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Bereavement flight

Kathy_McKinstry
Explorer C

Tonight, I was an hour too late. Not because of anything that your employees did or didn't do. In fact, one reservationist went out of her way to get me to Detroit from my vacation in Seattle. My 63-year-old brother was dying of cancer, which  he's been dealing with for over two years. I had just seen him in April, so before the hospice lady described his condition to me, I thought I had plenty of time. After all, my only sister had also died of cancer at 55 in 2014 and she took many weeks to transition, as the hospice people put it. So, I thought I was safe to attend my sister's only son's wedding in the San Juan Islands on August 18. But if I got on that island, I knew it would take days to get back and I struggled with whether I should go to the wedding and represent my sister or to see my brother. My sister-in-law helped me make the decision this morning by putting the hospice lady on the phone with me. Once the decision was made, my first call was to Southwest. I had already booked a return flight to Phoenix where we lived for August 25 and a flight from Phoenix to Detroit to see my brother on Sept 2 with Southwest. It seemed like I had plenty of time, and I had several doctor and dentist appts. So the Southwest reservationist had to change all those flights and get me on a flight today to Detroit. She was able to do that and not charge me all the exorbitant fees that I was overwhelmed by when I looked at the website. I was so worried about the cost that I considered putting it off, but she handled everything for me and was most gracious. I wish I had her name because she eased my burden during a very trying time. I arrived at midnight and my nephew picked me up at the airport. We went directly to the hospital where they had a family room we could stay at. When we got there, we stopped by my brother's room, but my sister-in-law said he had just passed. I missed him by an hour. My only brother was gone but I'll not forget the kindness of your reservationist and how she took care of everything. I'm very grateful to Southwest.

 
1 REPLY 1

Re: Bereavement flight

bec102896
Aviator A

@Kathy_McKinstry

 

First off I'm Sorry for your loss. 

 

I am glad to hear that the Southwest employee on the phone was able to help you in a time of need.

 

thanks for sharing this story on the community!

Blake