40 Corporate PR Disasters So Bad They Might Be Taught In Marketing Classes Forever

Imagine sitting on a plane, minding your own business, when suddenly you hear a loud bang and feel a rush of cold wind. The temperature plummets. Along with the cabin's air pressure. That's exactly what happened to passengers on board an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland International Airport in Oregon to Ontario, California, on 5 January 2024. To say I'd be terrified is an understatement.

"Er, yeah, we'd like to go down," a calm voice told air traffic control. "Alaska 1282 declaring an emergency… we're descending to 10,000… we're depressurised."

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the door plug for the fuselage of the Boeing 737 Max 9 "blew off" just minutes after takeoff. Those on board were exposed to open air 16,000 feet above the ground. And the harrowing emergency landing that followed.

One passenger later told the BBC how his phone went flying and his socks and shoes were ripped off by the uncontrolled decompression. Cuong Tran said he "held on for dear life" during the incident and believes his seatbelt saved him from being blown away. Thankfully, he wasn't seriously injured, but he did suffer lacerations.

"The captain said we had passed 10,000 feet. Then the hole blew out on us and I remember my body getting lifted up. Then my whole lower body got sucked down by the howling wind," Tran told the BBC. The passenger added that the decompression lasted around 10 or 20 seconds. But we can just imagine it feeling like the longest few seconds ever. "It was probably the first time in my life I had a feeling of no control over everything. I was in disbelief over the whole situation," he said.

The door plug was later found in a backyard in Oregon, having dropped down thousands of feet from the sky. It emerged that Boeing engineers had failed to bolt the door panel back on properly after it had been removed during repairs. Definitely not a tiny mistake.

A number of angry passengers went to court to sue both Boeing and Alaska Airlines. They claimed damages for injuries and "intense fear, distress, anxiety, trauma [and] physical pain," according to legal documents. "The lawsuit alleges that Boeing delivered a plane with a faulty door plug and that Alaska management had deemed the aircraft unsafe to fly over the ocean but continued to fly it over land, according to the complaint," reported ABC News at the time.

In a January 2024 statement, the attorney representing four of the plaintiffs said it was too soon to know for sure what exactly went wrong. "We do know Boeing is ultimately responsible for the safety of their planes and Alaska Airlines is ultimately responsible for the safety of their passengers," Mark Lindquist added.

Alaska Airlines said it could not comment on pending litigation. While Boeing remained tight-lipped. Months later, in March, was when the companies finally decided to publicly address the mounting lawsuits. But instead of taking accountability, Boeing blamed Alaska Airlines. And Alaska Airlines threw Boeing under the proverbial bus.

“Alaska Airlines cannot be liable for design or manufacturing defects,” the airline's attorneys wrote. Boeing also asked the court to drop the claims against it.

In April, an article published in CEO magazine criticized Boeing’s response to the crisis. "[It] has been unilaterally negative, with some even going as far as calling it incompetent," reads the site. "The company’s only response thus far has been to say that they will cooperate with any investigations and be '100% transparent' about the situation."

And in July, Boeing was in trouble again. This time, "for sharing non-public investigative information with media on [the] 737 Max 9 door plug investigation." The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced that it had sanctioned Boeing.

"During a media briefing Tuesday about quality improvements at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, a Boeing executive provided investigative information and gave an analysis of factual information previously released. Both of these actions are prohibited by the party agreement that Boeing signed when it was offered party status by the NTSB at the start of the investigation. As a party to many NTSB investigations over the past decades, few entities know the rules better than Boeing," read the NTSB statement.

"Because of Boeing’s recent actions, Boeing will retain its party status, but no longer have access to the investigative information the NTSB produces as it develops the factual record of the accident."

It was downhill for Boeing throughout 2024. Among the turbulence, there were the sudden deaths of two Boeing whistleblowers and a massive strike that cost the company more than $5.5 billion. 30,000 workers took part in the walkout, demanding better wages. That action began in September and lasted for seven weeks. It halted the production of the 737 Max, the 777 and the 767 freighter. All while Boeing was still trying to recover from the other crises of the year.

While some experts believe too much damage has been done, others say Boeing might "miraculously" recover from the disasters that have plagued it. Mr Dunlop thinks a change in mindset will be fundamental to Boeing's future.

"The fastest way to turn around a company is to have a complete change in attitude on how you treat your employees, how you treat your customers, and most importantly in how you treat your suppliers," says Mike Dunlop, an aerospace industry veteran and author of a book about turning around failing businesses.

According to CEO magazine, Boeing’s biggest mistake in its crisis response last year was not learning from previous mistakes. "After controversy in 2018 and 2019, when two of the company’s planes crashed due to defects, Boeing promised change and improved safety measures," reads the site, adding that the January incident could have had a fatal outcome.

"Had someone been sitting closer to the portion of the plane that was exposed, if someone had not been using their seatbelt or if the incident occurred at a higher altitude, things could have turned out much worse, all of which only serves to make the public trust Boeing even less."