United Breaks Guitars - YouTube Video
Feb 16, 2011, 10:25 pm
#211
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: DEC
Programs: UA: 1P; Bonvoy: Gold; IHG: Plat; HH: Silver; DL, AA: Gen. Member
Posts: 766
The bad PR continues! The United Breaks Guitars video was a question today in Jeopardy. It was answered correctly by the IBM Watson supercomputer. Even Watson knows about it! 
Feb 16, 2011, 10:32 pm
#212
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: SJC, SFO
Programs: UA, AA, SPG
Posts: 439
and around 10 million households now know it (or were reminded of it)...
Feb 25, 2011, 7:38 am
#214
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 15
the hostility in some of the posts in this thread is breathtaking. Dave Carroll has been called a liar without the fisrt shred of evidence being offered, called a fool for checking the guitar when the choice to do otherwise was not his, called a "douchbag" for seeking restitution when the publicity hurt the airline.....and most of the abuse is being hurled, I'd guess, by elite flyers teavelling on the corporate dime who would declare war over the wrong shaped ice cubes in first class.
can we remind ourselves- contary to an earlier rant, the guitar was in a hard case and not damaged by turbulence it was vandalised by united baggage handlers. they are paid by passengers like Mr Carroll to treat their property with appropriate respect and playing "catch" does not come under that.
the idea that a $3500 guitar should never be checked is ludicrous. All that's needed is professional behaviour from the handlers and that clearly wasn't the case here. the guitar should have been replaced out of their wages and they should then have been fired.
The airline only partly learned their lesson. In a recent simmilar situation a guitar of mine was clearly vandalised and a microphone stolen by staff at ORD. the UA rep in YYZ expressed outrage and blamed the TSA and was actually told by a collegue NOT to give me a contact number since "it was TSA". Doubting her story I demanded the number and got it despite her denying the possibility of responsibility since "our guys work under surveillance"- which had the TSA in Chicago bemused as "so, do ours- I'll check the footage". United dismissed as ridiculous the suggestion that they do likewise when TSA confirmed they had the guitar for 2 minutes and didnt even open it. An "investigation" came to the conclusion that they had no responsibility for the guitar as it was fragile and none for the mic as it was electronic. I pointed out that similar logic would absolve me if I took a sledgehammer to one of their aircraft.
I went to the police and filed a criminal damage and theft complaint and THEN they moved.
the attacks on a passenger treated like dirt by an airline here are shameful.
can we remind ourselves- contary to an earlier rant, the guitar was in a hard case and not damaged by turbulence it was vandalised by united baggage handlers. they are paid by passengers like Mr Carroll to treat their property with appropriate respect and playing "catch" does not come under that.
the idea that a $3500 guitar should never be checked is ludicrous. All that's needed is professional behaviour from the handlers and that clearly wasn't the case here. the guitar should have been replaced out of their wages and they should then have been fired.
The airline only partly learned their lesson. In a recent simmilar situation a guitar of mine was clearly vandalised and a microphone stolen by staff at ORD. the UA rep in YYZ expressed outrage and blamed the TSA and was actually told by a collegue NOT to give me a contact number since "it was TSA". Doubting her story I demanded the number and got it despite her denying the possibility of responsibility since "our guys work under surveillance"- which had the TSA in Chicago bemused as "so, do ours- I'll check the footage". United dismissed as ridiculous the suggestion that they do likewise when TSA confirmed they had the guitar for 2 minutes and didnt even open it. An "investigation" came to the conclusion that they had no responsibility for the guitar as it was fragile and none for the mic as it was electronic. I pointed out that similar logic would absolve me if I took a sledgehammer to one of their aircraft.
I went to the police and filed a criminal damage and theft complaint and THEN they moved.
the attacks on a passenger treated like dirt by an airline here are shameful.
Feb 25, 2011, 7:43 am
#215
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: SFO
Posts: 3,942
mcmonster, agreeed. There are far too many apologists here who are very quick to defend UA at the drop of a hat ... it happens quite a lot and is rather annoying 