United Breaks Guitar

Travel is not always trouble free. Dave Carroll and his band had a bad experience flying with United Airlines - listen to his song, then read his story below.

United Breaks Guitar – The True Story by Dave Carroll

On March 31, 2008 Sons of Maxwell began our week-long-tour of Nebraska by flying
United Airlines from Halifax to Omaha, by way of Chicago. On that first leg of the
flight we were seated at the rear of the aircraft and upon landing and waiting to deplane
in order to make our connection a woman sitting behind me, not aware that we were
musicians cried out: “My god they’re throwing guitars out there.” Our bass player Mike
looked out the window in time to see his bass being heaved without regard by the United
baggage handlers. My $3500 710 Taylor had been thrown before his.

I immediately tried to communicate this to the flight attendant who cut me off
saying: “Don’t talk to me. Talk to the lead agent outside.” I found the person she pointed
to and that lady was an “acting” lead agent but refused to talk to me and disappeared into
the crowd saying “I’m not the lead agent.” I spoke to a third employee at the gate and
when I told her the baggage handlers were throwing expensive instruments outside she
dismissed me saying “but hun, that’s why we make you sign the waiver.” I explained
that I didn’t sign a waiver and that no waiver would excuse what was happening outside.
She said to take it up with the ground crew in Omaha.

When I got to Omaha it was around 12:30 am. The plane was late arriving and there were
no employees visible. Although I was told later that it wouldn’t have mattered, I should
have taken my hard case out of the padded protective exterior case to examine the guitar
at the airport but I didn’t. The guitar case looked ok and we were tired, went to the hotel
and then to sleep for our early morning pick-up by the tour managers the next day. When
they picked us up in the early morning we would not be back in Omaha for seven days.
It was later that day at sound check that I discovered that the base of my Taylor had been
smashed.

One week later I returned to Omaha for my return trip. I explained what had happened
and the United agent in Omaha said I needed to start a claim at the airport where the trip
began (Halifax). So here is what happened next.

When I got home to Halifax I was told that United doesn’t really have a presence there
and that Air Canada is their partner. Every plane I flew on that day said “United” on
the side but technically they have no presence there. So, Air Canada gave me a phone
number to start my claim with United. When I called the number United said I had to
return to the Halifax airport with the guitar to show the damage to someone and open
a claim. When I returned to the Halifax airport I met with an Air Canada employee,
because United has no presence there, and that person acknowledged the damage, opened
a claim number but “denied” the claim because Air Canada would not be responsible for
damage caused by United employees in Chicago (which still makes sense to me).

I took the claim number and called United back. They never seemed to be able find the
claim number on several subsequent phone calls but at the last minute it would always
surface. I spoke several times to what I believe were agents in India who, ironically were
the most pleasant, and seemed genuinely sorry for what had happened. Three or four
months later I got directed to the Chicago baggage offices of United and after several
attempts to speak with someone was told to simply bring in the guitar for inspection… to
Chicago… from Halifax, Canada.

When I explained that Halifax is far from Chicago someone then said my claim needed
to go through Central Baggage in New York and they gave me a toll free phone number.
I phoned that number and spoke to someone. She couldn’t understand why someone in
Chicago thought she would be able to help me but she seemed to feel for me and asked
me to fax her all the information. I did and a few weeks passed with no reply. I called
back and the lady said she’d never received the fax. Then I asked her to look for it and
surprisingly, there it was. When she found it she asked me to give her a couple of days
and to call back. I did, and by the time I phoned again two days later, the number had
been discontinued.

I had to start all over again with the same 1-800 # to India, where they were as sorry as
ever for what happened, couldn’t find my claim at first, and told me I needed to bring the
guitar into Chicago’s O’Hare for inspection. Six months had gone by and the guitar had
now been repaired for $1200 to a state that it plays well but has lost much of what made
it special. I spoke to a customer service manager in India who promised to forward a note
to have someone in Chicago contact me. I received a letter a about a month later from
Chicago with no name or contact info, saying someone would be contacting me about
this.

Another month went by and I received an email from a Ms. Irlweg in Chicago I believe.
It basically said she was sorry this happened and denied my claim. Some of her reasons
were:

• I didn’t report it to the United employees who weren’t present when we landed in
Omaha

• I didn’t report to the Omaha airport within 24 hours while I was driving to places that
weren’t Omaha

• It was an Air Canada issue

• Air Canada already denied the claim (as I mentioned because Air Canada would not
pay for United’s damages), but I’m still unsure as to why I needed to report it in Omaha
within 24 hours if it was clearly Halifax’s responsibility

• Someone from United would need to see the damage to a guitar that was repaired

So after nine months it came down to a series of emails with Ms. Irlweg and, despite
asking to speak to her supervisor, our conversations ended with her saying United would
not be taking any responsibility for what had happened and that that would be the last
email on the matter. My final offer of a settlement of $1200 in flight vouchers, to cover
my salvage costs repairing the Taylor, was rejected.

At that moment it occurred to me that I had been fighting a losing battle all this time
and that fighting over this at all was a waste of time. The system is designed to frustrate
affected customers into giving up their claims and United is very good at it but I realized
then that as a songwriter and traveling musician I wasn’t without options. In my final
reply to Ms. Irlweg I told her that I would be writing three songs about United Airlines
and my experience in the whole matter. I would then make videos for these songs and
offer them for free download on YouTube and my own website, inviting viewers to vote
on their favourite United song. My goal: to get one million hits in one year.

To date I have written “United: Song 1” and “United: Song 2” and I’m proud to now
release the first video in the trilogy. The response has been incredible so far. Everyone
involved in the recording of the track and filming/editing of the video has volunteered
their time and pre-production work is underway for the filming of United: Song 2
(hopefully to be released later this summer).

United has demonstrated they know how to keep their airline in the forefront of their
customer’s minds and I wanted this project to expand upon that satirically. I’ve been
done being angry for quite some time and, if anything, I should thank United. They’ve
given me a creative outlet that has brought people together from around the world. We
had a pile of laughs making the recording and the video while the images are spinning on
how to make “United: Song 2” even better than the first. So, thanks United! If my guitar
had to be smashed due to extreme negligence I’m glad it was you that did it. Now sit
back and enjoy the show.