KLM throws a cello off plane

KLM throws a cello off plane

News

norman lebrecht

April 08, 2022

This looks like a return to pre-Covid normality.

The French cellist Marc Coppey posts:

!!! Warning ⚠️ to my dear cello colleagues !!! :
This morning, I was denied the access to a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight with my #cello although I had an extra-seat booked and paid, following all rules of extra-seat reservation.
They canceled it without any prior notice arguing that the size of the cello fails to comply with the size regulations allowing cabin bag.
And I apparently also failed to find any convincing argument such as hundreds of flights with cello extra-seats booked without any problem or questioning the policy of an airline which takes the money but cancels tickets!
Thank you and congratulations to KLKLM-Royal Dutch Airlines for this most elegant gesture!

Comments

  • Matthew Peters says:

    KLM forced me to put my cello in the hold in 2006 when there was a temporary ban on even buying tickets for cellos (due to a recent terrorism scare). Even though I packed it in a reinforced case designed to withstand the rigours of travelling in the hold, they managed to break the neck off my cello. Then they tried to get out of paying for repairs even though I bought insurance for it through the airline.

    They are the worst.

  • Ben G. says:

    Quit complaning.

    You have no idea what it’s like for Bass players

    • MacroV says:

      Come on, a little solidarity here: You support cellists, they’ll support support bassists. In union there is strength.

      • Ben G. says:

        It’s all about size, not solidarity.

        Some of my best friends are Cellists! 😉

        BTW, I’ve had an airline snap the neck off of my bass years ago during a USA tour. My instrument was in a strong case stored in the baggage compartment–no comparison to Mr. Coppey’s bad luck.

  • Dumb question says:

    “ They canceled it without any prior notice arguing that the size of the cello fails to comply with the size regulations allowing cabin bag.”

    This is a very strange position for KLM to take. Should all other seat occupants (for instance human passengers) also comply with the size regulations for cabin bags ? If KLM see’s no distinction between a seat occupant and a cabin bag, that might explain the quality of the in flight service.

    But actually i have successfully bought a seat for a cello pre-covid on KLM, and they allowed it. So either something has changed, or more likely, difficult staff making up rules above their pay grade.

    • Philip Wright says:

      A very well structured and thought provoking response to a totally idiotic policy by KLM. Perhaps now, everyone should go on a strict and rigid diet to reduce the size of their arses just in case they are refused boarding the aircraft.
      No strings attached of course…!

    • ChrisD says:

      KLM service went through the floor when they “got-into-bed” with Air France . . .

  • Jordyn says:

    Why the misleading title?

  • Gay knutson says:

    I once watched in horror when my cello was literally thrown off a plane while folks were unloading luggage. Fortunately the only problem was a couple bent hinges on the apparently indestructible case. Another time, heading for a concert in Hanoi, the airline took it upon itself to send it to Seoul instead, reasoning ???? I had made an error on the routing info. Good news, a Vietnamese cellist was tracked down, I was invited to his home, and he graciously loaned me his cello. When leaving Hanoi, getting ready to board the plane, there was MY cello sitting on the blazing tarmac….and so much more.. adventures in international cello playing..

  • V. Lind says:

    This gets more and more ridiculous. How is it companies cannot institute a policy and have their employees — AND contractors — comply? Paying for a ticket specifically booked for a cello seems to be a contract, and it also seems, according to this artist, to be honoured sometimes and not others. How often do we hear this? Who are the petty tyrants who re-interpret rules, and why do companies keep letting them away with it?

    This blog reports these things valiantly, but it is not MSM. Can’t a couple of musicians who have had problems go to a music/arts — or business — reporter somewhere and ask them to expose this story more widely? There are hundreds, if not thousands, of documented cases of abuse by airlines and their staff and contractors — this blog would be a good place to find victims, most of whom I am sure would be more than willing to speak out about their experience — and that would lead to others.

    It’s a shoe-leather story, which in this day and age means a few phone calls or emails — but surely there would be a good story at the end of it, and a shaming report that might get airlines to state a policy and make sure it is complied with?

    I find this eternally frustrating, and an example of many things — how customer service in general has declined in the age of ill manners, and specifically how airlines have changed from companies that want to give customers a pleasing experience to those that treat people like not very profitable cargo and do not care if the experience is worse and worse.

  • Vladi says:

    “nice” title! >:(

  • T. Whitfield says:

    KLM never reembused us for tickets bought at the beginning of covid pandemic. We immediately asked for refund which was supported by US law. Received vouchers. Then KLM canceled our tickets. We had to fight long and hard to get them to agree to pay us what was owed. Now they say that they have paid us, but our bank has supported our claim (and the truth) that the money was never returned to our account. They have shut down all communication–outright theft. Many hours of being on calls and emailing. All government agencies have turned their backs on us.

  • Sue Sonata Form says:

    What a PR disaster for that airline.

  • Jeff says:

    umm, they refused the cello. they did not throw it.

  • Brady Johansen says:

    The headline is clickbaity. They didn’t physically throw a cello off the plane. The site can do better about being honest and not misleading.

    • MacroV says:

      I think most readers would understand that the term “throw” was not meant literally. Similar to when someone is thrown out of a bar for unruly behavior.

  • David Ward says:

    I’m flying with KLM on Tuesday, I hope they will let me take my wife onboard !

