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United Airlines Messes With Wrong Traveler... Again

by Peter Mychalcewycz on October 30, 2009 at 09:15 AM

A near celebrity in the eyes of anyone who's logged onto YouTube (or Switched) in past months, Canadian singer David Carroll was less than pleased when United Airlines baggage handlers broke his guitar last summer. United initially refused to pay the $1,200 repair fee, but -- after Carroll's song 'United Breaks Guitars' (video after the break) attracted millions of YouTube viewers and got nearly all of them riled up -- United finally tried to cut its losses by paying Carroll back. The strong-willed Canadian declined. This was, after all, about the corporation's inappropriate treatment of all its customers, not just his broken guitar.

Well, Sunday, at the Denver airport, Carroll was treated just like the rest of United's customers when his bag was "delayed," the New York Times reports. Apparently unaware of his Internet stardom, the United employees told him that he couldn't leave the terminal until it arrived. An hour later, they finally proclaimed the luggage lost and sent him packing. Carroll, who ironically enough was in Colorado to speak about customer service, did not get his bag back until yesterday. Now supplementing his musician's wages with such speaking engagements, Caroll spoke on the mistreatment of airline passengers like the 21st-century, mobile-class Woody Guthrie that he is: "It crosses all income levels and languages and geographies. We all don't like feeling disrespected or insignificant." [From: The New York Times]

Tags: airlines, top, united airlines, united broke my guitar, UnitedAirlines, UnitedBrokeMyGuitar, viralvideo, youtube

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