Doesn't seem as though anyone else has posted this here, or to the AA thread so I thought I would...

Regarding Jill from AA @ RDU and what happened to her, and the fuss that was caused by her departure and AA's handling of it....

--- WSJ ---

American Airline Blocks Employee From Responding to Online Queries
Should Workers Offer
Unofficial Help Online?
By JANE COSTELLO
WSJ.COM


American Airlines wants Jill Griffin to keep her opinions
to herself.

A customer-service representative for American's top fliers
based in Raleigh, NC., Ms. Griffin decided to go the extra
mile by sharing her expertise in cyberspace on her own
time. Last May, she registered with FlyerTalk
(www.flyertalk.com), an online bulletin board for savvy
frequent fliers, and began fielding hundreds of questions
from airline passengers under topic headings ranging from
"How Old are These MD80s?" to "Platinum Luggage Tags:
Badges of Honor or Arrogance?"

At first, her supervisors were supportive of her efforts,
and Ms. Griffin developed a loyal following in cyberspace.
But as the months wore on, American became increasingly
uncomfortable with the idea of an employee responding to
questions without official authorization. In January, Ms.
Griffin added a disclaimer noting that her responses
weren't sanctioned by American or its parent, AMR Corp. But
it wasn't enough: On March 29, Ms. Griffin posted a
farewell note to her cybercustomers:

"Unfortunately, my manager says the company would like it
better if I didn't post anymore, and as they write my
paycheck, they get to make the rules," she wrote.

Ms. Griffin declined to be interviewed, but her departure
illustrates the delicate balance workers must strike when
it comes to providing customer service over the Internet.
While some employees in service industries, such as travel,
have long offered their own counsel to clientele in person
or via telephone, the Web makes it much easier to do so
with greater numbers of people. And that makes some
companies nervous.

For instance, American Airlines spokesman, Al Becker,
expressed concern that Ms. Griffin may have inadvertently
posted some erroneous information and that she was
beginning to discuss subjects that American didn't want
made public, though he declined to specify. "Maybe some of
the people she deals with have a spouse who's the director
of marketing for Continental, Delta or United," Mr. Becker
says. "We wouldn't want her sharing information with them."

Mr. Becker noted that Ms. Griffin, while knowledgeable, may
not always have been in possession of all the facts
necessary to address a particular issue. "When we sat this
young lady down and explained our point of view, she got
it," Mr. Becker says. "She understands why posting online
isn't necessarily the best way to discuss issues."

But the people Ms. Griffin was helping online feel
differently. "I sent a letter to Don Carty to let them know
I think they're making a mistake," says Gregg Wiggins, an
American platinum-level frequent flier from Washington,
D.C. Mr. Carty is chairman of American Airlines. "She never
did anything untoward or stepped out of bounds -- it was
always 'here's what AA says.' If she's willing to do this
on her own time and of her own volition, why not let her?"

Although most airlines have yet to develop a formal policy
regarding online communication by employees, some industry
watchers believe it is in the company's interest to take a
proactive approach. "Sooner or later, they have to deal
with these questions anyway," says Randy Petersen,
publisher of InsideFlyer magazine, the Web site that hosts
the FlyerTalk forum. "This is what customer service looks
like in the 21st century."

Some companies deal with the issue by formally appointing
someone to monitor online chats. Since June 1999, Hilton
Hotels has had a corporate representative assigned to the
FlyerTalk bulletin board, a locale where business travelers
gather to discuss the finepoints of frequent-flier
programs. Starwood Hotels & Resorts went "live" last
December with William Sanders, a corporate relations
specialist who is better known by his e-mail handle,
"Starwood Lurker."

"The Lurker" no longer lurks; he works openly to address
customer-service issues raised by the savvy fliers who hang
out in cyberspace in between hotel stays. "The first reason
we created 'The Lurker' was because there was
misinformation going back and forth out there," says
Starwood marketing executive, Hoyt Harper. "It's clearly in
our interest to get information to customers and from
customers as quickly as possible."

Northwest Airlines was the first major airline to assign an
employee to monitor online discussion groups. In 1999, Mary
Jo Welsh -- then acting manager of the World Perks
frequent-flier program -- spent between five and 10 hours a
week responding to questions and concerns of people who
posted online. Due in part to the sheer enormity of
questions, Northwest has since backed off having a regular
presence online, although one person remains responsible
for "lurking" and will step in with a comment if
discussions get off track.

A spokesman for Delta says that while the airline follows
online discussions on a variety of message boards, it
doesn't have an employee designated to respond. Any
postings made by Delta employees are done as a result of a
"personal decision rather than a company approved process."

Mr. Becker at American says the airline never specifically
told Ms. Griffin not to post online. There was no one
incident that prompted the supervisor to take her aside, he
says, but rather the fact that company had become concerned
with the "overall body" of postings which contained some
information American deemed to be proprietary. "We made it
clear ... that while she has the right to express
distinctions on her own time, she is an employee and was
perceived as an employee," he says.




------------------
RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.