Southwest has embarrased me. I arranged for an elderly cousin to fly SWA from Buffalo NY to visit me in Seattle. Her flight required a change of planes in Las Vegas. Her departure from Buffalo was delayed and upon arrival in Las Vegas she was informed that her flight to Seattle was cancelled. She was told that the earliest flight she could be placed on was Saturday morning. This would require her to find and pay for a hotel room for two nights before perhaps leaving for her destination. Not only did SWA refuse to pay for or assist in acquiring lodging they also failed to offer any of the compensation responsible airlines routinely provide in situations such as this. Similarly, the SWA agents refused to offer any suggestions as to other airline possibilities for completing the trip. Apparently holding this elderly fare hostage was more importatnt than facilitating the completion this woman's journey. Just yesterday SWA beat Wall Street's quarterly earnings expectations probably predicated on cost cutting behaviors such as this ...probably good for short term stock valuations but wait for the long term effects of damaged coustomer confidence.
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