Aussie Musician’s Guitar “Run Over” By QANTAS, Completely Destroyed

We’ve written in the past about the disregard airlines sometimes have for customer baggage. This isn’t so much of an issue if you just have a sturdy case filled with socks and jocks, but it can mean thousands of dollars when you’re a musician.

Back in November, Aussie hip-hop outfit Thundamentals took to Facebook to share footage of a particularly careless Virgin baggage handler, who was filmed roughly throwing the band’s equipment onto a conveyor belt, which could’ve damaged an expensive keyboard.

The uproar on social media hit a critical mass and Virgin eventually addressed the footage and issued an apology to the band, writing, “Virgin Australia is proud to support Australian musicians with a range of initiatives which includes the provision of an excess baggage allowance.”

More recently, Melbourne jazz and soul group Horns of Leroy had one of their instruments severely damaged during a flight, leading to a prolonged exchange with the airline, who trumpet player Travis Woods told Tone Deaf weren’t exactly helpful.

The issue was eventually resolved, with Woods later informing Tone Deaf that, following much ire on social media and the publication of our article, the airline got back in touch with the band and ensured everything was satisfactorily resolved.

But despite these PR blunders, it seems QANTAS haven’t learnt their lesson. Aussie musician Michael Dolce, who plays guitar for singer Delta Goodrem, recently took to Facebook to share some shocking photos of his badly damaged guitar and case.

Images via Michael Dolce Facebook

“After 13 years with this awesome Takamine guitar — countless performances, recordings etc. — after landing in Sydney I found it in pieces at oversized baggage,” Dolce writes. “The guitar was in a Hiscox case it had obviously been run over by a truck.”

While it’s not clear just how the damage to the case and instrument was sustained, according to the Hiscox Cases website, their products “are always manufactured with the primary objective of instrument protection and on average carry a crush resistance rate greater than 500kg”.

According to Dolce’s post, the neck of the instrument has been snapped in half “and the headstock doesn’t exist”. Takamine is a Japanese guitar manufacturer known for their steel string acoustic guitars, which can fetch hefty price tags of up to and over $1,000.

Taking to Facebook after his initial post, Dolce thanked the support he’s received from his fans, who left supportive comments and messages, with some even going so far as to contact QANTAS and ask them to resolve the issue.

“I was particularly taken back when this was posted on the QANTAS site and sure enough they called me and left a message promising to get to the bottom of this,” Dolce writes. Stay tuned to Tone Deaf and we’ll have more updates on this story as it develops.

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