Without going into all the rigmarole we’ve qualified for a Southwest Airlines companion pass again. It’s a lot easier to do if you charge yearly college tuition on a credit card!
The problem is we make it by the skin of our teeth every year (this will be the last) leaving us a period where we needed to make a reservation but couldn’t.
Let me know if your airline would do this.
I called Southwest and spoke to Lauren. She understood our story then figured out how to hold the ticket until the companion pass was actually issued. Then she gave us a confirmation number and said she’d write a note so the next person who touched it would know what was going on.
“Don’t worry,” she said. But I did.
I got the companion pass last night. I called Southwest today. We’re set. The notes Lauren said would be there were. The agent I spoke to ‘got it’ immediately.
What Southwest did wasn’t difficult but it required a little creative thinking to make sure we were covered. When there was a question of doing it by-the-book or going a little out of the way to make-it-work for the customer, she chose the latter.
When people find how slavishly Helaine and I fly Southwest they often poo-poo it like it’s some sort of leper airline. No, no no. Southwest is different because they are not about rules as much as they are about a corporate culture that encourages thinking.