My husband's grandfather passed away in his sleep last night, but you don't really want to hear about that. I'm sure that you have more "fun fares" to price for others future enjoyment. My loss is your gain, but I didn't know that at the time.
After my grandfather-in-law's passing, I immediately began searching for bereavement fares so my mother-in-law would be surrounded by her family in her sorrow. I looked online at the regular fares and then proceeded to call each airline individually looking for a lower price since it was a short notice event. Every airline, but yours was extremely helpful, apologized for my loss, and then offered me a fare much lower than the online fares.
Your fares online were the most expensive because I was leaving within 2 days and therefore did not qualify for the "fun fare." I explained the situation to your representative and her response was, "Well, we have the cheapest fares so we don't need to do a bereavement fare." I told her again that the fares I found online were $300 more per ticket than the other airlines, but she did not listen. She simply repeated that we were not booking with enough notice to get a "fun fare" at this time and that the cheapest tickets are online. "That's right, because funerals are considered "fun" in this culture day and age," I thought to myself. As I was about to hang up in frustration, your agent had the audacity to ask if I would like to go ahead and book my flight over the phone for an extra $25 per ticket. I quickly got off the phone and am now going to book my flight with another airline.
This conversation has just clarified how anti-family your airline has become. Not only do I wrestle my toddler on board and hold up the line with nasty looks from people around me because you do not have a courtesy family pre-boarding, but you've changed the policy where we board at the end of the A group, which is half the plane. I'm sure that is for the convenience of many business travelers that bring the airline more money than us pesky families. Courtesy to the family is not "good" business, so it seems.
Thank you Southwest Airlines. I will always look for a fare cheaper than yours. I will book my husband's travel on a different airline, and will do my best to encourage others to do so. From now on, I will be as courteous to you as you have been to me.
Regards,
SL
Does everyone think this is too harsh? I need to know.
3 comments:
I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather-in-laws passing.
I, too, am not a fan of SW Airlines. I go out of my way to find a different carrier. They are mean and dirty and are of questionably safety. I am a recent fan of Virgin America. They are like SW used to be...only more hip. :)
Safe travels.
Good to know. I'll have to look into Virgin airlines. I have to say I've been so dissapointed with SW airlines the last few years. They used to be so great, but now...blah. Maybe I'm just getting older and aren't as hip?
Sorry for the loss, Erin. Also sorry for your bad experience with SW. I've only ever had good experiences with them. In fact, I prefer them to everyone else I've flown with. But, as with every airline, I think it only takes one or two bad experiences to sour one forever. My bane is America West.
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