Airline Reps Note To A Passenger With Cancer Will Make You Tear Up

[Stonepounder]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/southwest-cancer-luggage_us_598c99b9e4b09071f6983f8a

Stacy Hurt from Bridgeville, Pennsylvania was separated from her luggage one day last month when she switched to an earlier flight home from Nashville to Pittsburgh. Inside her suitcase were medication and special items like a rosary and lucky T-shirt that Hurt, who has colon cancer, planned to take to her chemotherapy appointment the next morning. She called Southwest.

Hurt was on the line with Sarah Rowan, a Southwest customer service agent who’s been with the airline for just six months. Rowan promised she’d do all she could to track down the bag before Hurt’s 9 a.m. appointment the next day, though it was already late at night.

In the morning, Hurt awoke to find her suitcase on her doorstep, with a sweet note inside:
“Sorry for the delay getting your bag to you,” Rowan had written. “Myself + my Southwest family are thinking of you + wishing you all the best. Kick that cancer’s BUTT!”

Turns out the bag had arrived at Pittsburgh International Airport around 2 a.m., when airport couriers were already off for the night, according to ABC News. Knowing that Hurt’s bag had no other chance of reaching her before the chemo appointment, Rowan looked up Hurt’s address and drove it to Hurt’s home when she ended her shift.

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We keep hearing about airlines doing terribly stupid things. It's nice to hear a story about an airline employee decides to go the extra mile for a passenger. Read the whole story and Stacy's response to Southwest and to Sarah at the link at top.

[ohtransplant]

1. I may be biased but this is what Pittsburghers are like.

Full Disclosure: I was born and raised there and will always be a "Yinzer" so I'm definitely biased.

Don't get me wrong...This is a great heartwarming story and Southwest should be proud of their employee and Ms. Rowan has forever secured her place as a great and kind human being. I congratulate her on her fantastic display of humanity.

The airline industry, our country and this world need more people who do unselfish acts of kindness without expectation of reciprocity.

It's also what people in Pittsburgh do. As many places as I've lived and traveled to I can't say I've encountered kinder, more generous people than Pittsburghers an I count myself lucky to be forever one of them, wherever I may go.

If it's not too much trouble let's say an extra prayer for Stacy Hurt as she battles cancer.

[GeoWilliam750]

7. I have only had one experience in Pittsburgh

And I will heartily agree that the Pittsburghers that I encountered that day were uniformly helpful and kind.

[Tarheel_Dem]

12. I lived in Pgh for about 8 years back in the 80's. Had it not been for my mother's failing health,

I would never have returned to NC. I still miss the place. My job back then required that I travel to far flung parts of the country, and nowhere was more welcoming than Pgh, which surprised me because I hated Philly where my sister lives. Pgh was the easiest place in the world to make friends, which was not my experience in Philly.

[ohtransplant]

13. You're right. Many people are surprised by that but as they say, "It's a 'burgh thing."

Here's another thing that happens to me regularly, when I meet people who have lived in Pittsburgh, it's like old home week, even though we never met before.

It's a great place to be from and these ladies in the story are a testimony to that.

[Tarheel_Dem]

14. "When I meet people who have lived in Pittsburgh, it's like old home week, even though we never met"

That's been my experience as well. I've been with my current employer for more than 20 yrs, and when I first came aboard, there were no less than half a dozen staff members from the area. That was quite a feat back then cuz we only had about 30 employees at the time. I still tease the retired Director of Family Services, who still had her Pgh accent. Whenever she, or her husband say "downtown", I feel like I'm right back in my old Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

[ohtransplant]

15. You hit on another point. You run into Pittsburghers all over!

I can't tell you the places I've run into them. Out of the blue you hear someone say "dahntahn" in the crowd and you know they're from Pittsburgh.

No matter how long they've been gone, when you ask them where they're from, they'll say Pittsburgh.

I was once at a flea market on a Sunday morning near Capital Hill in DC. Faintly I heard the Pittsburgh Polka. When I tracked it down there was a Pittsburgh bar near the Capital. Of course it was like a family reunion and I stayed for hours.

Of course I could go on...

Cheers!

[Tarheel_Dem]

16. "Dahntahn". That's it. I didn't even know how to try to spell that.

Sadly, I've lost most all of my contacts from my Pgh days. What's interesting is that since my Pittsburgh proper friends have either passed on or relocated, there's a bumper crop of W. Virginians who worked in and around the area, and still travel back a couple of times a year. Though I haven't been back there in 25+ years, it remains one of the most pleasantly memorable times of my life.

[More_Cowbell]

2. It's also what Southwest does, generally

Maybe it's because employees own the airline. I knew a Frontier Airlines flight attendant who tried for years to switch to SW.

Great work by that lady.

[ohtransplant]

3. Whatever it is I hope it's contagious!

n/t

[GeoWilliam750]

8. Also great advertising and public relations

[iluvtennis]

4. Love thes type of human interest stories...thanks for sharing it.

[rocktivity]

5. What with all the public relations black eyes the airlines have been talking

this is downright refreshing. The only thing that would have made it perfect would be if it had happened in Florida!


rocktivty

[Hulk]

6. Doesn't surprise me that it was Southwest Airlines

I've had nothing but very positive experiences when flying with them. They run their airline a bit unorthadox (sp?), but I have been impressed with their courtesy and professionalism nearly every time I've flown with them.

Great airline in an age of shitty competition for cheap seats from point a to point b.

[BigmanPigman]

9. Thanks for sharing...very sweet! Did you call or write her manager to tell them

what she did? I always do that since it rarely happens. Usually they only hear complaints about employees. I found out that Cox Cable has records of customers when a service person came to my house and he told me so. He knew I had praised a co-worker (I don't know if that influenced his work for me or not).

[Stonepounder]

10. From the same article:

Southwest applauded Rowan’s efforts.

“We are very proud of Sarah’s kind, compassionate actions that represent the best of Southwest Hospitality and the legendary customer service that our wonderful employees aim to deliver every day,” a company spokesman told HuffPost in a statement.

[BigmanPigman]

11. GOOD! Maybe other companies will encourage this type of action and behavior.