Newfoundland band says Air Canada destroyed their guitar

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A band from Newfoundland says Air Canada broke one of their instruments and lost another on a flight from London to Toronto.

Rum Ragged, a Juno-nominated folk music group from St. John’s, took to social media to call out the airline after wrapping up a U.K. tour that included a visit to Scotland’s Orkney Islands.

The group was heading home but, during a layover in Toronto, discovered that their guitar had been damaged during the flight. Another stringed instrument, a bouzouki, was nowhere to be found.

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“We do not want to have to make this post but here we are,” the band wrote on an Instagram post alongside several images of the damaged guitar. “We just arrived from London, UK to Toronto, ON on our route back to St. John’s, NL. You have broken our guitar and lost our bouzouki.”

They added: “On the advice of your company we always gate check our instruments for safety and security that they won’t be lost. Just 3 months ago you damaged our bouzouki (the same one you lost today) you advised us to go through your email and online system to fill out forms and make a claim and we still have not received any answers or compensation. We have seen how your system does not work so we will try this. We hope this gets your attention and maybe you can try to make this right somehow. Please do the right thing and take responsibility for your brutal handling of these instruments. Do better.”

Amid the sympathetic replies and anger directed at the airline — one user wrote: “WestJet let me carry on my guitar and carefully put it in a special compartment in the cabin once we boarded” — was a response from Air Canada on the Instagram post.

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“We’re very sorry to hear of this,” it said. “Could you please send us your delayed bag reference and name that was used to open the claim? We’ll try to get an update for you.”

Fellow Canadian musician Dan Mangan suggested that a hard shell case might have afforded more protection for the instrument, to which the band responded: “We switched to the Mono M80 case after one of our custom hard shell cases was somehow punctured and crushed when our previous bouzouki was destroyed … by Air Canada (they didn’t provide any help with that one either.) These MONO cases are used by many touring folks we know and cross paths with constantly. We have taken countless flights using these cases.”

They added: “For this to happen it involves brutal and careless handling of an instrument, plain and simple.”

Air Canada did not respond to the National Post in time for publication. However, in a statement shared by BlogTO, an airline representative said: “Generally, we make provisions and take extra care to ensure musical instruments travel safely as we understand their importance to their owners.”

The airline’s website also states: “Musical instruments should always be properly packed in a rigid and/or hard shell container specifically designed for shipping such items.” It adds that travellers can purchase an additional seat for a musical instrument at a 50 per cent discount.

Air Canada added that it was in touch with Rum Ragged and would cover the cost of repairing the guitar. It said the bouzouki has since been located and will be returned.

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