Virginia Beach man, humiliated on Southwest flight, gets flight voucher but no ‘sorry’

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — John Kerrigan, his daughter and her friend are still getting over the embarrassment they had to endure when they landed three weeks ago at Norfolk International Airport, and said that, as far as an apology, the response from Southwest Airlines fell short.

Va. Beach man flying Southwest with daughter and friend gets profiled as human trafficker

Kerrigan and the girls were on an Oct. 21 Southwest flight from Denver when the flight crew jumped to the conclusion that Kerrigan was trafficking the girls and notified Norfolk airport security. Three officers hauled Kerrigan off the plane from his back row seat before anyone else got off. He was questioned but eventually released.

A Southwest email after Kerrigan’s complaint uses phrases such as “we regret your disappointment,” but the word sorry is nowhere to be found.

“It’s kind of like a non-apology type of thank you or have a nice day type of thing,” Kerrigan said Thursday morning. “It didn’t seem to faze them too much. I guess it’s just a large corporation and they figure they’ll take a publicity hit here or there.”

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