A local musician says the story of his damaged lute has gone viral in the classical music world.
Eastman School of Music graduate Chris Wilke says his $10,000 lute was damaged when he took it out of its carrying case after arriving at the Rochester airport January 11 following a flight from Detroit. He had used a special valet service to check in the lute before boarding the Rochester bound flight. Wilke said it looked as though someone had knelt or stood on the instrument.“I took the instrument to the baggage service offices here in Rochester. They said ‘We need to take it for an indeterminate amount of time.’ I said, ‘No I’m not into that. There are other options.’”
Wilke said the Delta representative abruptly announced she would be closing the office to attend to another matter after a crowd gathered to notice the broken instrument.
Wilke said he was told to file an online damage report. When he tried to do that, he was asked for a file reference i.d. number, which he said he was never given.
Wilke says Delta then claimed he was never at the airport baggage office and was getting "stonewalled" in his attempts to resolve the issue.
An spokesperson from Delta Airlines says they are now working with Wilke to try to resolve the matter.
He says his story has gotten 100,000 hits on the blog of a classical music author.
