My Nationals Nightmare

[webbdawg99]

I traveled to Austin with one of my ski buds. We packed my SportTube with 2 slalom skis and a trick ski. When I arrived in Austin, this is what my SportTube looked like:

 

Where the damage was happened to be where my bud's ski was. When we got to the hotel, we inspected his ski and didn't notice any damage.

 

Before skiing the next day, I took a quick look at my D3 Quest but wasn't really worried about it.

 

Here is me skiing at Nationals, going through the gate on my opening pass:

 

Unfortunately, that is probably the only pic of me skiing, because a split second later, I was in the drink. I felt like my slalom ski became a trick ski as soon as I changed edges into 1 ball. I went down in a big ball of spray....completely confused and baffled.....until I took my ski off:

 

The shining light in all of this was Paul Crawford and the guys at D3. I went to the booth basically to order a new ski. I showed Paul my broken ski and explained that I was confident that the ski had been structurally compromised during my flight. So what did Paul do? He is sending me a complimentary replacement ski. WOW!!!! I was speechless and am still dumbfounded at his generosity.

 

Although I'm still super bummed at my misfortune, I am truly grateful for Paul and the other folks at D3. I hope to be carrying my new D3 to the M2 podium at next year's nationals. Thank you Paul and D3!

 

[Chef23]

What a bummer. Cool story about D3 taking care of you. I am glad you didn't get hurt.

[SDNAH2OSKIER]

You know, you gotta wonder how they do that kind of thing. I mean you would pretty much have to run one of those things over with the little tugs they use to pull the baggage carts. Crazy, name the offending airline so we can recoil in horror next time we have to fly on one of their planes.

[gregy]

Glad you weren't hurt that could have been dangerous. Impressive service there from D3. My T-factor binding was out of warranty Paul sent me free replacement parts when the front rubber part ripped. Paul offered to fix it for free but I didn't have time to wait for the binding to go back and forth.

[oneski]

A little duct tape and super glue and it will be as good as new.

[Steven_Haines]

That's The Epitome Of Class! Good on you Paul!

[Horton]

Airlines suck. D3 Rocks

[ToddL]

@webbdawg99‌, I was there at the booth when you came by. That break looked scary. So awesome that Paul and the D3 crew are taking care of you!

[liquid d]

intentional. Some of those guys have nothing better to do.

[rockdog]

Wow that is fantastic service. That's a genuine 'want' to see something like that not ruin a fellow skiers weekend/event.

[MillerTime38]

@webbdawg I was wondering what happened. just got to shore turned around and you were in the water. Glad to see D3 took care of you

[LeonL]

I'm with @liquid d, some of the damage done by baggage handlers would seem to be intentional. They see something like a sport tube and recognize it's a recreational trip and they're working. Just jealousy. I saw your score in the book and thought "well dang Adam missed his entrance gates". Had no idea. Sorry, but good on Paul.

[Texas6]

That's a great story. I don't know if I can characterize that as great customer service or just really impressive human kindness - either way, that' says a lot about D3 - good job recognizing them for it!

[TylerR]

Dude that is the best ending to the worst story I've ever heard. It's such a shame that a fluke ski failure would cause you to be unable to ski to your normal level of excellence at nationals.

[kstateskier]

Paul is a class act. D3 Skis rock! Airlines suck!

[webbdawg99]

I don't want to go into any specific details about the airline. However, I will absolutely be filing a very detailed report and pursuing financial compensation. Anything I may be able to get back from them will be going straight to D3. They stepped up when they didn't have to. Fingers crossed that I have some success with the airline.

[LeonL]

I had a bad experience with with the airlines when flying to my very first Nationals. They lost my ski. Well lost for the whole day I should have been skiing on it. It showed at my hotel room when I returned from the ski site. The kindness of Jim McClure of VanWert, Oh allowed me to ski. He let me borrow his daughter's ski that was just like mine. Seeing as how I'm a hack skier anyway, I vowed that day to never fly to a ski tournament again. If I can't drive there, I just don't go. If I were competitive, I'd probably have a different outlook, but for me it just ain't worth it.

[akale15]

Ya this could of been a real nightmare. I think it was a pretty good story. Glad to hear you didn't get hurt. That ski could of put you out more than just nationals. I never have had to deal with D3 directly but I will say if it is one thing this sport is good at it would be customer service. From equipment sales, to coaching, even different tournament staff! Keep it up guys!

[Deke]

Wow, D3 is a class act! @webbdawg99‌ I posted a picture of my SportTube "accident" in another thread and it is almost exactly like yours. I would really like to know how this happens. It seems like it either dropped nose first off a high conveyor or it was jammed at a corner in the conveyor, backing up a ton of baggage. The concern is whether the design of the SportTube causes either of these things to happen. I wonder if you can ask for special handling?

 

Here's mine...

