1 No offense, but this viral vid is about three month's old at this point, if not older. This guy was even featured on an Oprah episode awhile back, for goodness sake.

2 And to think, you have to pay $15 each way for your bags to be handled like that...oh wait, now it's $25 each way.  Thanks, incompetent airlines!

3 *shrugs*
It was new to me.

4 Tom Paxton got there twenty years ago:

Thank you Republic Airlines
for splintering the neck on my guitar
My guitar case was so strong that nothing could go through it
Way to go Republic, only you could do it
Crash bang Republic Airlines
in the field of demolition, you'll go far
for you took it as a challenge when I turned in my case
and you saw the fragile stickers glued all over the place
May a team of mad flamingo dancers do to your face
what you did to the neck on my guitar

5

It's older than that...

What's it really a shining example of is one's whining can now be seen by millions.

Feh.

6 It's not old, it's, um, vintage.

No, it's actually old. How old? Even I saw this 4 or 5 months ago.

7 I don't watch Oprah, so I hadn't seen it either.  All good.

8 I hadn't seen it either.  The last straw for me flying on the airlines was when the dingbat counter clerk at Omaha Eppley had no idea where my $4000 worth of gun cases were upon my return from Alaska.  Fortunately I got them, through absolutely no effort of that individual.  Airlines losing money?  Fuck them.

9 "Fragile" is French for "throw underhand."

10 Um... welcome to 2 years ago?

11

For the record, after this song got over a million hits on You Tube, UAL finally paid to replace the man's guitar.

Score one for the little guy.

12 Yeah, it's from early July last year.

Good song, though.

The guy wrote a 2nd one, which wasn't as catchy.

13 Airlines losing money?  Fuck them. Bailout!

Fixed.

14

While I enjoy piling on airlines as much as the next val-u-rite aficionado, the "United breaks guitars" was questionable from the beginning and NOT some righteous customer gaining some level of revenge on the uncaring airline.

The guy's "story" had more holes than a good block o'Swiss cheese. IMO, he ranted on United simply as a "deep pocket".

FWIW, companies used to look out for such reports & reply favorably to customers, and customers noticed such events.  That pretty much stopped around 1999.

15 the "United breaks guitars" was questionable from the beginning and NOT some righteous customer gaining some level of revenge on the uncaring airline.

In what way? He says he tried to get compensation out of them for what they admitted was their fault for nine months before he had enough and came out with the song.

16

This isn't old, it's a trap by lauraw to see who watches Oprah.

17

#15,

Not quite. On some site (consumerist maybe?) he admitted that while he packed the guitar, others loaded from the site, handled it @ the hotel, then to the airport, etc.  Many hands touched the case prior to opening. 

Also - the 1st leg was Air Canada.  I wouldn't be surprised if a TSA inspection "broke" it.

UAL simply $ to make it all go away.

18

While I enjoy piling on airlines as much as the next val-u-rite aficionado, the "United breaks guitars" was questionable from the beginning and NOT some righteous customer gaining some level of revenge on the uncaring airline.

The guy's "story" had more holes than a good block o'Swiss cheese. IMO, he ranted on United simply as a "deep pocket".

FWIW, companies used to look out for such reports & reply favorably to customers, and customers noticed such events.  That pretty much stopped around 1999.

Posted by: Jess at January 15, 2010 10:52 AM (KSNkY)

 

Umm, not from what I remember. It was a perfectly legit case of wanting payment for breaking his guitar and he got the typical runaround until publicity forced them to settle.

19

A great transparency from the Golden Age of the innertube. 

20 Wait, who's going to admit to watching Oprah on this thread?

21 Actually, I think I might make up a Powerpoint of Martha Coakley--"Yours is a Very Bad Candidate."  This campaign will be the poli-sci equivalent of Napoleon's invasion of Russia. 

22 Call me crazy, but something about this guy is kinda hot...

23 There's a lesson here. Never, ever screw over an artist with this guy's talent.

And anything bad that happens in your life is story material.

24

Some lesson. 

1) Ready

2) Fire

3) Aim

4) Profit!

25 http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/story/united-breaks-guitars

26 "This isn't old, it's a trap by lauraw to see who watches Oprah."

I can't stand her, and I've lived in Chicago for my entire life - but my wife lurves her and works as a flight attendant for American at O'Hare, so you better believe that the airline industry knew all about this as soon as he put the vid up on YouTube.

BTW, the guy's case for the broken guitar was legit, and if you've flown frequently over the past five years you'd know that stories like these are not an outlier, but a norm. Several times over the past few years the police have conducted stings on baggage handlers at O'Hare and convicted large number of these folks for routinely going through luggage and ripping off anything of value, and in the process throwing away or smashing things they don't want. 

27 Country music sucks. Play it backwards, and you get your wife back, your car back, and in this case, your guitar back.

