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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallDave Carroll, a Canadian musician whose band Sons of Maxwell was on a 2008 tour, says United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago damaged his Taylor guitar. He then spent roughly a year trying to get repair costs covered, was passed between agents, and was ultimately denied. In July 2009 he posted a song and video titled “United Breaks Guitars.” According to Carroll, as reported by The Guardian, United offered compensation days after the video went viral. The damage itself is Carroll’s account. The compensation offer is documented through his reporting and a later Harvard Business School case summary. The video’s effect on the airline’s finances is not established.
What Carroll says happened
Carroll’s account begins in spring 2008. In a post on Taylor Guitars’ website dated July 17, 2009, he wrote:
“In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago.”
That sentence is Carroll’s own account, reproduced by the guitar maker. The reporting available for this story does not independently document the handling incident, so it is best read as his claim. The sources identify the instrument as a Taylor but do not name the model, and they do not say Carroll’s guitar matches any particular product.
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From damage claim to a year of waiting
Carroll says he then pursued compensation for the repair. The Guardian’s July 23, 2009 report describes a process that stretched for about a year. He was passed among agents and asked to bring the repaired guitar to Chicago for inspection. United eventually denied the claim. The sequence below separates what is documented from what rests on Carroll’s account.
| When | What happened | Source and basis |
|---|---|---|
| Spring 2008 | Sons of Maxwell travels to Nebraska; Carroll says his guitar is thrown by baggage handlers in Chicago. | Carroll’s account, reproduced in Taylor Guitars’ July 17, 2009 post |
| Following months, about a year in total | Carroll seeks about $1,200 for repair costs, is passed among agents, and is asked to bring the guitar to Chicago for inspection. United denies the claim. | The Guardian, July 23, 2009, based on Carroll’s description |
| July 6, 2009 | Carroll posts the first “United Breaks Guitars” video. | Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, which gives this posting date |
| Days after the video went viral | United offers compensation. | Carroll, as reported by The Guardian, July 23, 2009 |
The comparison that matters is between a complaint that took a year through ordinary channels and a response that followed public attention. Both halves of that comparison depend on the same sources, and the timing shows sequence rather than proof that the video alone changed the outcome.
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How the video spread
According to Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, friends shared the video on Twitter and Facebook, social news sites picked it up, and bloggers amplified it. The spread built quickly enough to draw mainstream coverage in July 2009. The song’s humor is a large part of why people shared it, and that humor is the feature the sources credit for its reach, not any measured marketing effect.
The Los Angeles Times reported on July 7, 2009 that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s April 2009 figures showed 13,517 baggage reports among 4.03 million passengers. That is one month’s count reported in the press, not a current rate, and it says nothing specific about Carroll’s guitar. The article uses it as background on baggage complaints generally.
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United’s response and the money
The sources describe several different sums. They should not be merged into one figure.
| Item | Amount | Who reported it and when |
|---|---|---|
| Repair costs Carroll sought | $1,200 | Carroll, as reported by The Guardian, 2009 |
| Replacement offer | $1,200 | United’s offer, as summarized by Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, 2010 |
| Flight vouchers offered | $1,200 | United’s offer, as summarized by Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, 2010 |
| Donation to a music school | $3,000 | United, as summarized by Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, 2010 |
The replacement money and vouchers were the airline’s offer to Carroll. The $3,000 donation came later, after Carroll asked that the compensation go to another customer who had been similarly affected. The sources report this sequence as a response to his request, not as a second payment to him.
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What the sources do not establish
Several popular claims about the story go beyond the available evidence.
United’s stock value
The sources describe a sequence of events: a long complaint, a viral video, and a changed company response. They do not establish that the video caused a specific loss in United’s market value, and they do not provide an independently verified measure of the effect on the company’s finances. The widely repeated stock-loss figure is not supported by the reporting cited here.
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Carroll’s music sales
The Guardian’s July 23, 2009 blog report includes Carroll’s own estimate that his online music sales rose after the video spread. This is his account, not audited sales data, and it should be attributed to him as such.
The online response from United
A thesis hosted on Carroll’s own website discusses United’s online response and refers to a Twitter message dated July 7, 2009. Because it is hosted by Carroll and is a secondary treatment, it is useful only for the fact that the airline responded online during the spread of the video, not as independent evidence of what the company intended.
Whether the story applies to airlines today
The reporting here dates from 2009 and 2010. It does not show how United or any other carrier handles baggage damage claims now, and it should not be used as a guide to current policy.
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