Posted on 01/07/2013 6:45:47 PM PST by TurboZamboni
I know that the day following the big plunge United offered to reimburse him after 9 months of hassle. He warned them the song on youtube would be the last resort; and that he would make three songs. He followed though and even after the FINALLY offered to reimburse him, he told them to pound sand the songs were staying.
Now the dude gets paid to fly all over talking to Fortune 500s about customer service.
You'd think Don't Expect Luggage To Arrive would learn from united's folly.
“let me ax you sumthin...”
Strange. I’ve seen lots and lots of musicians carry on their guitars on Delta flights to New Orleans, particularly around Jazz Fest time.
The pic showed a new deluxe gib hc, not the old paper thin paperboard ones.
I don’t have a $10,000 guitar. But I have several and they are ALL in hard shell locking cases. If I was going to travel with an expensive guitar. It would be with me or shipped in an appropriate manner and insured very well. History has shown airplanes and guitars don’t mix well.
Retraction and apology given.
He shouldn't have been gigging with a showroom gitbox anyway.
The one I remember was my uncles for an old (forget the year) Melody Maker. Beautiful Git, but that case was just horrid. And literally flexed of it’s own weight with the lid open.
I just cannot grasp a gigging musician (and I assume the Zambonis are basically an average joe type group, not niche rock stars) Flying with a guitar outside an Anvil case.
I get the desire to bring it on board with him and the offer to buy it a seat. But I’d not be so trusting. I don’t know if it would have meant a canceled gig, But I’ll bet the gig didn’t net him 12G.
Rent it a locker and use a backup or whatever. But man, I dunno. Just seems (and proved to be) a really bad idea considering the thing’s worth.
And if they are just a regular band, I doubt anyone was paying to see the git. It’s not like Vai’s Evo or Eddie’s Frankenstrat that are part of the guy’s mythos.
A Guitar worth that kind of money, carried in a “bag” (probably what is called a “gig-bag” isn’t a bright idea. I have a $125 guitar I carry in a padded gig-bag, but my other guitar, worth somewhat more (but still a tiny fraction of the one crushed in this incident) goes in a hard-shell case just going in my vehicle!
I thought it stood for
D-on’t
E-ven
L-eave
T-he
A-irport
What a crappy and stupid comment.
I have run national tours for musicians and it is a nightmare to deal with the destructive and vicious attitude of TSA and the airlines. I had to deal with a valuable acoustic instrument that doesn’t even exist in this country getting seriously damaged enroute to San Francisco. I have seen a classical violinist with a $50,000 instrument be told that her violin wouldn’t fit in the overhead (Jet Blue) and that it had to be sent as luggage. I didn’t even know her, but I intervened to save her violin (she was Japanese).
While some musicians might be jerks, they are earning a living by bringing enjoyment - and sometimes much more - to some people somewhere. It can take several years to earn enough to purchase a good instrument, and it represents the musician’s livelihood. There is no reason to threaten, torment and abuse professional musicians who must travel with their instruments. I have found that American is consistently kind and welcoming to artists, so that’s the airlines I use almost exclusively. I have had terrible experiences with Delta and Jet Blue - even before 9/11.
Umm, I work with several bassists who are also...guitarists, so.your remark doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
The joke goes drummer, not musician.
But the airlines often insist on a soft case. And if it is in a soft case, they are less likely to try to ship it as luggage.
Fly Southwest, they let you carry on your guitar & store it overhead! Simple.
This is absolutely true. I’m wasting my retirement as an aspiring freelance jazz trombonist. Went to visit my daughter and I take my horn as to keep my chops up. It fits quite nicely in the overhead. We were coming home and I thought my wife had thrown my travel bag in the car but arrived at the airport with no ID. I was quite convinced that my daughter would have to make the hour drive back to the airport and I would have to fly out the next day and pay extra. I had my boarding pass on my cell and thought what the hell. Went through the long TSA line and when I got to the checkpoint tried explaining my problem to the guy at the desk. He just rolled his eyes and called his supervisor and I retold my story. The guy just stared at me then asked, “How long have you been playing the trombone?” I replied that I have played for 40 years or so. He then said his mom made him play it as a kid and he would go out by their pasture as a kid to practice. Said it made the cows moo like crazy and let me through.
You know the stage is level when the drummer is drooling from both corners of his mouth....
Let me guess - they couldn't risk bringing an "assault guitar" on board?
They have a small, but dedicated, following in Canada and certain northern border areas.
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