Only thing is, WN has no service fees so her "they didn't even give me a voucher" thing is ludicrous. All she had to do is cancel before flight time - which could have been done online and by the person who booked the ticket for her - and she would have had to money to use later. Sounds more like someone who failed to call before the flight, panicked and then got mad when they advised her of the rules. I hate when news outlets runs these types of stories because they go for the "feel sorry for me because I have such a heartrending situation" instead of actually finding out what the customer could have done to mitigate their losses. I have news for the people who run these stories - no one books their low fare, nonrefundable tickets with the idea they they will change it later. It is always something unexpected or even tragic and that is why there are insurance options during purchase.

After something like this becomes public, people dump on the airline rather than the person who made the choice to handle things poorly and the airline has no option but to cave or they lose a lot of business. It isn't right.