Airline reroutes Mom to son's bedside

Recently, Peggy Uhle was on a Southwest Airline flight from Chicago to Columbus waiting to take off, when the plane unexpectedly turned back to the gate and she was asked to get off. Her husband had tried to call her with sad news, but her cell phone was turned off. So he called the airline instead.

After the plane arrived at the gate, the attendant asked her to check in with customer service and call her husband, who told her their son was hospitalized in a coma after suffering a head injury.  He lives in Denver, and even before she disembarked, Southwest had already rebooked her -- with no additional fees or service charges -- on a non-stop flight to Denver, departing in two hours.

"They offered me a private waiting area; rerouted my luggage, allowed me to board first, and even packed a lunch for when I got off in Denver," she said. Her luggage was delivered directly to where she was staying in Denver, and she later received a call from Southwest asking how her son was doing. He is continuing to recover, and she is thankful for the extra-mile service she received. "The care I was shown was second to none," she said.