Southwest Airlines Complaint

My name is Todd Pewitt and I desperately need to bring an issue of

discrimination to your attention. I was recently on a Southwest Airlines

flight, Flight# 3770 on Friday, June 6th 2008 to Cleveland, Ohio when I

experienced quite a displeasing situation. I was traveling with my mother

and upon boarding we located seats that were convenient to us, however I

noticed a black bag in the aisle seat along with the tray table down. There

was a male flight attendant, by the name of "Herb", I believe, standing in

the row behind. I didn't see the other 2 (window and middle) seats occupied;

therefore I lifted the tray table and presumed to acquire my seat when the

flight attendant told me that these seats were "reserved for a family".

Needless to say, I was appalled!

I did not want to become difficult since we had group "A" boarding passes,

in that there were many more seats available, therefore I decided to take

seats further back. Upon waiting for the other groups to board, I watched

this flight attendant deny countless people the right to sit in these 3

seats even though Southwest has a "No Reserved Seating" policy. Finally,

once the "C" group was boarding, the flight attendant allowed 2 elderly

gentlemen to sit in this row, NOT the woman's husband or children, whom I

might add were close to the last passengers to board. I noticed that the

"family" the attendant was speaking of occupied the adjacent seating rows as

well. After a closer review, I recognized a gentleman by the name of Scott

Hamilton, who is an Olympic ice skating champion and, it was his family who

the attendant was reserving seats for since they apparently had "C" boarding

passes but still wanted to sit together. Obviously they neither held a

Business Select ticket nor were pre-board passengers, obviously they needed

no additional assistance in boarding as they just held a "C" boarding pass;

therefore we all paid the same price essentially to fly. I ask again, why

the preferential treatment?

This is absolutely absurd! There are countless advertisements in both the

media and airports stating that Southwest Airlines has "No Reserved/Saved

Seating". With the plethora of advertisements advising "No Reserved Seating"

why was this allowed? I honestly feel discriminated against and I would like

to know how this is going to be resolved to my satisfaction. Do I have the

right to reserve seats and have an attendant hold them for me until I board,

even though I'm not a celebrity? This entire incident is the display of pure

false advertisement, since I clearly was not allowed to sit wherever I

wanted and exercise my "No Reserved Seating" right when flying with

Southwest Airlines. A passenger saving seats is one thing, but to have an

employee of Southwest save seats for people is ridiculous, even if they are

"running late"! Where are my rights and why am I being treated unfairly?

I demanded both an explanation as well as reparations for this display of

unconcern towards me a "non-celebrity" customer. I received a letter from

Southwest, on 7/31/2008, stating that it is "okay" to save seats, although

multiple advertisements promise "No Reserved Seating". Southwest is clearly

not concerned with how I feel nor how I was treated. Essentially, Southwest

is saying that they did nothing wrong and it is acceptable to break their

policy for either a celebrity or customer who may or may not have tipped a

flight attendant/representative of Southwest Airlines to "Save Seats". This

is the reasoning for the "A,B,C Boarding Passes". I am outraged and this

blatant show of disconcern is preposterous! I demand both a more thorough

explanation as well as reparations for this display of unconcern towards me

a "non-celebrity" customer.

I look very forward to hearing back from you regarding this issue.

Sincerely,

Todd