28

Um, Where does LauraW ever say this is new anyways? Her point remains valid.

You commenters bashing her for the video being old truly are a bunch of morons (in the insulting sense of the word for those of you too stupid to understand that).

 

29 One of the video responses to this is from the owner of Taylor Guitars. United should take note, that i how a successful business that actually cares about it's customers gets good publicity. Taylor was in no way responsible for what happened and yet they still saw fit to respond.

30 #25 - that's his followup tale - and it still leaves holes big enough to drive a hobo thru...

31

Uh, Alex, Taylor Guitars wasn't being shaken down...

 

Now, before some moron (not in an affectionate sense) gets the idea that I'm supporting tearing luggage apart & more, I'll point out that I travel (by air) a great deal - I've 6 figure + mileage on more than one airline.  I've had luggage lost, damaged, defaced, busted, twisted, tossed & so on, and I've fought w/more baggage claim agents than I can recall.

However - I try to give them (airlines) a fair shake. If they did "it", I go after them, but if others have been involved, then it's up to me to find out what really happened, and sometimes that's just not possible - as in this case. (pardon the pun)

IMO, this is some too clever fool trying to make a name for himself at other's expense. 

32 Um, Where does LauraW ever say this is new anyways?

Reply #3.

You stupid fuck.

33 Next person to start a fight in comments over this goofy shit has to shave my hump-bristles.

34 Quit bitching about it being old. What difference does it make? It's still a cool tune, and a cool story.

Thanks for reminding me Ms. LauraW.

35 Reply #3.

You stupid fuck.

Posted by: Waterhouse at January 15, 2010 11:42 AM (YLnnA)

It was new to her

You stupid fuck.

Reading comprehension FAIL.

36 Thanks Hotspur, sweetie.

37 I remember when my dad flew and he traveled To my brothers wedding with his Wheelchair worth 20 thousand and they crushed the damn thing. The frame was bent to hell so could not go in straight lines and the gears were stripped so he then had to be pushed. They also cracked the battery. He was a Quad so he had to have a special chair.

38 This same thing happened to a friend of mine. Totally cracked up a $6000 Gibson because they wouldn't let him gate-check it.

I can't help but feel, "big story hole" guys, that he would have noticed if the taxi driver or bellhop smashed his guitar to bits. Not the least because he would have been close by when it happened and would have been carrying it in the airport.

39 How can we be 40 comments deep in this and no one's mentioned how unfunny it was.  Don't get me wrong, I love unfunny as much as the next guy, but not when it is posing funny.

Yecch!

40 Thanks for the tip, LauraW. Sorry to bring out the moron in the morons.

I have a Taylor and it is quite the sweet sounding guitar. I have called them on occasion and they have been very helpful and polite. Also, Taylor, in their reply, informs us about TSA rules for flying with musical instruments that I did not know about.

I don't think the over all point is about what happened to the guitar, but how it was handled. Accidents happen, but you can turn it into an opportunity or a debacle.

Oprah? Never heard of her.

41 I personally like the Taylor Guitar Company response:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n12WFZq2__0

42

"Not the least because he would have been close by when it happened and would have been carrying it in the airport."

 

Except that he freely admits he didn't have it in sight.

Look - it's not fun to have things trashed in travel, but had this guy gone to court, they'd have laughed him out after @ 30 seconds - so why does this method make it OK?

I've (ok, the small business I owned at the time) got similar treatment some years back.  After consulting my shyster... ah, legal representative, he gave me the same advice - just pay the guy to go away.  So yeah, I'm a bit touchy on unverifiable tales such as this... 

43 Several years ago these bastards lost my ten year old stepson who was returning from his annual summer vacation visit to his dad's. He wound up hours late, at another airport that was 56 miles from the one we had purchased tickets for. Fuck you, United.

44 Airlines breaking guitars is an old problem: Part of it is because many baggage handlers are scum, but another part is that airlines want musicians to buy seats for their instruments. Oy.

45

Um, Where does LauraW ever say this is new anyways? Her point remains valid.

You commenters bashing her for the video being old truly are a bunch of morons (in the insulting sense of the word for those of you too stupid to understand that).

 

Um, it's still an old story...and vid and apparently, it was NEW  to LauraW and a select few others whether her point was valid or not. Got it moron?

46 If the airlines were smart, they'd offer damage guarantees for a small fee. No matter whose fault it was, they'd pay to repair or replace the customer's luggage. They'd probably make money on the deal AND improve their image. Then the airline could figure out who committed the breakage and have them fined or sacked. Putting the responsibility on the customer to figure out who's responsible is really dumb, they've got no contacts, no leverage, probably live somewhere else, and may not even know the language.

47

I think I'd tweak that old saying by adding "Lies travel around the world before truth has gotten out of bed."

*

48 I'm a musician. That guy has good pipes.

49 you kids and your rock roll stuff - GET OFF MY LAWN