The violinist was refused boarding with her violin case on a recent flight from Helsinki to Frankfurt, and was forced to hold her violin in her arms throughout her entire plane journey
The violinist Carolin Widmann was forced to fly on a recent flight from Helsinki to her home in Leipzig while cradling her 1782 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin in her arms.
Widmann relayed the story via social media, stating that for the first time in her life, she was refused to board a Lufthansa flight with her violin case at Helsinki airport, Finland, despite being a regular flyer with the airline on Senator frequent flyer status.
Widmann had performed with the Tapiloa Sinfonietta in Espoo, Finland, on Thursday 27 November. The following morning on Friday 28 November, she arrived at Helsinki Vantaa airport, where the Lufthansa representative at the check-in counter informed her that her standard violin case exceeded the measurements allowed for cabin baggage on their flights.
A supervisor from the handling company, Airpro, then told Widmann that she would have to purchase an extra seat for her violin.
‘I was desperate enough to do this,’ said Widmann. However, the connecting flight from Frankfurt to Leipzig was fully booked, with no free seat available to purchase for her violin in its case.
Widmann argued that she would only need to purchase a ticket from Helsinki to Frankfurt, and that the connecting flight from Frankfurt to Leipzig would be fine, having flown the route hundreds of times without issue, and without having ever bought a seat for her instrument.
She was then told that she could not purchase a ticket for the violin case on only one leg of the trip; the instrument case’s ticket required the same routing as her. Otherwise, her only option would be to check in the violin in its case as ordinary luggage in the hold of the plane.
‘Of course, this wasn’t even an option for me,’ she said.
’Since no other solution worked or was allowed according to the Lufthansa representative at check-in and her supervisor from Airpro, I was forced to do the unthinkable: I had to check in the empty violin case as an extra suitcase and had to travel with the bare violin, out of its case, from Helsinki via Frankfurt to Leipzig.’
Widmann held the violin in her arms to protect it for the entire journey. She also informed the owner of the violin, which is loaned to her via a charitable trust in London, whom Widmann said was ‘very supportive’.
Once on the flight, Widmann said that the Lufthansa crew was ‘extremely friendly’ and helpful.
Pointing out discrepancies between her treatment at the airport and on the plane, she said: ’This shows that the “Lufthansa rule” seemed to be completely differently implemented at the check-in counter of Lufthansa and later on board of the plane!
’We violinists (and the afterworld who we preserve our valuable instruments for!) depend on our instruments being treated securely and with respect - namely travelling in a safe violin case from A to B.
’We are happy to follow the rules. But these rules urgently need to be updated, amended, and applied globally - so that we can travel with our valuable instruments for our profession without fear of harassment of of being denied boarding.’
Widmann says that a standard violin case measures 80cm x 27cm x 16cm. ’The allowed measurements for cabin luggage are normally 55cm x 40cm x 25cm. It takes no math genius to realise that the volume of a violin case is actually much SMALLER than that of a trolley that’s easily allowed to take on board!
‘I hope that this terrible situation I had to face ultimately contributes to an improvement of the insecure situation for travelling violinists worldwide,’ she concluded.
Numerous string players have responded to Widmann’s post with their own experiences. Violist Jennifer Stumm said ’This seems to be happening regularly now in Helsinki with Lufthansa. All violinists/violists should be very concerned!’
Violist Nils Mönkemeyer said he had experienced the same with Eurowings. ’I had that experience in Helsinki countless times. I always said yes yes, I will check it in if the cabin crew wants, they put a tag that I removed after security and the cabin crew never said anything as Lufthansa never does. It’s not their crew, it’s a hired one from Helsinki airport and they are extremely harsh and rigid, so sorry this happened to you!’
Violinist Alena Baeva said ’What a shame @lufthansa, I also fly almost exclusively LH and their status gave me peace of mind… such a devastating trip!’
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