Travellers with grievances have learned through bitter experience, that complaining to an airline requires a great deal of stamina and patience. It often takes several emails, waiting endlessly on the phone and a deluge of letters before an acknowledgement of correspondence has been received from an airline.
It seems that consumer revenge is best dished out online. Musician Dave Carroll has a grievance. He travelled with United Airlines only to find that his checked-in guitar was broken when it arrived at its destination.
After nine months of trying to get the airline to admit responsibility, the singer/songwriter turned his complaint into a song and posted it on Youtube.
His toe-tapping humourous video has become a viral internet hit within 48 hours and Mr Carroll is currently planning two more songs.
The first video (shown here) has been viewed almost 4 million times and has hit the right note with thousands of listeners who had experienced similar problems with airlines.
As a result United Airlines has borne the brunt of an onslaught of bad publicity and is now bracing itself for more.