[Jkarris]

Short story: I was denied boarding because I had written "Southwest Sucks" on the back of my boarding pass. The explanation given was that Southwest does not want unhappy persons on their flights.

Background
After having experienced a 3 hour delay on my flight to LI on Sunday (which involved a diversion to another airport and unprofessional service), and I had given up on my flight back to SF on Wednesday (due to another 3 hour delay), I was upset when I got to the terminal on Thursday for another shot at going home.

What happened: I was the only person on line at the gate and I wanted to talk to the agent about the problems I had on Sunday and Wednesday. She did not want to listen and said to send a letter to customer relations. So, I sat down and wrote "Southwest Sucks" on the back of my boarding pass. The agent saw it and said "That's not nice." I replied "Southwest's customer service sucks." That appeared to be the end of it. Nothing happened for over one hour while I waited. During this time, I was not speaking to anyone or gesturing or doing anything but waiting silently. Suddenly, a customer service supervisor came over and said to put away the note. I asked her whether I was allowed to have an opinion about the quality of Southwest's service. She said yes, but if I didn't put away the note, it would be evidence that I would be uncooperative if I were allowed on the plane. So, I put away the note. She then said to go talk to her. So, I left and talked to her and she gave me a $200 travel voucher as a gesture of good will. By that time, the flight was boarding. I went to the agent collecting the boarding passes and he said there was a problem with my boarding pass and to go back to the ticket counter. I went back and the customer relations supervisor issued me another boarding pass. So, I went back to the agent collecting the boarding passes and was allowed into the stairway leading to the plane. About halfway there, the stewardess said to stop. I stopped. This time I was told that I would not be allowed to board the plane because some passenger had heard what the customer relations supervisor had said and was concerned that I would pose a safety threat if allowed on the plane. The pilot came out, looked at me, did not ask any questions, and said he would tell the passenger that I did not pose any threat. The customer relations supervisor agreed that I was no problem at all. However, the stewardess said she did not want me on the plane. She was laughing. The flight was only about half full. The customer relations supervisor told me that if the stewardess did not want me on the plane, there was nothing she could do other than book me on another flight. She also said that the flight crew does not want unhappy passengers on the plane.