Australian country music star Lawrie Minson has erupted at Qantas luggage handlers after the metal case holding his custom Maton guitar was destroyed.
Minson shared photos and video of the clumsily repaired case Qantas returned to him after he flew from Sydney to Darwin on Thursday night.
Handlers wrapped the aluminium case in a few pieces of orange tape after it was almost completely crushed while in transit.
The angry musician wrote that he would submit a complaint to Qantas after staff failed to offer any explanation for the damage.
Some fans speculated the case had been ‘run over’ on its way to Darwin.
Minson was relieved to find his custom Maton guitar, worth thousands of dollars, survived the flight (pictured, Minson with his Maton after the flight)
‘It’s 3am and I’ve just arrived in Darwin. I’m working with the incredible [Indigenous musician] Yirrmal over the weekend,’ Minson wrote on social media.
‘Qantas baggage handlers have gone above and beyond on this trip. They’ve hit a new personal low for my forty-plus-years of touring around this great country.
‘I was told to go online and complain so that’s what I’m doing!’
Miraculously the Maton, worth thousands of dollars, was completely unscathed.
‘Cases can be replaced but this guitar was custom built for me for playing slide,’ Minson continued.
‘It was a big relief to find it intact when I opened what was left of its road case.’
In a video, Minson described the whole incident as ‘absolutely ridiculous’.
‘That was a good road case – the idea of road cases are they can handled anything these idiots throw at it,’ he said.
Hundreds of shocked fans demanded an explanation from Qantas.
Australian country music star Lawrie Minson shared photos of his guitar case (above) which was destroyed during a Qantas flight from Sydney to Darwin
Minson said he would submit a complaint to Qantas above the damage to his case (above) after staff offered no explanation
‘That’s bloody terrible, absolutely no respect for other people’s property. Qantas, you are getting worse,’ one wrote.
‘Holy s**t. Lawrie that’s been run over. Compression in a cargo hull can’t do that,’ another said.
‘Those cases are tough. The baggage handlers really wanted to destroy your case,’ a third wrote.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Qantas for comment.
