American Airlines Breaks 4 Out Of 5 Of Alex Gray’s Boards

Yesterday, American Airlines landed on the wrong end of a social media assault after breaking Alex Gray’s quiver. Flying a coffin full of boards is an anxious matter. We’ve all been greeted with punctures, creases, minor dings and blemishes, but what Alex Gray’s surfboards went through from Honolulu to Los Angeles Friday night is mind boggling. For the professional surfer, it’s unfortunate, but the average travelling surfer can’t help but shudder at the possibility of arriving at a destination, opening your bag to reveal four out of five of your surfboards are unrideable, and one is broken clean in half.

The despicable treatment of surfboards by airlines continues, highlighted by the John John Florence JetBlue debacle of 2016, the Kelly Slater vs Hawaiian Air feud and now Mr Gray’s battered quiver.

Alex posted the above video to his Instagram with these accompanying words:

Last night on April 7th from Honolulu to Los Angeles, @americanair flight AA 284 BROKE 4 out of 5 of my surfboards. When the board bag came off the oversize belt I notice the top and bottom had very large holes in it. From the back hole in plain sight I could see two tails of my boards bent in half sticking out of the bag. I walked over to make a claim. Upon actually opening the bag (the video you’re watching above), each board I pulled out had either a tail or nose broken. The final board on the bottom was completely broken in half from the middle of the board. I’m sure many of you at this point of my post are saying: “this has happened to me before”. That’s the saddest part. Time and time again we pay $150 or more for our surfboard bags only to have our boards ruined at the destination. And you know that little signature you give on the bag tag? That’s a signature releasing the airlines of any liability to damages that may occur. Hmmmmm. My question on this one is how did they do such a fantastic job of destruction? First thought is the baggage handlers ran it over with some vehicle because the nose and tails are all broken in the same spot. But why is only one broken in half from the middle of the board, while the rest are broken at the nose and tail? Did they open my bag, break that board, and put it back in? I had buckled both straps inside the back which locks the boards down and they were unbuckled. So that makes me believe they went into my bag. I’ll let you put your two cents in with comments below please. It would be great if #AmericanAirlines would review the security videos while my bag was either being loaded or unloaded on the plane. If there’s anyone that follows me who works for #AmericanAirlines maybe you can get this video to the right colleague…. So now what? Well I’ve been instructed by #AmericanAirlines to make a claim of value for the boards they broke. And in return they will do their best to compensate me for my loss. #morals

In short, this should never fucking happen.

If you’d like to relieve some pent up airline aggression, you can contact American here or visit their Instagram: @americanair.