Remember Skirtgate? Southwest Airlines escorted a young woman off a plane because they didn’t like the shortness of her skirt. It turned into a debacle, especially considering the hot pants history of Southwest.

Somehow I missed the Southwest apology, and since I’m caught up in talk of quality communication over on the OCRN, I wanted to pass it along.

Southwest Airlines Issues an Apology and Lowers Fares to Match Now Infamous Mini Skirt

DALLAS, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — In classic Southwest Airlines flair, CEO Gary Kelly today made a public apology to one of its Customers whose trip several months ago has become the subject of recent television and newspaper commentary. Company President Colleen Barrett has reached out to the Customer directly, and Kelly issued Kyla Ebbert an apology and invitation to again fly on Southwest as she taped a television show.

“From a Company who really loves PR, touche to you Kyla! Some have said we’ve gone from wearing our famous hot pants to having hot flashes at Southwest, but nothing could be further from the truth. As we both know, this story has great legs, but the true issue here is that you are a valued Customer, and you did not get an adequate apology. Kyla, we could have handled this better, and on behalf of Southwest Airlines, I am truly sorry. We hope you continue to fly Southwest Airlines. Our Company is based on freedom even if our actions may have not appeared that way. It was never our intention to treat you unfairly and again, we apologize.”

Kelly took an additional step and is sharing his direct comments about the incident by recording ads for national radio. Those comments detail a national fare sale launched today featuring “mini-skirt” fares.

To learn more about these low fares, available only at southwest.com, visit: http://www.southwest.com/?src=PR_FS_091407

SOURCE
Southwest Airlines

Very impressive. Fun, yet clearly apologetic. You also have to give them huge kudos for give ALL their customers a discount, rather than just the one person wronged. That’s taking Skirtgate seriously and showing it!