My sister in Texas died suddenly on Oct. 23. I knew I would not be able to go to San Diego, so I called the airline and spoke to a Southwest rep. She gave me the wrong information, saying that she would put a note on my confirmation that I had a death in the family and the funeral was the same day as the flight. She said that when I got back from the funeral, I should call the airline.
I returned home on Nov. 3 and called, but I was told that I was a “no-show” and had lost my entire ticket. They said I could try for a refund, so I sent the funeral program, my original itinerary to San Diego and my itinerary for the funeral trip – but I still got denied.
I am a senior citizen on Social Security. I have to pay the person who funded my trip to Texas. Southwest didn’t even offer me a voucher for another flight. Dorothy Thompson, Mountain View, Calif..
Dear Dorothy: First, please accept our condolences on the loss of your sister. Losing a loved one is always hard, and having a hassle on top of that makes it even harder.
The ironic part about this problem is Southwest has a much more liberal policy than many other airlines when it comes to changing tickets.
We agree that it didn’t seem fair for you to lose everything just because a customer service rep gave you incorrect information. The good news is after we explained to Southwest what happened, they fixed it right away.
But Wait...After ABC ran the story...
Besides offering their sympathy and apologies, they issued a full refund for the $166.20 you had spent on the plane ticket to San Diego.
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