Musician Dave Carroll had some difficulty with United Airlines. United damaged his treasured Taylor guitar ($3500) in Chicago as he watched from his plane seat during a layover in a flight from Nova Scotia to Omaha. Dave spent over 9 months trying to get United to pay for damages caused by baggage handlers to his custom Taylor guitar. United repeatedly refused. During his final exchange with the United Customer Relations Manager, he stated that he was left with no choice other than to create a music video for youtube exposing their lack of cooperation. The Manager responded : "Good luck with that one, pal".
So he posted a video on youtube on July 6th, 2009. The video has since received over 5.5 million hits. United Airlines contacted the musician and attempted settlement in exchange for pulling the video.
His response: "Good luck with that one, pal".
Taylor Guitars sent the musician 2 new custom guitars in appreciation for the product recognition from the video that has lead to a sharp increase in orders.
Here's the video....
On July 8th, United contacted Carroll to inform him that they will use the video as a training tool for baggage handlers, flight attendants and customer service staff, among others. Carroll has since made a second and third video and is planning a release.
In the U.S. Department of Transportation’s tally of lost, damaged, delayed or pilfered baggage in April 2009, United ranked 10th among 19 carriers, with 13,517“baggage reports” among 4.03 million passengers.
So he posted a video on youtube on July 6th, 2009. The video has since received over 5.5 million hits. United Airlines contacted the musician and attempted settlement in exchange for pulling the video.
His response: "Good luck with that one, pal".
Taylor Guitars sent the musician 2 new custom guitars in appreciation for the product recognition from the video that has lead to a sharp increase in orders.
Here's the video....
On July 8th, United contacted Carroll to inform him that they will use the video as a training tool for baggage handlers, flight attendants and customer service staff, among others. Carroll has since made a second and third video and is planning a release.
In the U.S. Department of Transportation’s tally of lost, damaged, delayed or pilfered baggage in April 2009, United ranked 10th among 19 carriers, with 13,517“baggage reports” among 4.03 million passengers.
Another update on the story here.
5 comments:
Don't get mad, get creative.
I love it!
Word Verification
"tantra"
Youtube. The weapon of choice to really stick it to the big and uncaring.
I was recently traveling with American Airlines with my Surfboards. I paid $100 each way ($200 Total) to check two surfboards in a one board bag that was about 7 ft long and weighed 47 lbs. You would think that if you paid $200 to have your surfboards travel with you that would have some kind of damage coverage; however, this is not the case and I knew that prior to my trip so I packed and padded the boards really well.
As I waited to board my plane, I watched as they loaded the luggage on to the plane. Lo and behold, there was my board bag about to be placed on the plane. The luggage handler pulled the board aside as they finished loading the rest of the luggage into the front luggage compartment. I thought to myself, "this is great! They are going to top-load my boards so as to prevent any possible damage!" As the guy finished with the other bags, he placed my board bag back on the little luggage cart and proceded to scoot off to the rear luggage compartment of the plane (where the board was eventually going to be loaded). As he took off, he made a rather fast and abrupt turn that flung my boards off of the cart and onto the tarmac-tumbling several times for about 20 yards. There it rested betweem two 747s for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, the plane was boarding. I was in group 1 of 5 to board the plane and they were calling group 5 as I watched my board bag lie helplessly on the tarmac! I went to the boarding counter and refused to get on the plane until I knew that my boards were safely placed on the plane-boy did they have a fit with that! They told me that "The airline would compensate for any damage done." In return, I was obviously irrate since I knew that their disclaimer regarding surfboards specifically states that the airline claims no responsibility when it comes to damaged surfboards! I took several pictures to document the situation. Eventually, a different luggage guy came over to pick the bag up and placed it on the plane. Upon my arrival at my destination, I immediately check my boards for damage-right in the airport prior to even going through customs (they didn't like that much)! Luckily, there was no damage due to my thorough packing.
I have always heard horror stories from my friends who have picked up their surfboards at baggage claim with tire tracks across the bag and wondered "how in the hell do airlines manage to run over a surfboard?!" Now I know why!
What gets me even more is now Airlines are beginning to charge more and more for baggage (especially surfboards), but provide no additional or no coverage at all for damage! From now on, I refuse to fly with any airlines other than Southwest, Quantas and Jet Blue-they are the only airlines that don't charge for baggage or surfboards, but cover damage 100%!
I would be willing to bet that those baggage handlers belong to a union.
What'ya think?
Thanks a lot. Now I can't get that damn song out of my mind!!
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