More airline problems for Joe B

[marnold]

I follow Joe Bonamassa on Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/JBONAMASSA). He just tweeted that another one of his Les Pauls was wrecked by an airline--this time British Airways. It's one of his JB models. It is wrecked as in the headstock is no longer technically connected to the neck. How an airline can do that to a guitar that is in a flight case is beyond me.

[FrankenFretter]

Oh man, that sucks! Good thing it wasn't one of his vintage LPs.

[Eric]

Weird. Considering the cost of his rig, I assume he's using adequate cases, right? Something like those Anvil ones?

[guitarhack]

Judging by some of the videos I've seen online of the games baggage handlers play, I'm not surprised.

[jpfeifer]

I have a hunch that the TSA guys open cases of equipment to inspect things and that's where the problems happen. I travel with a case of electronic equipment for my work and I''m always finding my case "re-packed" by TSA with a note telling me that they opened my stuff to inspect everything. Since they're in a big hurry with the volume of luggage they have to process, they aren't very careful with stuff when they open it and re-pack it. Guitars are likely dropped before they are put back into the case (that's my theory anyway). Otherwise, how else could a guitar get a cracked neck when it is so well-supported inside a flight case. You should be able to drop those anvil cases from a pretty high distance and never damage the guitar.

--Jim

[marnold]

Except his "issues" have all been in Europe. This is the second time he's had a guitar decapitated.

[ZMAN]

Next I can see Joe sitting in First class, with only his guitars in the other seats for company!

[Duffy]

The cases with TSA locks are made for them to easily open and check, right? I can see these clowns at least scratching and dinging up your guitars.

I saw a musician coming thru customs at JFK one day with a real long stringed instrument case, rather thin and probably not a normal instrument, probably costing big money. The case was dangling in two parts by some material. I asked him what kind of instrument it was and he replied that it wasn't any kind of instrument anymore. He was not pleased.

[Teleman77]

Those sonsabit@hes need to pay and pay big! These instruments to some of us are more like family, and to others at least tools of the trade. Something needs to be done!

[Duffy]

Under the auspices of Homeland Security, all those clowns have to do is drop the word "security" and everything stops. They will trump you with that card every time you try to redress your problem or complain. You probably would not even be able to recover your loss unless YOU had purchased insurance.

In the world of Homeland Security if any problem, public relations, accidents, or whatever occurs all they have to do is drop the holy grail word "security" and everything else fades away into oblivion. Your concerns for your property surely are totally insignificant in view of the greater good of national security - can't you see the forest for the tree?

Your chances of recovering anything or proving anything are very unlikely. I have seen all kinds of stuff get lost and destroyed at airports during my time as a limo driver. I have seen real expensive backpacks and stuff sacks ripped all up with stuff sticking out of them. You wouldn't believe it, and when you thought you saw the worst you'd see something even worse than that come thru, like a totally destroyed real expensive musical instrument. A lot of people get permission letters that allow them to carry their guitar cases on board and store them in the passenger compartment.

"Security" is an absolving drop word in that environment; just like "production" is like god in the manufacturing world - everything impinges on production, like a big circle jerk. If they want to justify something they drop the word "production" and you are sh** out of luck. Similarly they get away with covering up and getting excused from all sorts of things by dropping the "security" word that deadens any further progress along the lines of your attempt to move forward in your complaint.

I'm sure you can continue to press your issue and complaint, but I'm positive that you will be met with a wall of resistance that attempts to resolve the whole air travel system of any responsibility due to the over riding responsibility to protect the public and insure their safety, and if you are inconvenienced in any way it is implicit in the system to expect and accept it, because everybody has to do their part.

As unimpressive and unreasonable as it sounds, that is the kind of power the Homeland Security Department has. You can fight them and the airlines but your results I would expect to be long drawn out, time consuming, inconveniencing, and probably of minimal fruition in the end. In the end they might even tell you it was your fault: improper locks, cheap cases, improperly packed, no warning stickers, etc.

You are going to have a hard time winning against Homeland Security and the big airlines. Your time and effort would probably be better spent moving on, as outrageous as that seems.

Get lots of insurance, and even then there are probably lots of Homeland Security related exclusions and requirements.

[marnold]

Once again, this was NOT in the United States. His problems have all been in Europe.

[Duffy]

The main idea I was attempting to convey is that widespreadedly across the world similar "security" blankets probably cover a lot of mistakes and make redress very dificult.

The main idea is to be prepared to protect your property very well when flying anywhere because the world has changed, just like, "This Ain't My America" (VZ). Professional acts, at least, can calculate in losses into their financial plans. Individuals risk taking a potentially big hit.

We all need to see Joe's experience as something we can learn from. Flying anywhere these days poses a significant risk to any checked baggage.