JetBlue reroutes BusinessWeek cover story

JetBlue snarled the plans of thousands of airplane passengers last week, and one widely read U.S. business magazine.

BusinessWeek magazine’s March 5 edition, out on Thursday, features a cover story on its first-ever survey of companies that provide the best customer service.

Until last week, JetBlue Airways Corp. was in fourth place, behind insurance provider USAA, Four Seasons Hotels and Cadillac .

But BusinessWeek had to rethink its story after last week, when the airline canceled about 1,200 flights and left hundreds of passengers stranded on grounded aircraft because of an East Coast ice storm.

Rather than dropping JetBlue from the package, BusinessWeek published the survey with the company’s name and related photos crossed out.

On the cover, JetBlue’s name is struck out, with the department store company Nordstrom replacing it. Underneath the cover text presenting the top companies is a new line, added in a different typeface: “... And one extraordinary stumble.”

The magazine added an article about JetBlue’s problems, and an interview conducted by columnist and CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo with JetBlue Chief Executive David Neeleman.

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JetBlue, meanwhile, acknowledged the bump in a statement.

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“We know we failed to deliver on our promise last week, and it would be a disservice to our customers to be ranked in this week’s issue,” the company said.

The incident prompted “a great deal of discussion” about how to handle the story because the company was so high on the list, said Mary Kuntz, BusinessWeek’s assistant managing editor who oversaw the group that did the project.

“We certainly couldn’t ignore JetBlue because it has been a real paragon of customer service, nor could we ignore this terrible episode,” Kuntz said.