Kudos to Dave Carroll. It's sad though that United has (former?) customers with more class and integrity than United itself could ever muster. Used to be an elite flyer with them in the pre-bankruptcy days, but haven't flown on them since. The name is the same but the company is entirely different. Amazing, but tragic, that an airline could go from one of best to one of the worst. I'm looking forward to song #2.

Dave is really a class act. Not only does he not care about the money, and would like to see it donated to charity, but defends and complements Ms. Irlweg by saying she was only doing her job. Dave is a stand up guy. Really looking forward to song #2.

As soon as I saw the first post of this video, I knew hits were gonna skyrocket. Leave it to the Consumerist to actually get stuff done. Hopefully things do work out for him. Being a musician and very careful about my possessions, I would have been on the warpath had anything like this happened to me.

Dave Carroll, you are a classier man than I, and I both commend your efforts and wish a satisfactory conclusion to all of this for you.

This is actually pretty smart for him. Why stop the publicity for his music now? Even if United sucks at PR, why should he? Kudos.

Just an add-on, check the related videos, apparently CNN has covered the situation as well. Awesome!

Hmm, I smell a rat. If he doesn't want compensation, what does he want then? Why doesn't he state that in this video? I think he's just dragging this out for his own PR now.

Ten years after the Cluetrain Manifesto came out, how is it that companies are not prepared for stuff like this?

@David Eckert: "I think he's just dragging this out for his own PR now. "

So?

It's rare that you see folks taking the high road these days. However, don't give Dave that much credit. He stands to benefit from this stretching out...

I still default to www.untied.com for all the customer horror stories about United Airlines...

@David Eckert: He wants people to understand how badly United screwed up. The point is, it's too late for them to just cut him a check now, because they didn't do it until this was all made public and now they're just trying to save face. And you know what? If he gets some good PR out of this whole thing, more power to him. I'd certainly like to see his album sales make up for the money he lost repairing the guitar than it coming from some stupid PR move by United.

@David Eckert: I think it's pretty obvious that he's dragging it out to make a point, and a good one: airlines need to institute a policy and culture shift so that things like this NEVER happen again.

And if he gets his own PR out of it, so what?

He's adorable, and his accent makes him extra bangable.

Also, the song and what he's doing are, you know, great.

Wait, I must have missed something here. If the guy doesn't want financial compensation, then what — exactly — does he want?

@PsiCop: I really didn't think it was that hard to comprehend. Read the above comments by myself and katstermonster in reply to David Eckert.

@Roy Hobbs: Well put.

After a year of trying to get them to pay for his guitar I would not accept the money either. I would release the single to get my money and the rest would be donated to charity. United had plenty of opportunities to make this right with him and refused to. so they deserve all the bad PR and Dave deserves to milk it for all of the PR that he can get out of it.

Why the hell does it have to be a video response? At work, can't view. How about a transcript?

And that guy is cute? Really?

Nice

@David Eckert:
Perhaps he is hoping to get United to say that when it comes to to the property of their customers, that "They're Taking it Seriously".

@lannister80: He looks like Alexander Ovechkin with a better stylist.

Has it been determined what type of case he used and what sort of damage happened to his guitar?

@lannister80: It's 30% looks and 70% accent. Canadian accents are adorable.

@Airjoe: If he wanted to make a point, he's already made it. His point has been archived for all eternity on the Internet, in the form of his Youtube video and blog postings such as the one here. His refusing to take cash does not change the fact that he's made his point, and it doesn't change that it will continue to be made available in perpetuity.

So saying "he wants to make a point" does not rationally explain his refusal to take money.

This leaves me to ask — again — exactly what it is that he does want? It's pretty clear there's something else going on here. I'm just asking what that is.

@David Eckert: What's wrong with making sure that other people don't have to go through the same thing? It does people no good if he gets compensation and United goes and messes up someone else's stuff by being stupid.

@ogremustcrush: "Why stop the publicity for his music now?"

Hadn't thought of that. Good point.

Any chance of a transcript? It's not that long a clip - maybe you can put one up soon?

@lannister80: Well the snapshot makes him look weird, but hes good looking otherwise.

What a stand up guy! I wouldn't take their money either. It's good to know that there are people out there who are willing to not just stand up against immoral corporate practices but refuse to back down when the big bad corporation comes to shut them up. Keep the songs coming!

@David Eckert: It's the principle of the thing. What happens to the next person whose property is destroyed by United, but who isn't talented enough to make a cute music video about it. I'm sure hundreds, if not thousands, of people have already been screwed by United.

They didn't take care of him when they should have, and I'm glad he's not taking their hush money. Guess what, United? You can't always throw money at a problem to make it go away. You need to do the right thing the first time around.

@David Eckert: Actually, at this point, it sounds like the point of it has become artistic. He's found some really good inspiration, and he likes writing songs about it.

