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Southwest Airlines Throws Surprise Wedding Shower in Baltimore

aeliasen
Employee
Employee

With June being the most popular month for weddings, we figured there’s no better time to feature this couples’ story of love, and how our Employees worked together to make their engagement even more memorable. 

Andy McIlvaine was an excited groom-to-be, flying out of Baltimore to Portland, Maine,  to propose to his girlfriend, Kelley Mulfinger, when he experienced Hospitality from Southwest Airlines Employees that he never expected.

Andy was checking four bottles of champagne in his bag and asked Customer Service Agent, Darlene Williams, for a fragile sticker. She happily gave him one, but when he asked for a few more, she became curious as to why. Andy explained to Darlene and several other Agents his plan to propose and even showed them the ring. Our Agents were glowing with excitement and Customer Service Agent, Robert Campbell, promptly presented Andy with a LUV voucher on behalf of Southwest Airlines and told him to put it toward their honeymoon. Andy was sent off with cheers and encouragement, which set the tone for the exciting weekend to come. Touched by his experience at Baltimore, Andy wrote to us about the amazing Customer Service demonstrated by the Employees he encountered on such an exciting day.  Andy couldn’t believe the Agents genuinely cared about him and his story, and said he was grateful for the experience he had with the Southwest Employees on that day. What’s even better, Kelley said “yes”!

When Andy’s letter was compiled into our monthly packet of “LUV Mail” (a package of positive letters Southwest receives about Employees), Andy’s touching story really stood out.

The letter inspired a group of our Employees to check in with Andy to see if there was something fun they could do.  Before long, they were planning a surprise wedding shower to honor Andy and Kelley when she flew to Baltimore on April 1 to visit Andy.  To make it even more special, Southwest flew in both Kelley’s and Andy’s mothers for the surprise wedding shower in the gate area as she deplaned. The event went off without a hitch, complete with 40 dozen roses, cupcakes, a ginger ale toast with the Customers in the Gate Area, and a letter from Gary Kelly, Southwest Airlines CEO, to congratulate the happy couple and thank them for their loyalty. Kelley was greeted by hundreds of cheering on-lookers in the gate area and was in complete awe. BWI Shower In true Southwest spirit, Southwest Employees Darlene and Robert were at the surprise celebration to support Andy and meet his fiancée—they even came in on their day off!