Dad is home, and United has apologized

After I wrote last night's blog post about our odyssey at the airport, trying to pick up Dad's ashes, I tweeted the story to @united this morning (here):

My dad died while on vacation in Italy with my mom. As for getting his ashes back...really, @united? No, really? http://bit.ly/Ruewd7.

United responded (here):

@pegkerr We'd like to know more. Will you please follow us & DM details and contact information.

So I switched to Direct Messages, giving my mom's contact information, and they replied:

We're sorry for your loss. We'd like to make this right. Did this happen in MSP? We will have someone reach out to your mom.

Mom received a call shortly afterwards, right before she was going to leave for the airport again, this time with my brother-in-law. The ashes couldn't be simply delivered to her home by the airport, due to the customs procedures. But the person who spoke with Mom apologized on behalf of the airline and gave Mom her cell phone number, telling her to call if there was any difficulty. Which made me very happy, and glad that I tweeted the post. Twitter for the win.

Mom had to go to the freight office, get the paperwork, take it to customs to be processed, and then take the paperwork back the freight office again. But all the paperwork was properly taken care of, and now Dad's ashes are in Mom's custody, to everyone's relief, and the situation is resolved.

I certainly wouldn't want the employees we dealt with to get in trouble or anything. I just think that maybe they need more training, perhaps.

Thanks to all who retweeted for me. My family really appreciates your support.