Javan69

I am soooo happy with my Steinberger headless electric for just this reason. In gig bag, it's not even 36" long and it doesn't have a big body, so it easily slides in on top of the carry-ons up above. 6# too. It's got active pickups (you can hear it through headphones) and I've actually played it on the plane when space permits (which it does in C). Another ^ for electrics.

CApreppie

Catchy but agreed too long. Seems to have gone viral and mass media. Is any publicity, good publicity?

codex57

I have a hard time coming up with a reason why a lawyer would get involved at some point. The amount is simply too low to be worth engaging the services of a lawyer. Basically, if it falls under small claims court limits, it's almost certainly not worth hiring a lawyer to talk about it.

The video may have been reviewed by a lawyer cuz then you're talking defamation and other tort type claims, but not for the $3,500 in simple property damage.

Legally, United's position can be defended. However, from a fairness standpoint, thing's aren't in United's favor.

They intentionally wrote very strict damage and reporting rules to severely skew things in their favor. Most people aren't going to be able to file a claim when there is no staff to take the claim and people are unavailable because they are travelling (such as being on connecting flights or otherwise away from home).

speedytimmy

Not a guitar. Somewhat routinely I fly with a bike - probably worth $8,000-10,000 - it really isn't hard to hit that level with these days top components. I've raced US to Europe to Asia, Canada to Australia - bad things will always happen but UA has been good to me so far.

Goin-2-AA

United Airlines - The official airline of Peter Townsend.

UAX_Brasilia

Hmm, I'd do bike racing to if I could throw it in the cargo and hold an take 2D

cyborg

Interesting comments from SF Gate. These folks are not rallying to defend UAL...:

notabootlicker
7/9/2009 4:41:08 PM

Without the video, United would regret nothing. With the video, United "regrets" being called out publicly. I doubt they will ever change their culture... but it sounds nice coming from their professional spokesperson (a.k.a. image consultant), doesn't it? Honestly, what further conversation is necessary in order to make this right? Are they confused about where to send the reimbursement check?

tothestarz
7/9/2009 4:39:43 PM

United changind their culture? ROFLMAO!!!! UNITED SUX!!!! I decided a while ago I would NEVER EVER fly their stupid, lame, unprofessional, unhelpful retarded airline again. I can't wait until they go out of business.

sgt_pepper
7/9/2009 4:37:19 PM

United lost my bag coming back from JFK 2 years ago, and had a MOUNTAIN of unclaimed/undocumented bags outside their Baggage "Service" Office at SFO, 2 overwhelmed agents on duty (and this was about 12:30 a.m.). When I asked where the rest of the bags off of flight XXX were he replied "somewhere on earth". WRONG answer to give to a fellow airline employee, who knows who to contact to make things move. I got his ... in a sling, but good.

Mike Jacoubowsky

I travel with my bike SFO-CDG pretty much each July, and I make it a point to have a window seat and take pictures of my bike being loaded onto the plane (if I wasn't able to see it prior to boarding). It's my feeling that United is much less likely to have problems paying a claim if you've got photos showing them doing bad things.

Also, a good idea to take photos of whatever you're having them check (if it's expensive) as you hand it over to them. They might give you an odd look (or two) but y'know, that's probably not the first time you've been given an odd look.

yogi

I suppose as a professional musician on tour, he might have had more than one guitar, but for $135 he could have bought a hardshell case with TSA approved locks that was designed for being checked and potentially dropped.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/SKB-SKB-...63-i1320157.gc

ryan182

I do this when packing my snowboard equipment or dive gear (minus dive comp and regulator which stay on my person) the night before every flight where I am checking it. Unless its a single large item like a bike its just not practical to do it as your handing it to them. Never needed them (knock on wood) but I figure it would help out should a claim ever be needed, I also have secondary insurance for my dive stuff.

bubba8

I get a kick out of all the Elite’s making excuses for the poor United customer service. You all need to read the whole story before posting a comment. Damage can happen but the guy should not have gotten the run around by every United employee involved.
The fall-out from this kind of service is that United will not be able to command a premium price with a substandard airline.

sfozrhfco

Exactly, breaking the guitar was beside the point. Having no staff at the airport, passing the buck, calling the robot agents in India who can only read from the UA script and have no power to provide real service, and a total sense of indifference from UA is the main point of the song. This is why it has connected with so many people. Everybody knows that fragile things can break from time to time but good companies find a way to at least make the customer feel heard--even if the answer the customer gets is not what they wanted to hear at the start. This is where UA has fallen badly over the past decade. It can be so difficult to deal with the small things---plus you have to pay an extra fee to do it--many people have given up and left UA and other legacies for good.

videomaker

Brilliant, simply brilliant. One of the best "revenge" videos ever.

Now United, learning the power of new media, is scrambling to do damage control. Maybe they should have thought about that nine months ago.

drummingcraig

Those cases are actually garbage. The latches may be somewhat beefed up and/or TSA compliant, but the shells of those SKB cases are quite easy to puncture or crack.

Something like this is probably the cheapest way of protecting a guitar, as it basically a case within a case, and it runs about $250, but there's no guarantee there either, as I've seen guitars sustain damage even while buttoned up in one of these toughguys.

Ord747Cle

UA should consider replacing their PR person, Ms. Robin Urbanski after her PR response to this! Just incredible.

Good for this band for calling United out, there is no excuse.

I can't wait to see the next two videos. Wonder what Ms. Urbanski has to say then.