Her guitar was smashed on a Delta flight a day before opening for Kacey Musgraves. The internet rallied around her.

A day before kicking off her 14-day European tour opening for Kacey Musgraves, indie artist Madi Diaz opened her guitar case after landing in Dublin. But she called what she found inside “unfathomable” and “devastating.”

In photos and videos posted on social media, Diaz shows her 20-year-old Martin acoustic guitar significantly damaged, with cracks throughout the body, large gashes and holes on the sides and back, and the wood splintered throughout.

The posts went viral, sparking a grassroots campaign among fans and fellow musicians for Delta Airlines to make things right. It’s also prompted a new wave of dialogue from musicians about how difficult it can be to fly on any airline with gear because of issues with checking guitars, drums, horns, and more.

Diaz, 37, is a singer-songwriter from Nashville who has been on the scene since the early aughts, touring with The Civil Wars. She grew up in Lancaster County, where she began her music career. Her songs were featured on shows like Pretty Little Liars. In 2009, she was named one of SXSW’s “buzziest acts” by Paste Magazine. In early 2023, Diaz joined Harry Styles’ “Love On Tour” band as a guitar and backing vocalist for the show’s European leg.

Her now-mangled Martin acoustic guitar was by her side through it all, she said. Taped to its side, it still has handwritten lyrics to Styles’ song, “Medicine,” which Diaz jotted down on tour to make sure she would get them right.

“From my dorm room in college to stages with Harry Styles, this guitar has been with me through all of it,” Diaz wrote on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. “I’m truly devastated by the treatment of my instrument. Insurmountable loss. I don’t know how to begin to replace something like this.”

In the aftermath, Diaz documented the damage on social media, tagging the airline and asking others to do the same. Musicians, including Musgraves — who sang on Diaz’s 2023 song, “Don’t Do Me Good” — shared it, too. Diaz’s initial post was viewed nearly 2 million times on X alone.

“I bought the most heavy duty case I could find,” Diaz wrote. “My theory for 20 years was that our instruments are meant to travel to help tell our stories. Lesson learned? I’m not in the position to financially handle renting gear wherever I go — but I’m also not in the position to lose so much.”

Diaz isn’t the only artist conflicted about the best way to tour.

For years, musicians have complained about airlines mishandling their gear, the high costs that come with traveling with instruments, and the risks involved. Besides often being expensive, musical instruments also often come with high sentimental value. Damages can bring their value down and impact a musician’s bottom line, since they need their gear to perform.

“We grow up knowing the instrument itself has a soul and you bond with it. You spend all those years in a practice room all alone, except for your feelings and psychology and your instrument – it has a bonding quality,” cellist Lynn Harrell told the Guardian in 2020. “So when something happens to the instrument monetarily, that’s one thing. But the feeling that as a custodian of an instrument with hundreds of years of life, you failed – that is a scar on your soul for the rest of your life.”

Harrell said he used to check his cello, but the risk became too great. He’s since started buying the instrument its own seat next to him on flights — an increasingly common tactic that can be safer, but is cost-prohibitive and can sometimes result in confusion

Musicians say it’s a Catch-22 when they’re trying to tour.

Tim Hildebrand, who plays guitar for the Philadelphia ska group, Catbite, says Diaz’s experience reminded him of several of his own.

In recent years, Catbite has frequently toured internationally, flying to Japan, Australia, and Europe. This year, the band has already flown over 40 times.

“It’s super stressful with trying to find the cheapest way to get your stuff from point A to B, and with trying to figure out what the airline’s policy is,” Hildebrand said. Catbite typically checks its gear in hard-shelled cases made for travel. “We just keep our fingers crossed that our gear isn’t in shreds or lost when we get to our final destination.”

But despite his efforts to protect his gear, Hildebrand’s fears came true in Heathrow Airport last year during the band’s first United Kingdom tour, when his guitar was nowhere to be found.

“It took an hour to finish making a claim. I had to borrow a guitar for our first show,” Hildebrand said. “Luckily, they found it about 30 hours later. And super luckily, we were still in the London area and we were able to get it so I’d have a guitar for the tour.”

Diaz has said the damages to her guitar are irreparable. A rep for Diaz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a statement, a Delta spokesperson said the airline was in touch with Diaz’s team.

“We apologize to Madi for the damage to her instrument,” the statement said. “We are continuing our review of this event and remain in contact with her team to make it right and in resolving any outstanding items.”