Dawn Franklin sent a message to Gary C. Kelly Chairman, President, and CEO, Southwest Airlines Co. – email address that said:
Rapid Rewards Member 20524772214
Dear Mr. Kelly,
I have a problem I’d like to share with you because only you are able to fix that problem. I used to be a frequent flier of Southwest because you had several direct non-stop flights from Dulles (IAD) VA to Vegas (LAS) on a daily basis and my daughter and grandchildren live in Vegas. Then the following year, that dwindled to only one direct non-stop flight from IAD to LAS and return. This was still fine, because a) I LOVE Southwest with your great customer service, on-time flights and comfortable seats and b) IAD is only 20 minutes from my house so I always had someone willing to drop me off and pick me up. Because I use a wheelchair to go through the terminal, Southwest has always taken special care of me, helping me to and from my seat and ensuring to my comfort.
Then the unspeakable happened in 2017! You dropped ALL non-stop flights out of IAD!!! Since every non-stop flight was always full, I don’t understand why it/they were discontinued. Now, the only way I could get a non-stop flight would be out of Baltimore, MD (BAL). OR, I had to go the extra hours and plane change, which is difficult with wheelchair service and the fact I can’t sit or stand comfortably for long periods of time due to previous back surgery. SO, there are several issues with Baltimore. If I may continue to lay out my story for you…
1. It’s over an hour and a half drive from my house so I can’t easily find anyone to drop me off or pick me up
2. I am physically handicapped, so driving, parking, taking the shuttle to the airport, dragging my suitcase, only to get to a wheelchair at the terminal is prohibitive and painful
3. The return flights always come in late at night, so I don’t get home until after midnight – so, with the time change of 3 hours, plus the 5 hours flight, then the reverse of wheelchair to baggage, then dragging baggage (remember I can’t walk distance)), shuttle to car, then the over hour drive home makes using Southwest prohibitive.
4. I have written to your customer service people several times and their polite responses basically say, we change our flight schedules constantly, so maybe we’ll be adding back the non-stop out of IAD – NOPE, not yet, so I’ve been flying out of Dulles on United after one flight out of Baltimore and having a friend drive me and pick me up and getting home at 1am and paying her $50.
So beyond the fact that I REALLY REALLY REALLY wish you would add back the non-stop flight between IAD and LAS, what I desperately am hoping you will also do for me is refund the money I spent, through PayPal, on two tickets that I cancelled because I could not physically handle the drive and cost to go to Baltimore and rebooked through United in Dulles. I have been paying interest on both those tickets and they were non-reimburseable because I never expected Baltimore to be so convoluted and painful.
One ticket has to be used by 30 April 2018, and I will be having a neck fusion on 6 April 2018, so that will be impossible to use. And, since I will be out of work for 4-6 weeks recuperating, I could really use that refund money which totals to about $675.00, to help pay my bills.
So, that’s my story. Can you help?? Will you help??
Sincerely,
Dawn
