Thundamentals have taken to their official Facebook page to give the last word on a saga involving the Blue Mountains hip-hop crew and airline Virgin Australia. Events unfolded over the weekend, after the group shared footage of a Virgin baggage handler roughly throwing their gear onto a conveyor belt.
“Apologies if our equipment doesn’t work for our gig tonight, doesn’t seem like [Virgin Australia] take care when reading the ‘fragile’ label on our instruments,” the crew wrote on Facebook. As readers can see below, the footage depicts the baggage handler dumping a keyboard and other equipment onto a luggage conveyor.
Following an uproar on social media, Virgin Australia issued a statement addressing the footage via FasterLouder. “We sincerely apologise to the Thundamentals for the mishandling of their luggage,” the airline wrote.
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“Virgin Australia always endeavours to take care of our guests’ luggage and are investigating this particular incident. Virgin Australia is proud to support Australian musicians with a range of initiatives which includes the provision of an excess baggage allowance.”
On Saturday, the group took to Facebook to tell fans that they do not wish to see the offending baggage handler fired. “First and foremost, the last thing we want is for the handler in the footage to lose his job,” they wrote.
“In the past we’ve seen people be far rougher with our gear, we just happened to catch him in the act (last week our mixer was totally smashed, hence why we filmed yesterday’s incident).”
Instead, they write, the group would much prefer to see “baggage handlers trained more thoroughly to fix the core of the problem, rather than just fire the guy who might have had a bad day and let his attention slip.”
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“From our perspective, it seems like there is a culture within the job itself that shows a disregard for peoples belongings,” they continued. “We are just trying to get from A to B without getting our equipment broken. It’s expensive, fragile, fiddly and really our lifeblood of being able to play show after show.”
The group also commended Virgin Australia on their actions following the surfacing of the footage. “To their credit [Virgin Australia] have been pro active in trying to rectify the situation for which we are genuinely appreciative. We have been flying with them for years and will continue to do so,” they wrote.
Thundamentals are currently on a nationwide tour supporting fellow Aussie hip-hop crew Hilltop Hoods on their ‘Cosby Sweater Australian Tour’, which continues this Saturday, 29th November at Macquarie Wharf 2 in Hobart.
While the group have not updated fans on the status of their gear, a recent post from their Brisbane gig suggests everything was in working order. “Last night was most triumphant!” the band wrote. “Brisbane was amazing! Thank you for having us!”
