I Fought with United on Twitter and Won

I never win anything. I don't own any oversized not-so-plush bears from the fair or have any trophies on my dresser. I think the last time I won something it was a huge basket of Beanie Babies at a church auction circa 2001, and I am fairly certain the odds were stacked in my favor by my father.

However, my luck changed when I got a call last week from my new best friend Donita. It was regarding a series of Tweets I posted about what I thought was my first and last flight on United Airlines. She said the words that every woman with a string of failed relationships never thought she would hear, "You are right. I am sorry. Please let me fix this."

I fly back and forth between Syracuse, NY where I currently reside and my hometown in South Florida quite frequently. Sometimes for work, but most of the time for pleasure. I usually fly the budget airline Allegiant not because I enjoy sitting on a piece of foam core in a packed plane without a beverage service for three hours, but because this is the only direct flight out of Syracuse's tiny airport and it is usually the cheapest and the fastest option. To keep prices down Allegiant only flys on Thursdays and Sundays and due to an ironic scheduling conflict I needed a Friday afternoon flight. My only option was a United Airlines flight with a two and a half hour layover in Newark leaving, as they said, "promptly at 3:10 pm on Friday, November 10, 2017".

Now mind you I booked this flight months in advance. I was under the pretense I would be working an event in Syracuse the week prior to my flight to Florida for the 2017 edition of Small Press Fair Fort Lauderdale (#shamelessplug). As a broke graduate student, I opted for United's least expensive option harmlessly referred to as "basic economy". This option will still run you around $300 but the bonus is you get to sign away any of your rights to quality customer service. As well as the right to bring anything more than a bathing suit, toothbrush, and a pair of shorts as luggage. Luckily for this trip that was not an issue.

Things really started to go downhill the week prior to my planned departure. Due to an anachronistic outbreak of the mumps on Syracuse University's campus, the event that forced me to rearrange my travel plans and tack on an additional 4 hours to my trip was canceled. Ironically, the event's key speaker was supposed to be Jim Olson, a Newhouse alumni, and United Airlines very own VP of Corporate Communications. Equally as curious was the fact I was currently working on a report detailing United's crisis communication response to the forced removal of passenger Dr. David Dao in April of 2017. In other words, I was already apprehensively walking into this flight with way too much information about the airline.

Unsurprisingly, my experience was a complete shit show starting with my attempts to check in the night before. I never received any communications from United about checking in, when I finally found my confirmation number buried in my email I learned the online check-in was "unavailable to those in basic economy who are not checking a bag". United's website configuration for a mobile interface is hellish so I tried to check-in again on my computer before leaving for the airport the next day and learned my flight was delayed three hours due to unknown reasons. I immediately called the airline to get more information as I had yet to receive a single notification. The customer service representative assured me I was entitled to compensation and that she would adjust my connecting flight that I would miss due to the delay. My new arrival time in Ft. Lauderdale was 11 pm.

Once at the airport less than 30 minutes later I was informed that the woman on the phone had in fact done nothing about my connecting flight, that I was not entitled to any compensation as air traffic control issues were "outside of United's control", and that all connecting flights to Ft. Lauderdale were full. They were also unsure of our actual departure time and that the 3-hour delay was a rough guesstimate. When I asked what I should do the woman shrugged and said: "there was a flight that just left to D.C. if you were here 20 minutes ago I could have put you on that". Thank you very helpful. Ultimately she had to put me on a flight into Miami at 1:00 am out of Newark, an hour away from where I was going with a 30-minute layover for which I would have to bus across 3 terminals to reach. She handed me my ticket and said, "no promises".

I found a seat at the bar, ordered the largest beer they had (a Saranac Legacy IPA,  classic local choice, 10/10 would recommend), and took to Twitter. Here is a sampling of my attempts to get United's attention.

It took a few tries and a couple trending hashtags I had come across in my research regarding the Dr. Dao dragging incident such as #unitedsucks, however eventually they did respond with the generic "we are sorry" tweet that companies use to demonstrate they hear you but don't plan to take any action, yet. So I persisted.

Eventually, my flight took off at 6:30 pm after sitting on the runway for an additional 30 minutes and I made it to my connection as the doors closed behind me. SPF'17 was a sweeping success and my flight home was uneventful and even pleasurable. I thought that was the end of it and I vowed to avoid any run-ins with United Airlines in the future. To my surprise, I got a phone as soon as I arrived home from the aforementioned Donita. She was calling to express her concern about my Twitter rampage and wanted to help. In the end, I walked away with a voucher for a free future flight and a much better association with United's customer service team and the airline as a whole. For a public relations graduate student this was a very teachable moment.

Now while this story has a happy public relations ending, I am not particularly proud of what I had to do to get noticed. I felt myself turning into one of "those" people who always pop up on my feeds complaining to companies about things that are far from their control. If I were to look in the mirror I would see my father staring back at me. It makes me think back to all the times he embarrassed me by scolding wait staff or fast food service workers in public. To which he would say, "I was just helping them". Or more relevantly, during our stressful holiday travels, where he would fight with gate attendants who I am sure would rather be home with their families. It makes me cringe.

But.

For me, I am going to brand this an experiment as to the power of Twitter. Prior to the election of Mr. Donald "twitter-fingers on the nuclear button" Trump, I preferred Instagram as my primary platform for social media interaction. This is likely because I am inherently a visual person, shocking I know. However, as an aspiring PR professional and someone who wants news quick and dirty, I thought it time to take the plunge. Although social media platforms and the internet may serve as the new public forum, there is something different about hiding behind a screen in order to voice your displeasure with a company. Maybe it is the removal of a human element, or maybe I am just making excuses to avoid facing the fact I am turning into my father. Either way, it is certainly effective.

