Gibson intervenes on a guitar travel mishap, where a vintage gutiar was broken by Delta Airlines’ baggage handlers.
Aside from having his precious instrument broken, Dave Schneider, guitarist of The LeeVees band, also had to go through the grueling task of asking for compensation. Thankfully, fate smiled upon him and his pleas were responded to by Delta, and even Gibson offered to help.
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It all started when Delta airline staffers did not let Dave hand carry his vintage 1965 Gibson ES-335, which he estimates to be worth ten grand. Dave tried to reason with the staff that he has always been hand carrying his instruments, but he was still denied.
Dave was quoted saying: “I’ve always carried it on, never been a problem before.” He even showed the staff a link to a story about Congress passing the FAA modernization and Reform Act of 2012 that makes it safer and easier for musicians to fly with their instruments – allowing them to purchase an extra seat on the plane if needed. Still, he was denied.
And so the guitar was checked in along with other luggage on a flight from Buffalo, N.Y. to Detroit, Mich. Upon landing, Dave was greeted by what traveling musicians consider a nightmare – his guitar was jammed between the mobile service elevator and a rail on the loading dock. The guitar was pinned between two metal beams and even bent one of them, it was so bad that it took workers an hour to retrieve.
As expected, Schneider was said to have been given the runaround by Delta. They even “reluctantly” offered a $1,000 check, of which Schneider rightfully refused, because the repairs will cost more that just that.
Thanks to social networking and online media coverage, the story was quickly spread, prompting a Delta representative to finally contact him and agree to pay for the guitar. They also gave him a pair of free vouchers for future flights.
Like an impossible fairy tale ending, Gibson took notice of this sad event, and voluntarily contacted Schneider to offer their repair services on the damaged 1965 Gibson ES-335. To help ease his pain, they will also give him a brand-new 50th anniversary reissue of a 1963 Gibson ES-335, free of charge!
Schneider was quoted saying: “We all know Gibson guitars rock, but at this moment, the Gibson company is rocking even harder than Pete Townshend’s Les Paul. To be honest, with Gibson reaching out to me, that’s the cherry on the top of the best musical nightmare ever.”
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