A guitarist has been left fuming after American Airlines shattered his acoustic guitar, sparking outrage online.
Airlines have demonstrated time and again why they have a ‘heavy-handed’ reputation among musicians.
In one of the more grisly cases we've seen, Titus Tucker, who has over 35,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok, posted images of the aftermath of a flight. In the shared clips, the guitar’s hardshell case is seen badly damaged, and the instrument inside is “unrecognizable.”
Its back and sides are now separate entities. There’s also a heart-wrenching mangle of wood atop the guitar’s severed top, which looks to have been broken from the soundhole to its edge.
“They dragged it out like a dead body,” he’s heard saying in a video clip. He then points to a brutal-looking gash on the case, saying, “This is a tire; there’s no other explanation.
“That’s a brand new case, and a brand new guitar,” he adds.
One small silver lining is that Gator Cases can be found in the comments, saying, “DM incoming,” which suggests he’s likely getting a new case. But, of course, it does little to rectify the sheer savagery American Airlines has shown toward Tucker’s beloved six-string.
Horror stories like these are, sadly, all too common, and it’s no new phenomenon, either. This is not an isolated incident.
Back in March, a baggage handler went viral on TikTok after a clip of them carelessly tossing guitars around like confetti surfaced on the platform. It very quickly clocked up over four million views.
A post shared by Titus Tucker (@titustucker)
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And in August last year, Emily Wolfe went to war with Southwest Airlines after her guitar was decapitated, despite it being in a hard case. The Airline refused to acknowledge responsibility, as Peter Thorn and Gilby Clarke spoke out about similar gut-punch incidents.
