If you travel with surfboards often, it’s more than likely that some careless baggage handler has smashed one. Well, Alex Gray travels with surfboard much more than your average person, and American Airlines somehow managed to break four out of five boards in his board bag.
It happened on a flight from Honolulu to LA. “When the board bag came off the oversize belt I notice the top and bottom had very large holes in it,” he wrote on Instagram. “From the back hole in plain sight, I could see two tails of my boards bent in half sticking out of the bag. I walked over to make a claim. Upon actually opening the bag (the video you’re watching above), each board I pulled out had either a tail or nose broken. The final board on the bottom was completely broken in half from the middle of the board. I’m sure many of you at this point of my post are saying: “this has happened to me before”. That’s the saddest part. Time and time again we pay $150 or more for our surfboard bags only to have our boards ruined at the destination. And you know that little signature you give on the bag tag? That’s a signature releasing the airlines of any liability for damages that may occur. Hmmmmm. My question on this one is how did they do such a fantastic job of destruction? First thought is the baggage handlers ran it over with some vehicle because the nose and tails are all broken in the same spot. But why is only one broken in half from the middle of the board, while the rest are broken at the nose and tail? Did they open my bag, break that board, and put it back in? I had buckled both straps inside the back which locks the boards down and they were unbuckled. So that makes me believe they went into my bag. I’ll let you put your two cents in with comments below, please. It would be great if #AmericanAirlines would review the security videos while my bag was either being loaded or unloaded on the plane. If there’s anyone that follows me who works for #AmericanAirlines maybe you can get this video to the right colleague…. So now what? Well, I’ve been instructed by #AmericanAirlines to make a claim of value for the boards they broke. And in return, they will do their best to compensate me for my loss. #morals”
Let’s hear your stories in the comments section below. Are we fighting a losing battle?
