Our mother, Bernice Dawkins, was scheduled to return home (NC) on flight 460 from BWI to RDU on Sept 15th. Unfortunately, she missed her flight due to gate confusion on her part. When I (Kaye) arrived at RDU and could not locate her, I had her paged. When there was no response, I continued an unsuccessful search through the airport. I contacted my sister (Stephanie) to confirm that she had made it through security and that she should be on this flight. The issue now ...where is she. Making another round through the airport, I noticed her luggage in the baggage claims area. I proceeded to the SW service counter to ask if there were any reports of a problem on the flight with my mother. Billie (EMP#59386) was the associate on duty. She attentively listened to my dilemma and checked her computer to verify any information. She explained the rules regarding the privacy act, but assured me that she would do everything possible to put my mind at ease. I continued communicating with my sister trying to determine what could have happened....where could she be??? Our mom is 70 years old and suffers with breathing problems. Our imagination went wild. With every call Billie made, I became more upset. She assured me that every effort was being made to locate my mother. She had to make what seem to be 10 or more calls until getting a live person on the other end that could help us. Between calls or while waiting for someone to answer, she was trying to comfort me. She put a close position sign at her counter to devote her attention to my needs. The more I cried, the faster she dialed. On the other end of my cell phone, my sister (Stephanie) was calling BWI trying to verify. Billie reached someone in BWI and asks them to go to the gate and verify that my mother was there. SW was working on both ends. Imagine....teamwork of this nature in 2007 with a company of this size.
Finally, my cell phone rung and it was an associate at the BWI gate. She told me that my mother was there. As I hung up the cell phone and began to thank God, Billie handed me the counter phone for some reassurance. It was my mother's voice.....explaining that she missed the flight and that her calling card was not working. She was so aggravated and discouraged. I called my sister with the good news. She had disconnected her call, but the associate called her back with the same good news.
It was a very emotional time for both my sister and I. Being so far apart and neither of us knowing what could have happened to our mother was frightening. Our mother was on the next flight and my wait was made more pleasant by different SW employees coming by to tell me that they were glad that my mother is alright and that she would be on the next flight. Billie and the BWI SW team were angels. They know the TRUE meaning of customer service. My sister and I say THANK YOU for treating us like family.
I live in Thomasville and the Greensboro airport is closer. However, it is more cost effective for me to drive to Raleigh when our mother is traveling between daughters. It is no longer for the money, but for the peace of mind and the fact that customers and employees matter to SW. This is evident by the way our situation was handled. If SW was not good to their employees, the employees would not know how to be good to their customers.
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