United Breaks Guitars

[SARgirl]

Re: United ready to talk after Halifax band's song hits YouTube

This...
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2009/07/08/united-breaks-guitars.html#socialcomments

...resulted in this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

...which resulted in this:
"On Tuesday, a United Airlines spokeswoman said: "This has struck a chord with us. We're going to contact him directly."


So now that the band from Halifax has the attention of United...  it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.  Complete story details from the first link are posted below:


Article (see 1st link) Posted by: CBC News.ca
Date of news story: Wednesday, July 8, 2009


Broken guitar song gets airline's attention

Halifax band Sons of Maxwell have taken their battle with United Airlines over a broken guitar to YouTube.

And it seems the U.S. airline might just be listening.

Dave Carroll, the primary songwriter for the folk group, pledged to write three songs about United Airlines breaking his guitar after months of runaround over the incident.

"We were touring last year, over a year ago, going to Nebraska and we had to fly United Airlines landing in Chicago for a quick turnaround," he told CBC News.

"Somebody who didn't know we were musicians cried out from behind me that 'they're throwing guitars outside.'"

Carroll said his bass player saw United employees throwing the bass guitar, recognizing it through the plane window.

"I tried to alert three employees who showed no interest at all and it began a nine-month saga of me trying to get compensation for a guitar that ended up being broken, badly broken," he said.

The $3,500 Taylor acoustic guitar had been custom-made and was packed in a padded double case, but United refused to take responsibility. Carroll sent emails, wrote letters and talked to people at the airline over nine months until a Chicago employee told him to stop sending emails because he wasn't going to get compensation.

"I said 'What would Michael Moore do if he was a singer-songwriter?' and so I decided to write three songs," said Carroll, who started Sons of Maxwell with his brother Don.

United Song #1, a hurting song, with a catchy refrain that goes, in part, "United breaks guitars" and "You broke it you should fix it," went on YouTube July 6. It caught on pretty quickly, with more than 150,000 hits in its first day.

The song describes the incident in detail, including the horror of watching from the plane as their equipment was wrecked.

That was enough to get the airline's attention.

On Tuesday, a United Airlines spokeswoman said: "This has struck a chord with us. We're going to contact him directly."

Carroll said he's hoping his song is going to make a difference for everyone who gets burned by battered luggage.

"They're talking about changing the culture of customer service. This could end up making a real difference," he said.

 

[PMedMoe]

On Tuesday, a United Airlines spokeswoman said: "This has struck a chord with us."

Pun intended?  ;D

 

[gcclarke]

The sad fact is that when being stonewalled by large corporations such as this, the only real way to get some justice is to shame them enough, not to make them feel bad and fix the situation because it's the right thing to do, but to make enough people aware of the situation that it might hurt their bottom line.

When that spokesperson said "This has struck a chord with us.", it wasn't that the song was compelling and made United feel sorry for the guy, it's that the song was popular, and made United feel sorry for United, and the lost seat sales from people who would have otherwise flown with them had they not heard of this level of shoddy baggage handling, and subsequent lousy customer service.

The only way to get something done is to hit them where it hurts. Thank god the internet allows this, as I rather doubt this guy would have gotten any reaction if he had to resort to spreading his message by singing the song on a street corner.

 

[tomahawk6]

Funny video. ;D
I like their song "The Queen of Argyle".

 

[Gunnar]

I saw this and immediately thought of "Thank you Republic Airlines" by Tom Paxton.  This isn't the first singer to get the attention of a large corporation by making a funny song....but I like it.

 

[Strike]

I suspect that this may have a positive effect on the band.  Dave may get a replacement guitar (although he's fixed the busted up one as best he can) and the band will get some attention.

I've known both Dave and his brother for a few years.  Here's hoping people like what they see and want more.

As for United, bunch of clowns!

 

[SARgirl]

It's a shame that the band had to come out with a song before the airline was willing to grab a pair and step up. 

