Southwest Airlines And BBB Warn Of Misleading Promotion
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DALLAS (KRLD) - Southwest Airlines is trying to get in front of a travel club promotion that the airline feels is deceiving its customers. Within the last few weeks postcards depicting a silver airline against a blue sky with the words Southwest Celebration on the front have landed in mailboxes. The back of the cards tell recipients they have been identified for an award of two round-trip airline tickets.
Missing are some telltale signs. There's no company colors. No company logo is to be found. And the words Southwest and airlines never appear together.
"Look at the mailer very, very closely." said Phylissia Landix of the Better Business Bureau. "If there's something ever so slightly different about logo or you can't find the name of the company on the flyer that's a head's up that it's probably not the airline that you think it is."
Landix says the post cards often mask the intention which is getting someone to sit down for a sales pitch. Indeed, when the number on the card is called, a special promo code is requested. Landix says the code is to let the operator know where the card was sent and where the sales pitch will be held. In this case, the location was in Mesquite and the operator was not willing to divulge much more.
"It's something that we would not be behind at all." adds Dan Landson of Southwest airlines.
In fact, Landson says Southwest has received a number of phone calls from people who demand their free tickets.
"We have a history of seeing these things in the past and we actively go after the companies that are behind them and really pushing them to stop sending these out. Because at the end of the day it's ruining our brand reputation."
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