 

 

[webbdawg99]

I don't blame SportTube at all. It's a high density plastic and has it's limitations. When baggage is handled with any level of respect, I don't think there would be any issues. The things arebt resistent to pure negligence and possible abuse. I'm sure we could buy a stronger case, but you'd certainly pay a hefty price. Bottom line, if the airline had treated my luggage with any respect, the SportTube would've been more than sufficient to protect my gear.

[Deke]

@webbdawg99‌ I was really wondering if the shape and material combination causes it to fall from a conveyor or if maybe the length causes the jamb. I suppose the indestructible appearance may lead to mistreatment too. It can't be a coincidence that our two SportTubes saw the exact same fate. I wonder how many in the snow ski world have seen this?

[Deke]

Oh, and you should see what happens to guitars! Musicians are always writing songs about it!

[Horton]

@webbdawg99‌ name that airline. Post it here and Facebook. Post updates.

 

United destroyed a Nano One of mine two years ago. Eventually a skier saw my post and got me on the right track to get paid for the ski and SportTube.

[Deke]

@Horton‌ United / Great Lakes did mine too. What a coincidence.

[Razorskier1]

That sucks Adam, especially when you've been skiing so well this year. Someday when you're old you can tell this story to all the young skiers!

[Ghibli]

It's an actuarial decision. Much cheaper to pay for the damage than make changes that would reduce the occurrences. Ground handling at all the airlines is similar, if not identical. A lot is even outsourced. Been this way for decades. Maybe there are differences in reimbursements and customer service when damage occurs, but I doubt the chances of damage are much different between airlines.

[webbdawg99]

@Horton I am going to give the airlines a fair opportunity to make things right. Wouldn't be fair to them to go on a negative pr campaign.....yet

[jhughes]

I've had great luck flying a soft case over the past couple years. I'm wondering if the fact that it's soft actually helps it get through the baggage handling system more smoothly and/or helps absorb bumps and drops a bit better as the whole setup is a bit "fluid".

[webbdawg99]

My Quest was inside a Performance neoprene sock with a Firkin Fin on the outside. It was then inside a Dakine soft bag with another ski and stuffed with towels. That soft bag was then placed in the SportTube. Not sure what else I could've done to minimize the chance of my ski getting damaged

[Texas6]

That's exactly how I pack my bag - not sure there is anything more you could have done. Remarkable that they could still break that thing

[JC McCavit]

@webbdawg99‌ - were you not offered a re-ride?

[ntx]

@JC McCavit‌ on what grounds should he have been offered a reride? The ski is skier supplied and it is his responsibility that it is in good condition. Same with your handle. If it breaks a two ball you are done. The situation is different if the rope breaks. Then a reride should be granted. Very unfortunate. Glad D3 stepped up. I am very surprised. I can't imagine them doing that often. Discount maybe if the ski was real new, but not a replacement.

[ScarletArrow]

I had a great experience with Paul myself...

 

I had called in to order some bindings for my daughters trick ski. The person on the phone couldn't answer my questions and I said that I wanted to talk with Paul. This person said they would text him and have him call me. I thought to myself, "This is going to take a while."

 

I got a call within minutes from Paul - and this was right before Nationals!

 

Also, D3 has been the main sponsor of the Buckeye Buoy Tour for 3 years now, giving away their top of the line ski with a Nate Smith autograph. Last year my son was the lucky recipient after I won the tour and yesterday he ran a PB of 4.5 on his 62" Fusion!

[LeonL]

@Nxt, I think he was being sarcastic, what with the Big Dawg thing.

[usaski1]

Thats a total bummer about your run.. I'd be crushed... Way to go D3...

[Shortenit]

@webbdawg99, please do post an update of what transpires with the airline. Their name and how they handle your claim. Airlines need to be held accountable as much as possible.

And for everyone, at any signs of damage, even what may appear to be only external damage, a report should be immediately made to the airline when you pick up your baggage, it adds major credibility to a subsequent claim after leaving the airport. And even if everything inside seems to be ok. Pain in the butt time wise but could pay off. We fly Delta all the time and so far have never had loss or breakage, (although several delayed ski bag deliveries), but did have an incident once with my soft roller bag, had huge footprints all over it. It had to have been walked/jumped/stomped on. Pretty hard for an airline to spin that as an "accident". Everything looked fine, but I reported it just in case. Turned out to be no damage, but the baggage office person said the report would have impact and would definitely be taken into account had I found damage later. Makes it harder for them to say the damage happened later or elsewhere.

And I totally agree, Paul C is a first class guy.

[Marco]

@webbdawg99 - I was watching from the side dock at the 55's with your ski partner when you exploded at the gates. My first thought was that your fin fell out, but before you stopped tumbling he told me about the airline incident. My second thought was relief that you weren't hurt...that was one hell of an OTF, and although it completely sucks it ruined your Nationals, I'm really glad it didn't ruin the rest of your summer, or worse!

