American Airlines unboarded my cello
NewsThey’re back to their wicked old ways.
Report from an airline blog:
On April 5, two elderly passengers were removed from an American Airlines flight because the gate agent wouldn’t let them fly with their cello – even though they’d purchased a seat for the cello from the airline and flown with it on the first segment of their trip.
The passengers had flown from Palm Springs to Dallas – Fort Worth. They boarded their second flight. And a gate agent came on board and declared that they’d be unable to fly unless they either:
waited for a later flight operated by an Airbus, instead of the Boeing 737, or
checked the cello as baggage because instruments are not allowed in seats on 737s
Read on here.
AA is the worst airline- except for all the others….
You think for one second that seat belt is going to hold that sleek projectile in case of severe turbulence?
It’s like having loose luggage that fell out of the overhead bins.
It will punch a hole right through the window and depressurize the entire plane. If it doesn’t fly through the cabin and smash a few unsuspecting heads.
The mistake was the ticketing, but let the flight crew do what flight crews do, to ensure the safety of those who don’t particularly care to have their skulls caved in by a fat slick missile.
What a bunch of total nonsense. Why do you talk about things you know nothing about?
If you’d know anything about traveling musicians you’d know that stowing as baggage often leads to damaged or destroyed instruments. There are also FAA rules that allow musical instruments to be in the cabin.
The belt can go through the handles . It’s quite secure.
You are mistaken. The seatbelt will hold the cello the same way it does a person. Tightened around the thinner neck part it would be impossible to move beyond the body of the case.
No…while you’re right that the captain has the final say, cellists have been buying seats for their cellos–at great expense, of course–for years. Have you heard of a single instance of what you’re describing actually happening?
HA! Sanctimonious musicians getting screwed over by sanctimonious, technocratic rule-followers. Pot, meet kettle.
The Boeing 737 is a dreadfully cramped and restrictive aircraft. I can see their point because, even in Business (only a few seats) there wouldn’t be enough room for a cello on any seat. The toilets are a joke!!
Yes, you do definitely need a wider-bodied Airbus for such a journey. But it is up to airlines to make this point to passengers on their websites.
But they probably didn’t mean a wide-body airbus, but one that’s similar to the 737.
Not even remotely true. Many a trip with a cello on a 737. And the replacement flight was on a narrow-body Airbus A32x, which is not substantially different for the purposes of buckling a cello in.
To those of you who think a cello could possibly come out of a seat belt when melted in as shown in the photo are just stupid. You worry about a cello being a projectile bc the belt won’t hold? What about the super fat person? THAT’S what you should worry about. The cello secured as shown would not be able to dislodge from that position unless the plane was flying upside down. Then YOU would become the projectiles as well. Idiots!
If you paid for a seat for that instrument when you booked and you booked it as “cello” For that seat, they cannot remove you or it. 737’s fly all the time with cellos on them.
Next time try United. They break only guitars.
A notable exception is Southwest Airlines. On four separate trips the gate personnel allowed preboarding and saved a bulkhead seat for a ticketed cello.
I suspect that the flight was overbooked. The airline believes most people don’t know that a full price ticket was purchased for an inanimate object, and, at risk of angering three passengers the airline decided to deny travel to two+cello. Imagine the cries on Twitter and social media,”My nephew and his husband and their daughter had to miss the flight—but this violin [sic] got on!!! A big violin [sic] ?!!? Got its own seat. I can’t even get my laptop on without paying a fee.” —or something similar to this.
Needless to say, it’s unfortunate for the cell at its family.
If that had been the case, the two passengers accompanying the ‘cello would have been denied boarding regardless of whether they were prepared to take the risk of putting the ‘cello in the hold. The only circumstance where Feinsteen’s conjecture makes sense would be if the flight had been overbooked by exactly *one* seat (or maybe exactly two seats, with the the ‘cello and one unrelated passenger denied boarding). But even then, I was under the impression that airlines are supposed to offer inducements/bribes to obtain one or more volunteers to change flight, rather than deny boarding.
Have flown on Ryanair many times With my Cello. Ryanair only fly 737s. My Cello always has a window seat and never an Exit row.
And my cello had a vegetarian lunch which I ate!