Last year singer/songwriter Dave Carroll flew United Airlines from Halifax, Canada to Omaha, Nebraska with a layover in Chicago. While on the ground in Chicago a female passenger sitting near Dave and his band, The Sons of Maxwell, exclaimed My god they’re throwing guitars out there
. The band looked out the window and sure enough guitars were flying all over the place.
Dave spent 9 months wrestling with United Airlines over the damage to his $3500 Taylor Guitar with United stalling and blocking all his attempts. Finally Dave told the final United representative that he was going to write and distribute three songs worldwide about his experience.
Here’s the first video:
This is really a pretty sad commentary on the level of customer service at United Airlines. In Dave’s version of the story he tried to talk to three United employees on the ground in Chicago when the incident happened. Their response was to duck their responsibilities and avoid listening to the complaint.
Dave’s video is fun. It takes a great poke at United Airlines, and they’ve apparently apologized for the incident. Better yet Dave’s music has now come to the attention of a much larger audience with his youtube video going viral in a matter of only 3 days.
As I’ve recently come to appreciate Acoustic Guitars can be highly personal. Musicians take great care of their instruments. The more they play them, the more worn they become, the more they’re cared for. To have one damaged in this manner with complete disregard by a company such as United is a travesty.
Maybe Dave will buy a new (or used) Taylor guitar online. He probably won’t fly United again for a long time.