  • MD says:

    The cancelation of the ticket might suggest they did not know what they were doing, but the fact they kept the money reveals they knew it exactly. I would sue their behind or better hire a social media expert to stir up public outrage until they offer him a free lifelong cello companion ticket. It should not be too difficult, airlines are almost universally hated

  • AP says:

    Nice title NL. Unsubbing from this rag for good.

  • Tweettweet says:

    Oh, that must be a terrible experience, causing a lot of stress. KLM requires to contact them upfront if an instrument is taken in the cabin on a passenger seat, was that done? https://www.klm.nl/information/baggage/special-baggage

  • Walter Prossnitz says:

    Good bye KML, my solidarity with fellow musicians is stronger.

  • Stefano Marchesi says:

    I would sue KLM at your home country for damages and not honouring a paid seat. Plenty of lawyers would take it on a contingency!

  • Leslie says:

    Seriously??? We just did a concert with a cellist guest artist and he was able to fly here with no issues!!! All of us should post things on the KLM FB site and contact their public relations & let them know they have lost a LOT of GREAT PUBLICITY!!!!

  • steven says:

    We are at the mercy of….

  • Duane says:

    Sensationalist headline. Nothing in the story indicates that a cello was, in fact, thrown off the plane. Pathetic attempt at getting more clicks. I will remove your site from my news feed.

  • Jennifer Morgan says:

    That was very rude for KLM to deny entry to your cello. However, I am glad they didn’t actually throw it off in midair. That was what I thought when I read the headline! That would be devastating.

  • Steve says:

    This headline is atrocious click bait. Please stick with the truth. No one threw the cello off the plane. Good grief!

  • Adi says:

    I have seen many times how logic fails with these companies
    KLM so far however was not bad at all in my experience…

  • Nicola says:

    Nightmare!! Thanks will remember not to book KLM

  • Johan VanLeer says:

    Similar incident with cellist Lynn Harrel on a DELTA flight ,10 years ago

  • Mary Howell says:

    Thats terrible. When you say “Thank you” does that mean that they re-booked you,(I would certainly hope so) or was that intended to be sarcasm? I would definitely not be thanking KLM . Another cellist, Zedinek Konicek, had an almost opposite experience. He had also paid for his cello which was ensconced comfortably in the seat beside him, with seat belt on, but the plane was waiting and waiting on the tarmac. An announcement apologised for the forty five minute delay but explained that they were waiting for a late passenger whose luggage had been checked in. Before asking all passengers to leave the plane to identify their luggage, they realised that all of the seats were occupied. They made one last announcement, “Is there a Mr or Mrs Cello on the plane?” Zedinek quietly signalled to the attendant and pointed to the seat beside him. “This is Miss Cello” he said!! Airlines need some cello education perhaps?
    Were you able to get to your destination in time?

  • Celia Thaxter says:

    Not flying KLM in protest!

  • Peter San Diego says:

    Let’s follow KLM’s logic:
    (1) The cello has a seat booking;
    (2) The cello exceeds cabin baggage size limits;
    (3) Therefore the cello’s booking must be cancelled.

    They why not this? To wit:
    (1) M. Coppey has a seat booking;
    (2) M. Coppey exceeds cabin baggage size limits;
    (3) Therefore M. Coppey’s booking must be cancelled.

  • Andras Fejer says:

    Oh Marc… Sooo sorry ! I have ALWAYS had difficulty with them; check-in desk-time 60 – 75 minutes, but never this drastic…
    Many thanks for the warning !

    [ was it a small plane or normal size ? ]

  • Yvonne says:

    KLM clearly states that it will allow musical instruments bigger than hand luggage size on board if a seat is booked for them with the further provisos: it is up to 140cm and up to 45kg.
    If the cello case breached either of those, KLM is also clear that it won’t be allowed on board.

    The rules are clear so one party has it wrong.

  • Sarah Hearn-vonFoerster says:

    That is not acceptable, and shame on KLM! I always admired that airline before, but this incident is the limit. It should have been handled better…and sooner.

  • Liz Haydon says:

    Disgusting behaviour . Do they not play music on their airline . Well deny them music !

  • G Peter Pushkas says:

    Amazing. For the past 50+ years l was friends with the Bartók string quartet and knew very well that they always bought five tickets (the cello traveled with them in an extra seat). It was not “cabin luggage” for an extra 100 bucks but an “extra person” for thousands of dollars. KLM must have had a brain cramp.

  • Hunter Biden's Laptop says:

    This is how authoritarianism works: it’s fickle; doesn’t stand on reason; and isn’t held accountable. The irony here is that you people had NO qualms about up-ending everyone else’s lives and businesses over COVID in order to ensure your safety, and now you expect that same world to come to your defense over a little damage to your precious instruments. Life isn’t fair, and no one cares about your exorbitantly-priced fiddles. GROW UP!

  • Corno di Caccia says:

    I remember seeing my horn – in its case, obviously – thrown from the hold onto a luggage trolley from my window seat before disembarking at Dusseldorf Airport some years ago. A heartstopping moment.

  • Eladio Vargas says:

    The fundamental world-wide problem that has surfaced in the last few years is the immense amount of people that openly do not care to reveal & expose how stupid they are !. Einstein said : For years I wandered if the Universe or human stupidity were infinite. Now I am not sure about the Universe !

  • Til the fat lady says:

    I’m a cellist as well as a singer and find this ABYSMAL !!!

  • TOMASHOV says:

    There is a country which in the 1980 had a surfeit of wondefull immigrant violinists but a shortage of Pianists…this due to the fact that shortsighted Air lines refused Pianists the right to bring their Pianos with them.

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