Why I am boosting Southwest Airlines
My wife's mother, 87, became critically ill last week and was hospitalized. Sunday at midday my wife got a call to come immediately, as her mother had little time left. I logged onto Southwest.com and booked a flight for that night - the first one that had vacancies. Later, my wife wondered whether she could get on an earlier flight by going to the airport and taking a chance that someone didn't show up.

So I called 800-I-FLY-SWA to see whether there had been a cancellation on an earlier flight. The lady on the phone said there was a vacancy on a flight just two hours hence. With all the security stuff in place nowadays, we'd have to leave right away to make it. The SWA lady switched the reservation and emailed new confirmation documents within three minutes. I printed them out, and we were out the door.

That is customer service at its best. It is intelligent use of technology. And that is why Southwest gets my unsolicited and uncompensated endorsement.