If you’re ever checked your previous musical instrument in as hold luggage on a flight or you need to do so in the near future, you might want to look away now.
Footage has emerged of multiple guitars being thrown to the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) by a baggage handler.
The viral clip, which was filmed by Nick Ruiz and has now been viewed on TikTok more than 4.1 million times, shows the worker plucking guitars from a transportation cart and dropping them on top of each other, with one rolling over several times before it comes to rest.
This was in a hard case, but others appear to have had less protection.
“The whole situation felt wrong,” 21-year-old Ruiz told Need To Know. “My instinct was to start filming”.
Ruiz was waiting for his flight home from Los Angeles to Connecticut when he saw the incident taking place on 16 March, and viewers of the clip have been quick to criticise the baggage handler in question. LAX has to comment.
Several guitarists have spoken out in the past about their bad experiences when travelling with guitars, and Joe Bonamassa says that he always buys an extra seat for his six-stringed companion when he takes a flight. The conversation might not be great, but the guitar just pretends to be asleep.
