The Story
"AirAsia said 31-year-old passenger Liew Siaw Hsia went into labour on Wednesday's flight from the northern island of Penang to Kuching on Borneo island.
The aircraft made an emergency diversion to the Malaysian capital but
the baby arrived just before landing, delivered by a doctor who was on
board and who was assisted by the airline's flight attendants."
The Outcome
The Mom and her newborn son received a lifetime of Free Flights from AirAsia.
What a great move!
It allowed AirAsia to gain positive press. The story was also picked up by the AP, which also mentioned the lifetime of free flights, albeit less prominently.
The story also got the number one spot on the Yahoo! homepage, which according to this article by Data Center Knowledge can drive upwards of one million pageviews.
The Takeaway
Handle adversity well, and make it a word of mouth opportunity.