Well as an artist the publicity from this whole thing is worth far more than the compensation from United. He's wise to milk it for all it's worth!

@BuddyGuyMontag: +1

@David Eckert: Its called principle. United had a chance to fix the problem, and they were told they would get these songs if they didnt. Well, things happened just as they were warned. Now they want to play ball? Too bad.

Maybe he is dragging it out for his own PR. But its still United's fault.

@PsiCop: Do you think he really cares about the money? He's mad about the complete indifference the airline had towards handling his guitar and how the situation was handled after it had been broken.

How many posts do we see every week about the exact same thing? It's nice to find someone who won't just take the money and run. I'd rather he not stop until all the airlines change their policies to avoid this type of situation instead of just paying off people who get wronged in some manner.

@David Eckert: "I think he's just dragging this out for his own PR now."

I have to agree. United screwed up. He protested. They want to apologize and give him what is owed. Now he's the one dragging it out. For what purpose other than more attention.

To me the "classy" thing to do when someone wants to apologize is to accept it.

@lannister80: "Hi, everybody. I'm Dave Carroll, and I'm coming to you from an undisclosed warehouse somewhere in Nova Scotia, Canada, and I would like to express my deep gratiude to everybody in the world who's been supporting United Song One the way you have, which is more than I ever could have hoped, especially after two days. United has been in contact with me, and they have generiously, but late, offered us compensation, and I'm grateful for that, but like I said before, I'm not looking for compensation. And if they would chose to give that money that they were thinking I might want to a charity of their choice, I'd be very happy to see that happen. I'd only ask that they'd share that news with us as to where that money went. I'd also like to mention Ms. Irwig -- she was mentioned in Song One, and through many of the posts I read, she may be being treaded a little unfairly. And in my experience, she was a great employee, and unflappable, and acting in the interest of the United policies that she represented. So, I think she deserves a bit of a break, and one day, I hope to have a good laugh with her about [aboot] all this, because in Song Two, I feature my dealings with her a little bit better, in a very lighthearted way. So, stay tuned for Song Two, everybody. It's coming very, very soon. Thanks."

@TCama: AND making hilarious videos! I can't complain.

@PsiCop: Money isnt what everyone wants. Maybe he sees the world in the sense that people/companies get chances, and if they don't take them, there are consquences. I would think most people would willingly lose the money for one guitar/valuable item for the chance to put the screws on a company that wronged them in the first place.

Making a point to United that you can't ignore, then buy off, customers, might be more important to him than a guitar.

@oneandone: I posted one a little above as a reply to lannister80.

I'm glad he's getting some good publicity. As a musician, I never fly with my guitar anymore because I don't want anything happening to the guitar my uncle gave me. I either ship it out beforehand or buy a cheap one online and have it shipped to where I'm playing.
I hope he stretches out the PR and winds up on Oprah, I don't blame him one bit. And it's great he's bringing awareness to a cause. ANY valuable luggage/equipment can be destroyed by baggage handlers and they take no responsibility for their actions.

@waffles: "What's wrong with making sure that other people don't have to go through the same thing?"

You honestly think that because this guy refuses to take the money and writes another song that suddenly every passenger who has their luggage damaged will get what they deserve? Seriously? One more song? Two songs?

Speaking of air travel, can I interest you in a time-share in Florida? You seem the gullible type, er, the type of person who loves vacationing in the sun!

@knacko: Totally! Speaking as someone with a decent amount of experience in this realm, United is just trying to look like good people who made a simple mistake. They fork over some cash and solve one guy's problem, shutting him up. They won't make any policy changes that matter because they are potentially far too expensive.

Now, if this bad PR keeps up for a while, it becomes more expensive than the policy changes. That's when we might see something of substance happen.

This guy is great! Oh how wonderful it would be to have the money to not have to bother with resolving a problem and just screw with the company that wronged you.

@ogremustcrush: And the more publicity he gets, the more publicity United gets - double win.

Wonder what United's next move is going to be.

To everyone asking "Well, what does he want then," the answer's simple. He wants to publically shame United for as long as humanly possible. They're apologizing because they're getting bad PR, not because they finally realized it was their fault.

He speaks for all of us that have gotten our luggage lost and/or trashed that don't have the talent to so beautifully tar and feather a company in such a public manner.

@GMFish: Perhaps he wants them to do more than just fix this one mistake and be done with it. United shouldn't just be compensating Dave for his broken guitar. They need to change their compensation policy as well as educating their baggage handlers so that others don't get shafted in the future. Not everybody can write some cute little ditty whenever an airline breaks something of theirs.

Apologizing for something means nothing if you're just going to turn around and keep doing things as usual.

@Roy Hobbs: I am extremely happy to find that this is the name of a real book.
Awesomesauce.

These articles need text for the YouTube impaired.