This brought new meaning to “air guitar.”
A careless baggage handler at LAX is facing the music online after he was caught hurling expensive guitars onto the tarmac, as seen in a TikTok video with 4 million views.
“The whole situation felt wrong,” Nick Ruiz, 21, who filmed the appalling incident on his Smartphone, told Jam Press.
The Connecticut-based college student had reportedly been flying back home to New York from Los Angeles on March 16 after vacationing in Tinseltown.
While heading to his terminal, Ruiz spotted the guitars being tossed at Terminal Four.
“The closest plane was the JFK to LAX B777 that had just arrived,” Ruiz recalled. “I took that same plane back to JFK.”
Needless to say, he wasn’t about to let the instrument desecration go undocumented. “My instinct was to start filming,” said the New Yorker, who said he hoped the owner’s guitars were “ok” after going airborne.
The resultant footage shows the bozo in question taking guitar cases out of the mobile luggage carrier and heaving them in a pile on the runway with reckless abandon.
The guitar zero’s actions hit a sour note with viewers, with one labelling them “absolutely disgraceful.”
“I’d lose my mf mind,” said another, while a third theorized, “that’s easily $3,000 of equipment by the way.”
“This makes me so mad,” fumed another. “I don’t care if it’s a $100 guitar or a $5,000 guitar, be respectful of others’ property.”
“That should be a fireable offense,” said another appalled commenter.
One critic quipped, “That’s a candidate for a robot replacement right there.”
It’s unclear which airline the culprit works for, but US carriers are required to accommodate instruments either as checked baggage (provided they’re under 150 inches and 165 pounds) or carry-on if they can fit under the seat or in the overhead bins, per the US Department Of Transportation.
In the event that it exceeds the carry-on size limit, many airlines will allow passengers to “purchase an adjoining seat for your instrument,” known as “seat baggage” or “cargo in the cabin.”
To mitigate the chances of damage, flyers are advised to pack their instruments in hard-shelled cases labeled “fragile.”
Travelers are also advised to buy protection, although these policies — as well as the extra seats — can come at a substantial cost.
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