Gail Lieb sent a message to Gary C. Kelly- chief executive officer and chairman of Southwest Airlines-Email address that said:
On 7/21/16, my family was flying from MCO to SAT for sons graduation (7/22) from 6 weeks of Army Officer Candidate School graduation. We were on vacation and checked out of hotel turned in rental car. At approx. 1:20P we rec. flight delay text. Once at airport, info was sparse but constantly promised flight would go. We were infrequently informed that there were no staff, plane, or a pilot at varying times. It wasnt until 9P that they "officially" canceled the flight. At this point is was too late for us to rebook with anyone. We asked SW supervisor for help with new flight. Staff were all rude, no help, didnt care. All they did was complain about how tired they were from the day before. Asked for hotel, food, car, taxi - nothing. We were up most of night trying to find another flight to get us to SAT in AM. We do not live in the area nor do we know anyone so we were stuck at the airport. All of the local hotels motels were booked. We found a flight on Delta @ over $1500! We couldnt sleep in the chairs for fear of robbery, there was no food, everything shutdown. Arrived SAT late and in the end, we missed the graduation. My son was so disappointed. We also had to pay for a hotel room we never slept in. I am asking you for reimbursement for the Delta tickets(have CC receipt), hotel, and delay/cancellation compensation. This is not the only issue I have had with SW. After this, I gave SW one more chance, thanks to the way a nice employee treated me on the phone. Only to encounter a unintelligent gate employee on the next flight, who took my husbands boarding pass in her pile and then refused to look for it. She became confused over the fact my husband and son share the same name. I asked her politely and repeatedly to check her pile, and she ignored me. She made me kneel on the floor in front of all of the waiting passenger to collapse my carry on, when there was nothing wrong with it. People were calling me names. Still continually refused to allow my husband and son to board, making them get new passes. In the end, she held back my son and threaten to keep him off the plane because he upset because everyone else had boarded and he was afraid he was going to be left behind as he still had his original boarding pass in his hand, but she wouldnt take it. We paid for A boarding and most of the family boarded with C. I asked for a refund of the EB, and they acted like they were doing me a favor. It was humiliating and ridiculous.
