Corporate Compassion (or lack thereof)

As I've undoubtedly mentioned (complained about) many times, I've really missed my runs. I live 8 houses away from a beautiful trail that runs for miles, and it's killing me to see everyone out happily jogging past me. Walking is nice, but it's just not the same. Running clears my head, de-stresses and energizes me. This past Sunday I was supposed to have run the GW Parkway 10-miler. I like that distance in my old age because it's still requires effort and training, but isn't crazy. I've never run this particular race before, but this is the first year we didn't get into the wildly popular Cherry Blossom, so it seemed like a decent alternative and a pretty course. I'd forgotten all about the race to be honest (I had other things on my mind!), and when I went online to see what my options were I saw that I had missed the date to defer to 2013 by about 3 weeks.  Still hopeful, I drafted an email requesting deferment until next year, explaining my situation and offering to provide a doctor's note. Sadly, I was told "that for reasons of race admin, as well as consistency and fairness, [they] do need to hold firm to the published Parkway policy of a March 16 deadline for Deferment of entry to 2013."  It was my fault for not looking into it sooner, and in the grand scheme of things, $130 isn't going to kill me, but it did make me kind of sad that they took that stance, particularly when I wasn't even asking for a refund just an opportunity to postpone my participation.

Well, if I was disappointed in my response from Pacers, I was absolutely disgusted this week by Spirit Airlines' refusal to refund a dying man's airline ticket after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Have you heard this story? According to the Huffington Post, two weeks after buying a $197 airline ticket to visit his daughter, Jerry Meekins, a 76 year old veteran, found out he had terminal cancer and could no longer fly. He contacted Spirit Airlines, explained his situation and asked for his money back, but was told that all tickets were non-refundable, no exceptions. In their statement, Spirit said making an exception would open up the floodgates with other customers dealing with similar situations:

"We have many requests for refunds every day for similar situations. It wouldn't be fair to bend policy for one and not all. We will not make customers who follow the rules pay for those that don't. It's just not fair."

Open up the floodgates? Really? I somehow find it hard to believe that dying cancer patients are lining up at the Spirit ticket counter demanding refunds. Here's a PR tip for you Spirit, a little goodwill goes a long way - a lot further than that $197 you're hanging onto... Remember when you could get reduced or free flights on compassionate grounds to travel to a relative's funeral?  Is that a thing of the past?  Jerry, I'm sorry that in your final days you experienced this kind of corporate greed and inflexibility, and that you have to waste your valuable time trying to convince people to do the right thing. Go Jerry!