 

Huge Kudos to Paul (and Will and Elaine) for stepping up with a replacement!

[ToddL]

I would think that the quality of the baggage handling systems are specific to the airports. Some airports may just have conveyors which are more likely to damage sport tubes. I wonder if we started recording which airports were used and tracking damage claims on skis, if we could eventually uncover a couple of bad locations which skiers should avoid.

 

As far as the liability and reimbursement policies, I assume they are airline specific.

[webbdawg99]

Well I didn't expect that the photographer got any pics of me skiing....but I was wrong. This is what they had.....

 

[Razorskier1]

I'm not sure if the pictures make it better because you have a story and a picture, or if they are just a painful reminder of what happened.

[webbdawg99]

Gotta have a sense of humor to keep from crying!

[ntx]

@LeonL‌ sorry I did not connect the two events. On here you never know. Someone recently suggested that a reride be granted because the skier did not know the rules and the judges did not tell him the rules. There is a wide range of posters here. It is hard to know the sarcasm from the .........

[davemac]

I would consider including that photo as a supplement to the report you filed w/ the airline.... let them see the "effect" of their "cause"

[webbdawg99]

Update:

 

After arriving back to Atlanta, I personally went in the baggage office to discuss my experience. Airline policy is that all domestic claims must be filed within 24 hours of the travel time. I thought I was dead in the water right there.

 

The local baggage office is only allowed to approve claims of $500. Anything over that has to go to corporate for handling. Despite me being out of the 24 hour window, the local agent approved for me to replace my SportTube with a new one. I think remaining calm, patient, and friendly probably helped. It also didnt hurt that I had an 8x10 (posted above) of me crashing at Nationals b/c of my broken ski. I think it made it a little more real for them. I'm glad they made an exception to the 24 hour rule.

 

It will be another 2-4 weeks before corporate makes a decision regarding the reimbursement for the ski. Needless to say, I don't think they are in any hurry to be sending out checks. I'm hoping that the local approval is a good sign. In my eyes it is at least an early acknowledgement that they have some responsibility here.

 

Fingers remain crossed.

 

[schroed]

I just pulled my ski out of my ski bag last night and found out that United also broke my brand new Quest 45. The fin and the wing was also bent. My ski had a fin protector on it (also broken), was packed in a ski bag, wrapped in towels and packed in a larger snow ski bag with some other things. Although the snow ski bag is mostly soft, it is pretty sturdy and with wheels and a firm plastic portion on the bottom of the bag (much like the Masterline bags). I have traveled many times with this bag for both snow skiing and water skiing and I've never had a problem. I'm pretty sure the only way to break this ski and bend the fin would have been to run over the bag with a baggage cart or something similar.

 

So far I am extremely unhappy with United. I spent a fair amount of time on their baggage handling 800 number with some guy in India who didn't even know what a waterski was. Now I have to repack my bag and drive down to the airport to file my claim.

 

Did the baggage handlers in Austin get tired of lugging skis around and decide to start running them over?

[MattP]

@Horton‌ do you have that contact with United for @schroed‌

[ntx]

@schroed I have often thought about that also. A airport that is not accustomed to the amount of 3 event bag traffic that all of a sudden starts to hit them, if the baggage handlers take on a differant attitude about the contents. My guess is that by the end of the week, bags got treated a little differantly than they did early in the week. Just a guess, but I would not be shocked.

[webbdawg99]

I was gonna take a new Quest 45 home with me from Nationals.....but I told Paul to ship it! I'm not sure I'll EVER carry a ski on a plane again!

[MAD11]

@webbdawg99 hopefully that won't happen again, but your going to have to use the airlines sometime. I have to travel a lot with my ski and I actually try to leave as much air in the tube side to side as possible. I think I told you about my trip to the Colorado Big Dawg a few years back. My tube was crushed much worse than your pics and I was sure my Warp 8 was destroyed. I think because I didn't have it wrapped and packed tight with so much padding it was fine and is still skiable today.

 

All I put on my ski is the Eagle ski sock with fin protector and drop it in the tube. I put my tool bag in the bottom handle, vest and gloves. I would say I fly with it on average about 20 times per year and have been lucky to never had one broken, but between Bailey and I we have had a few crushed tubes. May just be luck.

 

Since we're dropping airline stories, I did have one stolen out of the bag once. My KD7000 was taken right out of the bag. They left a brand new accuski system, dry suit etc. The airline paid me for the ski and I used that money to buy one of the 1st 9100's from some new company at the time with the really light skis. (The equipment in this story shows my age) two months later they caught the guy trying to sneak the ski out of the Philadelphia airport and I ended up getting the KD7000 back too.

[Zman]

Hey @MAD11‌ Good to see you again at SMRR. Thank you and Kim for your hospitality and the delicious steak bites.