14 DAY TRIAL // Luggage mishaps are known to happen on airplanes, be it at the airport, or because of the way the packages are stored and transported. Either way, the flight company eventually owns up to them and finds some form of compensation for the respective passenger. This did not happen to Canadian singer Dave Carroll, who had his Taylor acoustic damaged on United Airlines and who took his plight to YouTube. United stock fell by ten percent because of it, amounting to a loss of $180 million, the Daily Mail informs.
The incident occurred in 2008, when Carroll saw his guitar being thrown around by airport personnel before being loaded. As he arrived in Chicago, he saw that, indeed, his Taylor was broken, so he took his complaint to United Airlines. The company, in its turn, refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing and, after many months of attempts, the singer did the only thing he knew to get his revenge: made a song and a video of the whole thing and posted it on YouTube.
“When airlines damage or lose their passenger’s luggage, they normally – perhaps grudgingly – end up paying back compensation of a few hundred pounds. But United Airlines are much more out of pocket in this case. The company has lost 10per cent of their share value – a massive $180million – after being blamed for damaging a musician’s guitar. Canadian singer Dave Carroll composed ‘United Breaks Guitars’ after his Taylor acoustic was damaged at Chicago’s O’Hare airport.” the Mail writes.
In just ten days, the YouTube video registered nearly four million hits, so it’s not really a wonder that United Airlines came out so ruffled from the situation. The response to it was equally favorable, with most commentators applauding Carroll for taking a stand with large corporations as United is and making his personal plight common knowledge, thus setting the bar high for others in the same situation as him.
“On the news here in New Zealand. Way to go and well done!!! So nice to see these selfish corporates given a slap now and then!” jeffnz writes on YouTube. “Saw this video on news here tonight in NZ, lol! Wow, glad I never took a plane ride with United Airlines. Now I’ll never take United Airlines because of this song! Very catchy hehe!” 1crazyweirdo also says. As it happens, these two are not alone in feeling this way. Moreover, judging by what Carroll says in the clip and video, he was, indeed, the offended party.
See the video for “United Breaks Guitars” below.
*Update: Thanks to our reader Ray Morris, we have learned that both abovementioned sources have grossly exaggerated the impact Carroll’s video and song had on United Airlines stock. As the Huffington Post and Consumerist also point out, United Airlines stock did not start to fall after the video was released, as it had been doing so for the past couple of years. The “United Breaks Guitars” song and video was, indeed, very bad PR for the company but more than that is a “leap of logic,” as the Post says of the original estimation published in The Times Online. Of course, that should stop no one from duly enjoying the video and the song.