Southwest Airlines

would like to bring my experience to your attention, hoping this will not happen to someone else. I apologize for the lengthy letter.

I haven’t flown in over 15 years, so you can imagine, I was a nervous wreck. My outgoing flight (one connection) went smoothly. Your attendants were courteous. My return flight, was a humiliating experience. Let me explain.

Raleigh with a connection in Nashville to Phoenix:

I got to the airport, checked in and notified the SW attendant that I was checking in one (1) bag and had two (2) carry-ons (purse & computer bag). When my check-in luggage was weighed, it was seven (7) pounds over. No problem. I told the SW attendant that I could leave a couple of things, but he responded with, “Let me see what we can do”. He opened my suitcase, with my permission, and took a bag of shoes (3 pairs) out that were packed. He said, “I think this will do it”. It was now 50lbs and that was great. I told him, “Let me go ahead and leave the bag with my daughter”, but he said, “Don’t worry about it, you can go ahead and take it with you on board”. Gave him a tip and went my merry way. I thought, “He was very helpful, that was nice of him”.

Went ahead and caught my flight, carried on my bags, no problem.

Now, unfortunately, this flight left late, so I was hoping I would make my connecting flight in Nashville to Phoenix.

Nashville connection to Phoenix:

Got there 10 minutes after my flight was scheduled, ran out and was hustling to the next gate. Just as I was reaching the gate, I saw a SW attendant at the gate at which time he was calling out my name, along with two others to come to the gate. I thought, “Wow, this is great, just made it!”

As I was nearing him, he said, “I bet you’re Maria”. I thought, this was odd…was it the color of my skin, my black hair or the sandals I was wearing that gave it away? I let this go because I thought, “well, maybe I would have assumed the same thing…. NOT!” Now, the next thing he said to me actually made my jaw drop…. It was, “SU BOLETO POR FAVOR”. I looked at him, took my ticket out and replied in good ole English, “here it is”. He gave no apology as to why he would not ask the question in English. Not sure why he assumed I didn’t speak English. Does he think Americans only come in “white”? I mean, I wasn’t flying to Mexico and if this were to be the case, would he have spoken to an “American” with blue eyes in Spanish?

Unfortunately, the humiliation saga continues……

I continued to board the plane, at which time the Flight attendant was at the entrance, and instead of welcoming me onto the plane, said very loudly, “Oh, You come with too much baggage”. I looked at her with confusion, and she continued to educate me that “You are allowed only two (2) bags to carry on. One is your purse and the other your laptop carrier”. I apologized and went on to explain to her what happened in Raleigh and that her fellow SW co-worker had instructed me to carry the bag of shoes (this bag was a Sears 12”x12” bag, not a large trash bag).

It seemed that my explanation feel on deaf ears, because she continued, very loudly to reiterate, “We only allow 2 carry-on bags, the FAA regulations only allows two bags, just for your information next time”. At this time I said, “Well, I think that your co-worker in Raleigh must be in need of additional training because he was the one who instructed me to carry on the bag and if you don’t mind, would you allow me to take my seat now?”

Mind you, she did this in front of all the passengers who were already waiting for us to depart. There were only three seats left, so this plane was full. Her manner was condescending and she did a great job of humiliating me. Had to take a middle seat and said a prayer before take-off.

While in flight, I took my laptop out and viewed a movie. When I finished, I put the laptop in the pouch in front of me. The passenger next to me did the same thing. A few minutes before landing the flight attendants were checking the aisles and passengers to make sure we were all secured in.

My luck, the attendant stops by my aisle and says to me, “Mam’, will you please take your laptop out of the pouch, we instruct our passenger not to do this because they stretch the pouch”. I said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know”, and took it out immediately. Now mind you, I was in the middle seat, but for whatever reason she didn’t see that the passenger next to me also had a laptop in the pouch in front of his seat. This passenger had the aisle seat. She didn’t address him or make the same request she made to me. He left his laptop in the pouch until after we landed. Just in case you’re wondering…he was “American”.

At this point, I actually just smiled to myself and thought, “what the hell???!! Am I the wrong color or did I just get on a plane with a bunch of rude attendants? Honestly, I still don’t understand.

Now, I would like you to review the above and offer some kind of explanation:

I paid for the “early bird” which didn’t help me because the first flight was late. This was not in my control, so do you still keep the fee that was charged for this service?

Do you have a written policy where the attendants speak to a passenger according to the color of their skin? Their facial features? Or by the wear of dress? Is this a way they assume to identify what their race or nationality is?

Do you have a written policy where a Flight Attendant must stop you and speak to you in a condescending manner for approximately 5 minutes to educate you on FAA Regulations but then goes ahead and violates them herself by telling you to “go ahead”?

Do you have a written policy where a Flight Attendant can instruct a passenger to correct an issue, but will not address the passenger sitting directly next to her who is also in need of correcting the same issue?

As I first stated, I haven’t flown in over 15 years. I choose SW because I had heard of the great customer service, even though you are pricier than others. I truly wanted to fly on an airline that would treat me with courtesy and respect. Didn’t get it.

The treatment I received on my return flight erased the kindness you showed when offering me free peanuts.

Southwest Airlines Federal Credit Union, Member NCUA, Equal Housing Lender. – Copyright © 2010 – All rights reserved. Your savings federally insured to at

the email to donna.conover@wnco.com does not work

PLEASE don’t EVEN consider resigning your post, Chris! It can be so difficult for one person to get satisfaction from a company that has many resources!