The violinist shared on social media that she had filed three complaints with the airline and subsequently received several apologies
Violinist Carolin Widmann shared on social media that German airline Lufthansa has issued her with several apologies following an incident in which she had to travel with her 1782 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin removed from its case.
On 28 November, Widmann was flying home from Helsinki Vantaa airport to Leipzig, via Frankfurt. The carrier Airpro told her that she had to purchase another seat to bring her violin on board, with an airline representative saying the case exceeded the allowed measurements. The flight was fully booked, leading to Widmann having to check the case as luggage and hold the bare instrument on board.
On 12 December Widmann posted an open letter to Lufthansa’s CEO, Carsten Spohr, about the incident. She asked him to take her ‘shocking and scandalous incident at the Lufthansa check-in counter as an occasion to rethink your company’s policies’.
In a 17 December social media post, Widmann stated that she had filed three separate complaints with the airline. As of the time of posting, she had yet to receive an answer from the first, which was directed to the Lufthansa station manager at Helsinki Vantaa airport.
The second complaint was issued on Lufthansa’s regular feedback form. Widmann received both an oral and written apology from customer service:
‘The gentleman [on the phone] apologised profusely for what happened to me. Furthermore, he pointed out the current Lufthansa rules and that it is correct that at Lufthansa, the only way to legally transport my instrument on board is to book a second ticket.
‘I argued that this is not the case with other European airlines in the same price segment as Lufthansa. He claims there are “EU regulations” Lufthansa had to follow. But why would Lufthansa have to follow these EU regulartion, and for example Air France or Iberia not? Open questions remained.’
Her third complaint came in response to her open letter to the Lufthansa CEO. Widmann explains:
‘I was contacted on Tuesday, 16 December by a lady from the high ranks of Lufthansa management. This talk was very productive. The lady apologised profusely for what had happened to me and my violin. She was shocked that Lufthansa staff hadn’t used common sense and emotional generosity in this case even if the rules are as they are… She said it is absolutely not in the spirit of Lufthansa to ban violin cases from the cabin.’
Widmann then informed the representative of other airlines’ policies regarding instruments and asked that Lufthansa amend their rules. She also asked that other complaints from her colleagues at the Helsinki airport be followed up. The representative said the complaints had only now come to her attention because of this discussion. She has promised to look into it. Widmann has another call planned with the representative in January.
The violinist concludes in the post:
‘Only the open letter to Mr Carsten Spohr and the publication on Instagram has actually gotten me in touch with a person who is able and willing to make influencial decisions on this subject. My hopes are up that as a consequences of this drastic incident… as well as my speaking up about it, potential change and improvement for us violinists might be on the horizon.’
Widmann then shared an extensive list of instrument case regulations for a range of other European airlines.
Read: Instrument policy clash with gate staff leaves violinist holding two bare violins on BA flight
Read: Portland Symphony Orchestra appoints new assistant principal cello
No comments yet