When the plane started to taxi out to the runway at Chicago’s Midway International Airport, Peggy Uhle turned off her phone and prepared for take-off.
However, she was told to get off the plane. She assumed the worst. They could have asked her to give up her seat to someone else or she might get told that there was an issue with her reservation. But her opinion of the airline was changed forever after she endured the following shocking chain of events.
Traveling from Chicago, Illinois to Cleaveland, Ohio by car takes almost six hours as it is almost 350 miles between the two cities. The flight that Uhle was on would cut that time down to a little over an hour. However, the plan didn’t even make it to the runway before it was turned back to the gate.
Everyone was confused when the plane stopped at the same place where it started. All the passengers were wondering what was going on. That was when a flight attendant approached Uhle. “I figured I was on the wrong plane,” she said. The attendant told Uhle that she had to leave the plane immediately.
At the gate, she met with one of the agents, who escorted her to the check-in desk. That’s when they said something that made her even more confused. The gate agent asked her to call her husband.
Uhle spoke with her husband, who had some bad news. Their 24-year-old son, Michael, who resided in Denver, Colorado, was in a coma after suffering a major head injury. Uhle tried to come up with a plan to get to her son, and that’s when the gate agent shared some news that was downright miraculous.
It turns out that they had already made all conceivable arrangements just for her, and she owed it all to the Southwest staff, who were apprised of the situation before she even got off the plane. In the next two hours, she’d get on the direct flight to Denver. Uhle walked to her gate, where more surprises awaited.
Aside from changing her flight, Uhle claimed, “They offered a private waiting area, rerouted my luggage, allowed me to board first, and packed a lunch for when I got off the plane in Denver.”
Although she worried for her son, she took comfort in the fact that she would join him soon. When she got to Colorado, she appreciated the lengths Southwest went to in order to care for passengers like her.
Uhle eggy stated that: “My luggage was delivered to where I was staying, and I even received a call from Southwest asking how my son was doing.” She didn’t care how much it would cost because the level of service was great. Although Southwest doesn’t charge for rebooking, she assumed that they might charge her for some of the trouble. Turns out she was mistaken.
Uhle is extremely happy with the service she received from Southwest. “The care that I was shown is second to none,” Uhle said. “We have always liked Southwest Airlines and now we can’t say enough good things about them.”
As for Uhle’s son, he is still recovering. “My son suffered a traumatic brain injury and continues to recover,” Uhle said.
Watch the video below for more details:
Sources: OpposingViews, My Fox Philly, Boarding Area