British Airways is investigating the matter around a Valorant Lock In broken trophy, which was smashed in transit during Fnatic’s flight back from Brazil.
Fnatic’s Valorant team made history last weekend when they won the VCT Lock In tournament, with UK star player Boaster crying tears of joy after the win.
Fnatic beat Brazilian organisation in São Paulo, Brazil, and lifted the green and silver trophy on stage.
Said trophy is now a Valorant Lock In broken trophy, after it was damaged in transit.
Fnatic Valorant player Derke said in this tweet: “Someone took the trophy from our case and broke it during British Airways baggage transit.”
Fellow player Chronicle added in the below tweet:
As you can see from the above response from British Airways, the company asked Chronicle to send a message in with as much info as possible as it looks into the matter further.
A British Airways spokesperson told Esports News UK about the situation around the Lock In broken trophy: “We have been in touch with the customer directly and are investigating the matter.”
Derke also asked fans not to stay calm, saying: “Guys, don’t take it too seriously and throw the hate on the Brazilians or Loud fans, we met with lot of them and they were always nice and asking pictures.
“There’s always couple idiots in every country but doesn’t mean everyone is the same, this could happen to anyone.”
Boaster later said British Airways also lost his luggage including his lucky headband:
Community reacts to Fnatic’s Lock In Broken Trophy
Several in the esports community responded to the news, including UK esports organisation Endpoint, who said:
We’re sorry for the inconvenience, please accept this £5 flight voucher you can only use on Tuesdays in March as compensation
— Endpoint CeX (@TeamEndpoint) March 6, 2023
Valorant esports host Yinsu Collins posted this tweet, addressing the British Airways worker Tony (who responded to Chronicle’s initial tweet):
Tony bro sort the boys out come on mate
— Yinsu (@YinsuCollins) March 6, 2023
UK Fortnite-turned-Valorant player Benjyfishy added:
someone losing their job today
— benjyfishy (@benjyfishy) March 6, 2023
We’ll update this article with the outcome of British Airways’ investigation.
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
