Welcome to your first posting. Good to have your on board.

Yes, I think the article was written for sensationalism. Anyone on their
death bed is unlikely to be going thru the hassle of flying - but rather should
be in a hospital.

And maybe I did not read the article in detail, but he went to PHX to Mayo for
a transplant and had a return flight scheduled. Does the time stamp on the email
from SWA show 6pm on 22nd, and the flight was to be at 5:10pm Even with
time zone diff., seems very odd.

However, I do think if flights are not too full (over 5 or so seats open at boarding time), there
is no reason to bother to sell and then refund a POS for an extra seat. Does SWA really
sell an extra ticket so a POS shortly before flight time when the plane is less than 95% sold?