#MeToo, She Too, and Also Her

I am not usually one for perpetuating trendy hashtags. It may have something to do with my disdain for conformity. More likely it is a lasting resentment for the amount of time I spent in the early days of MySpace reposting chain letters to ensure I didn't end up an old spinster or dead by the hands of Bloody Mary. (She and I have since become brunch buddies)

Regardless, there is something different about #MeToo.

In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal actress, Alyssa Milano posted a tweet empowering women to write 'me too' if they had experienced sexual harassment or assault in order to provide the issue a sense of scale. The social response was a resounding hell yes this is an issue and women deal with it every damn day.

#MeToo created an opportunity for women to show solidarity but also to voice their personal stories about sexual harassment and assault. The speed in which messaging moves through social media outlets, in turn, created a powerful platform to demonstrate the scale of this problem, across industries, countries, cultures, and communities. While this visual illustration of the sheer number of sexual harassment and assault victims was enlightening for some, I wish I could say I was surprised by the plethora of posts I saw across my social media streams. Or say I was shocked by the statuses my friends shared about their experiences. To be honest, my response to this movement, like so many other women, was more along the lines of, "who hasn't?". It has happened on a packed train in a foreign country, on an empty street at home, on my phone, online, on my birthday, just yesterday, and so on.

Sexual harassment is not just physical or verbal, it is institutional. Which is how an established man working in a patriarchal industry could get away with it for so long. As a woman who strives to break into an industry whose major leadership is dominated by established men, this concerns me. Not only are women underrepresented in leadership roles in the arts, and as exhibiting artists in general, they are also making about 81 cents for every dollar made by a male. According to a study just released by the Association of Art Museum Directors. “The Ongoing Gender Gap in Art Museum Directorships” shows that just one of the nation’s 13 largest museums is run by a woman. This stands in stark contrast to the fact that over half of those graduating from art-centric programs are women.

Now I am not saying women are being sexually harassed out of the building, or that sexual harassment or assault is the cause of the gender gap in the leadership of the art industry. I am, however, concerned about the implications that come with reserving the highest positions just for men. The fact a line has been drawn that says 'no women beyond this point' creates a power structure that breeds a dangerous sense entitlement.

But fear not bad ass ladies of the art world, for our time has come! With the untimely departure of Metropolitan Museum of Art Director, Thomas P. Campbell the top job at the largest art museum in the country is ours for the taking. In its nearly 150 years of existence, The Met has never had a female director, and in its current state of duress, maybe it is time. For in the words of Georgia O'Keeffe, "You get whatever accomplishment you are willing to declare."

Why You Should Hire an Artist

You may be interested to know, that art degree you paid upwards of $100K for is more valuable than your parents may have lead you to believe. In addition to a deep understanding of visual culture and an addiction to black coffee and the words "aesthetic" and "ephemeral", a degree in the arts doubles as a study in business and marketing.

Now, this won't get you a job or any level of professional recognition in those fields, it may not even get you a job in your own field. (Unless you are applying to Procter & Gamble, who apparently is looking for, what former global marketing executive Jim Stengel calls, "business artists".) However, this knowledge and skillset can prove invaluable when it comes to artists maintaining ownership and control over their content. Because when it comes down to it, art really is about business.

This concept is not new, I am certainly not the first person to have the epiphany that the over 2 million people with art degrees living in the United States learned more applicable and coveted skills in school than just painting and hypothetical pondering. For years people have been drawing the connection between the unique way of thinking and problem solving acquired through an arts education, and the growing need for organizations to be more innovative and creative. To those organizations I say, hire an artist. Better yet, hire a millennial artist whose understanding of social media and the connecting power of the internet is almost innate.

Social media has changed the game for countless industries, the least of which is how we market and communicate with our publics. The art world is no exception. When released from the safe confines of higher-ed, trained artists are expected to know how to get their work out there. Visibility is key, it is livelihood. If you ask an artist these days to see their business card, they will likely first show you their Instagram. When they do finally handover their card, you will surely find links to their website, Tumblr, and other social media outlets. For so long, in order to be coined a "successful artist" you needed to be picked up and pimped out by a gallery. Notable gallery representation meant legitimacy, but it mostly meant you had someone to promote you to the right people through narrow and curated channels. This is no longer the case. It is an open market game now.

However, like with all things that seem too good to be true, social media platforms do have some downsides for artists especially. While the art that hangs in a gallery proclaims to be about continuously pushing boundaries and thinking outside the box, some social media platforms enforce strict rules on what content is allowed to be shown. Artists can often find themselves stuck between the sterile white cube that is blue-chip galleries, and the content controlled white box that is Instagram.

Censorship on platforms like Instagram and Facebook provide an annoying hurdle for artists producing provocative work. Digital artist @scientwehst creates "brazenly-feminine digital collages" who's erotic and suggestive subject matter often challenges the policies of social media platforms like Instagram, a primary source for sharing her work. When asked about the platform's benefits in an interview with PRØHBTD she responded, "The advantages: visibility, accessibility, and virality. The disadvantages: visibility, accessibility, and virality."

And it is not just contemporary art that gets shut down, photographs of century-old works of art that hang in prestigious museums are also at the mercy of appropriate content algorithms that scan social media outlets for a bare butt or exposed boob.

Despite its obvious limitations, social media and online visibility has flung the door open for artists to be the masters and marketers of their own destiny and freed them from their dependence on the gallery-industrial-complex. But while these online platforms may be new, artists have processed the skills to think outside the box and creatively solve problems since the dawn of the profession, they just now have the means to make you pay attention.