02-16-2010
11:43 PM
1 Love
Regarding the incident, since Mr. Smith had twice presented himself to the gate attendents ahead of time as a standby passenger trying to get on the full flight, the staff should have been able to assertain he would not meet their Policy requirements AT THAT TIME.
SWA should have followed THEIR OWN policy and informed Mr. Smith that there were not enough seats on that particular flight to accomodate him as a standby passenger, and he would have to wait to take his original flight where he HAD purchased 2 seats. To publicly humiliate him like that after he boarded the plane is just horrible inhumane behaviour, and I really encourage SWA to review it's customer service training. It appears you fell WAY short of the bar on this one. Your next quarterly earnings statements will relect how badly your insensitivity affects your customer base. Good luck building the business back up.
On another note, Southwest could take a lesson from a chapter in the Canadian Transport Agency's policy:
"The Canadian Transportation Agency released its Decision No. 6-AT-A-2008 on January 10, 2008. One result is that Air Canada, Westjet, and Air Canada Jazz will have to provide additional seating at no extra cost for any passengers who need extra room because of a disability.
Obesity has been found to be a disability in this context, provided it is severe enough to prevent the obese person's ability to fit into the airline seat comfortably.
The decision is also about the right of severely disabled persons to have a personal care attendant fly with them at no additional cost, provided the attendant's services are required during the flight, as discussed in the article One Person, One Fare Policy."
http://accessible-transportation.suite101.com/article.cfm/obese_air_passengers_win
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