Thundamentals Catch Airline Mishandling Their Fragile Gear On Video

Sydney hip hop crew Thundamentals have utilised their clandestine spying skills to capture evidence that confirms suspicions we all had about how much airlines actually care about our fragile baggage. That is, not very much.

The Blue Mountains crew, en route to a show in Coffs Harbour tonight, have uploaded a video onto the Facebook page of a baggage handler for Virgin Australia haphazardly throwing their gear around, ignoring the presence of “fragile” labels on the bags.

“Apologies if our equipment doesn’t work for our gig tonight, doesn’t seem like @virginaustralia take care when reading the ‘fragile’ label on our instruments,” they wrote, tagging Virgin Australia in the post and adding the hashtags “#thisguysucks”, “#muzlyf” and “#TM”.

In a statement provided to Faster Louder Virgin Australia have apologised for the mishandled luggage and said they’ve been in contact with the band’s management and are investigating the incident.

“We sincerely apologise to the Thundamentals for the mishandling of their luggage. Virgin Australia always endeavours to take care of our guests’ luggage and are investigating this particular incident,” they write. “Virgin Australia is proud to support Australian musicians with a range of initiatives which includes the provision of an excess baggage allowance.”

Thundamentals haven’t yet updated on the state of their gear, but if it were sadly to be damaged they could perhaps follow in the footsteps of Canadian country and western singer Dave Carroll, from the band Sons of Maxwell, who became a bit of a YouTube sensation in 2009 with his song United Breaks Guitars.

The track details Carroll’s year-long attempt to win compensation from United Airlines whose baggage handlers he accused of damaging his acoustic guitar. The track, of course, went viral and Carroll became the poster boy for everyone’s grievances against the airline.

According to The Guardian, his music sales skyrocketed, other airlines offered him flight vouchers and United eventually buckled and offered to pay the cost of repairing his guitar plus extra flight vouchers. Carroll has since penned two follow up tracks and has written a book.

Thundamentals and their gear, hopefully still in one piece, continue their tour supporting Hilltop Hoods in Coffs Harbour tonight and will move onto shows in Brisbane, Hobart, Busselton and Perth.