Here's hoping people like what they see and want more.

He has a nice voice; I do plan to check out their other songs later today.

 

[tomahawk6]

I heard a radio interview with Dave today discussing how the video was entirely produced in Halifax with local folks he knew[volunteer firemen] playing roles.The tarmac was the drive at the fire station where he is a volunteer.Interesting stuff.

 

[Lil_T]

awesome video. 

 

[PMedMoe]

Excellent!!

 

[Strike]

Not only on Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/bigMoney/idUS335341208420090709

but getting support from others too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS96nQHOW-E

 

[Larkvall]

CNN  ;D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpQNWNN_HS4

 

[karl28]

    That's awesome stick it to them .

 

[Messmom]

Some idiot gets his guitar busted up in another country and it somehow became news.

We are a sad sad sad people.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Some idiot gets his guitar busted up in another country and it somehow became news.

We are a sad sad sad people.

Idiot?  Somone had their personal property ill-treated/damaged by airline employees, and he is the idiot?

I have to politely disagree with your take on this one.  I think its great to see 'the little guy' call the big corporation on this, and applaud him/them for the efforts to bring attention to a common problem there is (IMO) these days;  lack of respect for the average consumer/customer by big companies.

 

[Messmom]

Putting $5000 guitar in checked luggage? If that don't earn the idiot tag nothing ever will.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Putting $5000 guitar in checked luggage? If that don't earn the idiot tag nothing ever will.

Unless you consider that it might not have been able to BE carry-on.  A would bet a bass guitar in a case would be more than 45", and that the case itself would be more than 9 x 14 x 22 in.

I find looking thru applicable regulations and stuff like that helpful...

Carry-on baggage
Carry-on baggage for worldwide travel
For worldwide travel on United (including travel within the 50 United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada), you may carry on one bag and one personal item such as a purse, briefcase or laptop computer. Your carry-on bag
must fit under your seat or in the overhead bin;
should not be more than 9 x 14 x 22 in. (23 x 35 x 56 cm) (length x width x height) or 45 linear inches* (114 linear cm); and
may be required to travel as checked baggage if the bag cannot be safely stowed on a particular flight.

*linear measurement = length + width + height

http://www.united.ca/core/english/SI/baggage/carryon.html

 

[Larkvall]

Putting $5000 guitar in checked luggage? If that don't earn the idiot tag nothing ever will.

A guitar is far too big for a carry on. I flew United a few years ago and they lost my luggage. Their service desk at Pearson was swamped with luggage that was set to the spot. They gave the impression this is normal and not to worry. That airline has some issues.

 

[armyvern]

Some idiot gets his guitar busted up in another country and it somehow became news.

We are a sad sad sad people.

Wow. Just a sad sad post.

"Some idiot" could not check the guitar into carry-on by regulation.

"Some idiot" packed his guitar as such (from the original article):

The $3,500 Taylor acoustic guitar had been custom-made and was packed in a padded double case, but United refused to take responsibility. Carroll sent emails, wrote letters and talked to people at the airline over nine months until a Chicago employee told him to stop sending emails because he wasn't going to get compensation.

He did what he could -- padded double case and all yet you somehow come up with him essentially "inviting" them to trash it? And, they immediately addressed it with airline staff "as it happened" ... yet the guys out on the tarmac continued to toss their equipment around.

I don't think your idiot label is applied properly; please consult your mirror. United Airlines already has theirs prominently displayed - and rightly so.

 

[Blackadder1916]

Putting $5000 guitar in checked luggage? If that don't earn the idiot tag nothing ever will.

Have you travelled recently by airliner in the USA?  If it's not restricted (or must be in checked baggage, sometimes for an extra fee) because it's small and may be a potential weapon, then it's large and exceeds the limits for carry-on baggage.  What's a professional musician, travelling with his band and carrrying more than one musical instrument, to do?  Perhaps travelling troubadours should be limited to ukeleles.