Hollywood actress Jessica Chastain was so unhappy over the credit offered by JetBlue when her in-flight-entertainment system malfunctioned that she took to Twitter to complain. Many have castigated her for being petty, but she has a point…
Jessica Chastain Cries Foul Over JetBlue Compensation
Chatain, 47, received a $15 future flight credit, along with everyone else onboard, when a system rendered the entire in-flight entertainment system inoperative. She was not happy about the credit:
“Thanks you @JetBlue for your $15.00 credit. My flight was $1,500 and the credit is 1/100 of the money I paid you. Strange that I paid that for your flight entertainment system that didn’t work for the duration of my 6hr flight, but I guess it was worth it for this $15 credit.”
A JetBlue representative on Twitter asked her to DM more details. She shared that too:
“I understand but I spent $1,500 on the flight and so did my husband. There should be some flight credit or something since I have a TrueBlue account and have been a loyal customer.”
I’m not sure having a TrueBlue account or claiming to be “loyal” will get anyone far, but the fact that she spent $1,500 on her ticket (sounds like she was flying transcontinental in Mint business class) does call into question the paltry compensation amount.
Many took to Twitter to attack her…so much so that she later deleted her original tweet…but I think there’s more jealousy at play there than anything else. Just because she can “afford it” or there were other folks suffering far worse injustices than an inoperative screen does not mean she should accept such low compensation.
How much is IFE worth anyway? Even though it is secondary to safe passage from point A to B, isn’t IFE one of the fundamental selling points of JetBlue? Extra legroom, free wi-fi, seatback screens? That’s the JetBlue way…the business model. A passenger who pays $1,500 for a ticket should expect a working screen…and so should a passenger in economy class. $15 does seem a bit insulting…
What do you think? What is reasonable compensation for a broken IFE screen on a coast-to-coast flight?
image: Wikimedia Commons
Take your grievances to the court of public opinion, you open yourself up to every nutjob out there. Some people never learn.
sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
…you’ll never believe when that started to become NOT true.
in other words, the origin / reason for this saying, because before it came about – we didn’t need it!
the rise of this also parallels words and songs related to our emotional state.
Television didn’t work ; Neither did her brain .
Hopefully , a nearby passenger spoke to her for the entire six hours about the structure of a leaf .
Hollywood celebrity having to fly commercial? Difficult times, right?
It happens more often than you think.
Happens all the time. You should see my client list at Award Expert…
I heard that when they’re flying for official work, the actors’ union contract requires business class travel. Of course, sometimes they are flying for pleasure/tourism and may not want to blow 10 grand or more on a private flight. I’m amused when I see paparazzi photos of them without makeup or designer clothing, they look like normies and can escape recognition.
That said, Matt, wait for this to generate outrage:
“a ticket should expet a working”
Right to complain JetBlue needs to own up with points
And yes court of public opinion isn’t going to elicit sympathy
lately, to save $, they the system almost never works. Out of 10 recent flights, 2 have worked properly. $15 is a joke for the transcon inconvenience. Until JB is stable, this will continue or get worse.
Back to supply and demand. JetBlue is probably getting their planes full and people will continue flying them. Many people (including me) don’t care for entertainment systems and from what I hear the overall JB experience is better than the other US airlines so they have little incentive to offer better service when their service is already better than the competition.
I remember once flying on a United 747 when their entertainment system was down. They automatically issued electronic travel vouchers to all passengers, and I received $400. It was a great goodwill gesture from United. JetBlue could definitely learn from them.
Yes, I remember those days too. $400 may be a tad too much high, but is a sign of respect.
Airlines want to hold people accountable for every little expense or mistake but when they make mistakes they provide token compensation. They need to be held accountable for the consistent lack of maintenance and clealiness of planes, inability to adjust when issues arrive, etc.
Recently I flew ZRH-EWR (about 8-hour flight in J) and the entertainment system was down the whole time. After some pushback, I got 12,500 United miles. Sounds about fair to me.
I’ve received anywhere from 5000-10000 miles from Delta, depending on the length of the flight for an inoperable IFE.
Mentioning my loyalty does help with dealing with Delta. She is right to complain.