undermine even the most promising young company--unless you make a conscious effort to ensure that that doesn't happen.

Let me tell you about an experience I had last fall on a flight from New York to California. As usual, I was flying JetBlue. I've been a JetBlue fan from my first contact with the airline, and not just because its fares are lower than its competitors'. What I like most of all is the service. JetBlue doesn't overbook; I've never seen lines at its airport counters; you can watch live television on the plane; if you need to change a flight, the fee is $25, instead of $100; when you call with a problem, the service reps really do try to help you solve it--and they don't make you feel as though you're being taken to the cleaners. The company does a hundred little things to make traveling by air simple, easy, and painless. So I use JetBlue whenever I can, despite the inconvenience of having to fly into and out of secondary airports.

On this particular trip, I was taking an evening flight from New York City to Oakland. I had arrived early enough to get an aisle seat in an exit row. I boarded the plane with the other passengers, and the door closed. As we sat there, buckling our seat belts and checking out the televisions in front of us, a middle-aged man with slightly graying hair stood up in the front of the plane. He had on the long apron that JetBlue flight attendants wear, with his name stitched into it. "Hi," he said, "my name is Dave Neeleman, and I'm the CEO of JetBlue. I'm here to serve you this evening, and I'm looking forward to meeting each of you before we land."

There was an audible buzz among the passengers. I was as impressed as everyone else. During the boarding process, I'd heard another passenger tell a friend that Neeleman was on the flight, but I just assumed he'd be sitting quietly in one of the front rows. I certainly didn't expect him to be working as a flight attendant.

But, sure enough, as soon as we reached our cruising altitude, he and the other attendants started coming down the aisle with the baskets of snacks that JetBlue offers passengers to stave off hunger pangs. Of course, if the passengers in the rear had had to wait for Neeleman to serve them, they would have starved. Beginning in the first row, he slowly made his way through the plane, stopping to chat with anyone who cared to talk to him, answering every question people asked. I was sitting in the 11th row, and it took him more than an hour to reach me. "Nice airline you have here," I said. "Where do you come up with all these great ideas--like the televisions?"

"I get most of my ideas on flights like this one," said David Neeleman. "The customers tell me what they want."

"I get most of my ideas on flights like this one," Neeleman said. "The customers tell me what they want."

"Oh, listening to your customers," I said. "What a novel idea!"

He laughed and asked me what I did. I told him I was a businessman, but I also wrote a column in Inc. magazine. "Really?" he said. "What's it about?"

"It's about customer service, among other things," I said.

"I'll have to read it," he said and wrote down my name. I asked him if he often came on flights and talked to customers. "Not as often as I'd like," he said. "I can work it in at least once a month, sometimes more. My other responsibilities make it more difficult now, but I get out here when I can."

Sitting next to me was a young man who sells a high-energy, water-soluble food supplement. He made a pitch for offering it on JetBlue. Neeleman listened closely, nodded his head, and took a sample. The salesman felt good about the exchange.

Across the aisle from me was a JetBlue frequent flier. He said he was having a problem with his seat assignments. "That shouldn't be happening if you fly that often," Neeleman said. "I'll give you my e-mail address, but you're going to have a hard time reaching me. Here's someone who can help you." He gave the passenger another person's name and contact information. "Tell him you met me on this flight and explain the situation. He'll take care of it."

After about 20 minutes, Neeleman excused himself and moved on to the next row. I went back to watching television. The other flight attendants continued making their rounds. When they came by my row, I asked if they'd ever worked with their CEO and chairman before. "Oh, yeah," one of them said. "We bump into him all the time."

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