American Airlines Crisis

More than 1,000 flights were canceled by American Airlines today, which was more than one-third of its scheduled flights. They also canceled flights yesterday for safety inspections on their planes. Of the 19 planes inspected, 15 were found to have faulty wiring in the wheel well.

Spokespeople for American declared that there were no safety issues on their planes and nobody would be in danger. However, American knew that there were faulty wires in their system.

Even though American knew that there would be the possibility of canceling many of their flights, they did not warn anybody in advance. That was one of the many complaints passengers had. They wished that American would have let them know ahead of time, just in case they had to reschedule and find another flight.

When you're stuck in a PR crisis, it is always most important to tell the truth, and not hide any important information, especially if it has to do with the safety of your clients. You also want to warn people of something that might affect them. In American's case, they should have let their passengers know that their planes were going to be inspected for safety, and that there would be a possibility that their flights may be canceled.

So, always tell the truth and warn your client ahead of time if something is going to affect them or their plans!

*Some information courtesy of www.cnn.com*