JetBlue Workers Surprised Merger Comments Made Public

Emily Birnbaum and Leah Nylen
·5 min read
3

(Bloomberg) -- JetBlue Airways Corp. orchestrated a campaign to flood the government with thousands of online comments from employees in favor of the airline’s bid to merge with Spirit Airlines Inc.

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The campaign, which included a pre-written form in support of the merger, generated roughly 90% of the more than 10,000 comments on the Transportation Department’s public comment page. The comments are identical and are identified as coming from JetBlue and Spirit crew members who wrote that they believe the $3.8 billion merger will improve their lives, according to a Bloomberg News review of the database.

More than a dozen JetBlue employees interviewed by Bloomberg said that they either didn’t consent to having their names used publicly or didn’t understand that the form would lead to a public comment in support of the merger. Some said they didn’t believe they had completed a form.

“It would be out of character for me to make any public statement about impending business transactions by my employer,” said Jordan Onorato, a JetBlue employee, in a phone interview. He said he had no idea that his name was being used in support of the merger.

‘Positive Response’

A JetBlue spokeswoman said those who filled out an online form at the request of the company’s chief executive were informed how it would be used.

Emily Martin, the spokeswoman, said the airline received an “overwhelmingly positive response” from crew members about the merger and set up a tool to drive comments toward the Transportation Department as well as the Justice Department. The two agencies have come out against the merger.

It’s not uncommon for US airlines to ask employees to email or call members of Congress to lobby on behalf of a particular issue, sometimes providing suggested wording or forms that could be filled out. Carriers used such an effort to help secure $54 billion in federal aid during the pandemic.

Tyesha Best, president of the Transport Workers Union local that represents 6,800 JetBlue flight attendants, said no one they had spoken with realized that a February email from JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes encouraging employees to support the transaction would lead to a public comment with the federal government.

The union opposes the merger, saying that JetBlue hasn’t offered its workers enough information about how it will impact their jobs going forward.

JetBlue “deceived their own workforce,” said John Samuelsen, president of the Transport Workers Union of America. The comments aren’t “an accurate gauge of the temperature of the JetBlue employees.”

Southwest Airlines Co. conducted a similar campaign between 2004 and 2006, urging both employees and customers to lobby for the repeal of a federal law limiting flights at Dallas Love Field. United Airlines Holdings, Inc. rallied support to secure approval to be the first carrier to fly between Washington and Cape Town in 2022. Unions also have urged members to advocate for legislation on specific issues by contacting representatives in Congress.

But critics have complained for years that it’s too easy for special interests to game public comments to the government.

The New York Attorney General, in a 2021 report, found that more than 80% of the 22 million comments on Federal Communications Commission net-neutrality rules were fake.

A 2021 Government Accountability Office study of 10 federal agencies found that between 5% and 30% of people they surveyed said they didn’t submit a public comment that used their name to argue for or against government policies.

Earlier: N.Y. Blasts Broadband Firms for Fake Net Neutrality Comments

Biden Opposition

The Biden administration opposes the JetBlue-Spirit merger, saying it would lead to higher prices for consumers. The Justice Department in March sued to block the deal, while the Transportation Department said it would deny the airlines’ request for a license that would allow them to operate as a single carrier. A trial on the Justice Department’s suit is set for October.

JetBlue and Spirit contest the Justice Department’s suit, describing themselves in court filings Monday as industry disruptors who can bring better service and lower fares for passengers.

The companies turned to their employees to push back on the government’s efforts. The email from JetBlue’s Hayes encouraged employees to “tell regulators you want them to allow JetBlue to move forward.”

“Please consider taking a few minutes to add your voice and tell government officials you support the Spirit acquisition,” Hayes wrote, according to a copy of the email shared with Bloomberg News, which included a link to a form that sent comments directly to the Transportation Department. The email doesn’t disclose that the form would result in a public comment under the person’s name.

Political tool

There are significant divisions among employees of the airlines over whether the proposed merger would help or hurt them. The Transport Workers Union asked the Justice and Transportation departments to block the merger.

Meanwhile, the Association of Flight Attendants, which represents 5,600 flight attendants at Spirit, announced its support for the merger. That happened after the company agreed to a new contract in February granting immediate wage increases and a written commitment from JetBlue that it won’t move workers out of their current job locations. JetBlue hasn’t offered a similar promise to its own flight attendants, Best, with the JetBlue union, said.

Steven Balla, a George Washington University professor who researches the public comment process, said mass comments don’t typically sway regulators’ decisions, but they are a powerful political tool.

“These mass-comment campaigns are more about the organization speaking to outside political audiences,” Balla said. “Agencies, a lot of the time, don’t know who sponsored the mass comment campaign.”

--With assistance from David Ingold.

(Corrects headline to more accurately reflect what JetBlue employees said. An earlier version corrected spelling of John Samuelsen’s name.)

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