Neeleman explains error

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Sep 30, 2003 | by Jenifer K. Nii Deseret Morning News

JetBlue Airways chief executive David Neeleman told a Utah audience Monday that the company believed it was doing its "patriotic duty" when it gave passenger information to a government contractor.

In retrospect, Neeleman said he likely would have greenlighted the project himself, considering the social and political climate when the request for information arrived.

JetBlue came under fire 10 days ago when it became known that the low-cost airline had turned over names, addresses, phone numbers and flight information of some 5 million passengers to Alabama-based Torch Concepts, a U.S. Department of Defense contractor working on a study to improve military base security. The act violated the airline's privacy policy, which states that passenger information will not be disclosed to a third party.

Neeleman, a native Utahn, said at the University of Utah's Spencer F. Eccles Convocation that he didn't know about the Torch transaction at the time the data was transferred. When the news hit the front page, Neeleman quickly sent JetBlue customers a letter of apology, admitting the company's error and pledging it would not be repeated.

Since then, the company has agreed to cooperate with a Federal Trade Commission investigation into the matter. At least one class- action lawsuit has been filed by outraged passengers.

Neeleman said he "didn't condone" the actions taken by two members of the JetBlue organization, who agreed to provide the information. However, he said Monday that he understood their willingness to cooperate with the government's efforts to improve security. The Torch Concepts request came nine months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"We were flying on 9/11," Neeleman said. "From my office building, I could see the World Trade Centers burning, and it had an indelible effect on me and on our company, and our ability to try and make sure that this never happened again."

JetBlue responded to the attacks by being the first airline to install bulletproof cockpit doors and (non-recording) surveillance cameras, so the cockpit crew can see what is happening in the cabin compartment. And when Torch came calling, JetBlue answered.

"What we were guilty of in our organization was the fact that we were over here, willing to help and compromise our own privacy policy," he said. "We did something that we thought was patriotic, what we felt was the right thing for safety and security."

Rather than "sacrifice" the employees who provided the information to Torch, Neeleman said that given the circumstances, it's likely he would have done the same thing.

"In the context of when that decision was made, in the context of what our nation was at that time, and where I was personally, I'm fairly convinced that had he (the JetBlue employee) come to me and said, 'Hey, the government would like to do some closed-end tests. It's going to help the security of our customers going forward. Should we do it?' I probably would have said yes."

Now, however, JetBlue is hard at work rebuilding its relationship with customers.

"I'm trying to explain what we did, I'm not trying to condone it," Neeleman said. "I'm not trying to say it was the right thing. We will be balancing these two issues, between security and privacy. They are difficult issues to come to grips with, but we'll have to do it because it's the right thing to do, to protect our customers' privacy."

That kind of rapid-response forthrightness will help Neeleman and JetBlue weather the current media storm, said Jack Brittain, dean of the U.'s David Eccles School of Business.

"I think he's handled it exceptionally well, because these things did happen, and to say they didn't would only compound the problem," Brittain said.

"What happened was egregious for some people. To some people, it was a huge violation of trust, and he (Neeleman) responded. To be immediately forthright helps keep the problem in perspective. His actions speak loudly about the core values of the company."

Founded in 2000, JetBlue's fleet includes 48 planes. The company is one of the industry's few profitable airlines. This year, Neeleman said "analysts project we'll do about $1 billion in business, in this our third full year of business."

JetBlue employs about 800 people in Utah, and Neeleman said he expects that number to exceed 1,000 "very soon."

E-MAIL: jnii@desnews.com